Amazing Trust
Selected Passages from 1 Kings 16:29-18:46
Essential 100 Series
February 24, 2008
Evening Service
Introduction
Olympic gold medalist Darrel Pace was to give an archery exhibition in New York City’s Central Park, and the event received coverage by all the news stations. Shooting steel- tipped hunting arrows, Pace punctured bull’s-eyes without a miss. Then he called for a volunteer. "All you have to do," said Pace, "Is hold this apple in your hand, waist-high." ABC correspondent Josh Howell took a bold step forward. He stood there, a small apple in his hand, a larger one in his throat. Pace took aim from 30 yards away as we all held our breath. Then THWACK-a clean hit that exploded the apple before striking the target behind. Everybody applauded Howell, who was all smiles--until his cameraman approached with a hangdog look. "I’m sorry, Josh," he said. "I didn’t get it. Had a problem with my viewfinder. Could you do it again?"
We have enough trust in God to be spiritually dangerous. We want to watch as God does His thing and shows Himself to us but when it comes to volunteering to hold the proverbial apple, we back off. We don’t want to get involved in what God is doing if there is some form of risk. I hate to burst your bubble but everything that God does involves risk and trust on our part.
Think about that for a few moments. Each time that you make plans for the future you are trusting God that you’ll still be here. Each time that you pray you are placing trust in God.
Faith is not belief without proof but trust without reservation. One of the great examples of trust in God comes from one of the worst times in the spiritual history of Israel. Israel was in what some might call its darkest hour and that is when God called Elijah to be His prophet. Open your Bibles to 1 Kings 17 as we look at the life and ministry of Elijah.
What do we learn from Elijah the Tishbite?
Stand up for God
Elijah was called to stand for God in the midst of an incredible power struggle. Ahab had become king of the northern nation of Israel and Jezabel was his queen. These were the most wicked couple mentioned in the Old Testament. Ahab practiced idolatry and filled the nation with idols. Jezebel even had priests of Baal, a Canaanite God of the harvest, on the payroll of the palace.
Ahab and Jezebel used their influence to inflict great harm to the nation and its people At one point Jezebel had all of the prophets of God rounded up and killed them all. Ahab was literally placing himself as spiritual head of the nation; he was taking God’s rightful place with the people.
At this point we know next to nothing about Elijah. There was no mention of his work: nothing about occupation or trade. There was no mention of his family: nothing is said about his parents or family at all. There is nothing of personal nature: nothing about his age or personal history
There are a few key facts that we need to understand about Elijah. The first was the fact that he was called to be a prophet. He was God’s chosen spokesman to Ahab. His name says it all: Elijah literally means that the LORD is my God.
"As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word." 1 Kings 17:1
Notice what Elijah does when he stands before Ahab. Elijah proclaims the fact that God is indeed God. This may sound rather simple but this is exactly what needed to be said. Elijah stares evil in the face and defies their paganism. Then Elijah proclaims that there will be no rain except by his personal word. Why would Elijah choose rain? Baal was the god of the harvest and to cause a great famine would completely discredit the followers of Baal.
Follow God wherever He leads
2 Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah: 3 "Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. 4 You will drink from the brook, and I have ordered the ravens to feed you there."
5 So he did what the LORD had told him. He went to the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan, and stayed there. 6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook. 7 Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land.
Immediately after Elijah faces down Ahab God does something rather strange. He sends Elijah away to Kerith. Elijah had just come on the scene and this announcement was his first real task as a prophet. No doubt, Elijah wanted to stay and put more pressure on Ahab but God had another plan. He calls Elijah to leave the area
Elijah was clearly a man of action and great courage. He had just looked evil in the face and stood firm. He did not want to run from this situation. However, notice that he obeyed God even though this didn’t make sense
Just like all of us, Elijah was given a choice; to follow God or go it alone. There will always be times when God’s ways just don’t make sense. That’s the nature of life but the heart of the matter for us is whether or not we will go with God or go it alone
Kerith was an obscure, out of the way area. There is no other reference to it in the Bible. Kerith served several purposes.
Kerith was a place of planning
God was using Kerith as part of His divine plan for Elijah. God sent Elijah to Kerith because it was a part of the overall plan.
Kerith was a place of protection
God uses this obscure place to protect Elijah from the wrath of Ahab and Jezebel.
Kerith was a place of provision
God provides for all of Elijah’s needs while he was in Kerith. God provides food through the ravens and water through the brook.
Kerith was a place of preparation
God used Kerith to teach Elijah the need for trust.
Allow God to use for His glory
17 Some time later the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. He grew worse and worse, and finally stopped breathing. 18 She said to Elijah, "What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?" 19 "Give me your son," Elijah replied. He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. 20 Then he cried out to the LORD, "O LORD my God, have you brought tragedy also upon this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?" 21 Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried to the LORD, "O LORD my God, let this boy’s life return to him!" 22 The LORD heard Elijah’s cry, and the boy’s life returned to him, and he lived. 23 Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house. He gave him to his mother and said, "Look, your son is alive!" 24 Then the woman said to Elijah, "Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the LORD from your mouth is the truth." 1 Kings 17:17-24
Elijah had already visited this widow and she had answered his request for bread. Her obedience was honored and then her son becomes ill. We all experience days when it is easier to place blame on God than to offer praise to God. This widow had lost her son and with him, her entire world. Elijah is deeply moved by this tragedy and takes the boy before God.
No matter what happens to us in life, we have but one true purpose: to bring glory to God. Pure and simple, God should be glorified through the way we live our lives. God should be glorified in all that you do. God can even be glorified in our deaths. That may seem a bit hard to swallow but it is true. God is always glorified when one of His people leaves for heaven.
The only problem in this entire equation is whether we allow God to use us to His glory. We have a choice in the matter. We can live to glorify ourselves. If we’re honest this is what we do. We can live to glorify others. There are a few people who do this. We can live to glorify God.
Elijah goes before God with the dead boy and pleads for his life. Elijah cries out to God for the boy and for his mother. He cries out for the tragedy that has occurred. He cries out for the sorrow that he feels. Elijah cries to God and God answers. I believe that one of the reasons we fail to see answers to prayer is that we fail to cry out to God. We may pray a time or two and then give up. We may pray for a long time but with no depth of desire. When Elijah goes to God for this boy, it is with every fiber of his being.
In the end, God is glorified through the life of Elijah. He is glorified through the answer to an impossible prayer. God is glorified because a man of faith dared to trust God to accomplish the impossible.
Trust God for Victory
30 Then Elijah said to all the people, "Come here to me." They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the LORD, which was in ruins. 31 Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the LORD had come, saying, "Your name shall be Israel." 32 With the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seahs of seed. 33 He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, "Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood." 34 "Do it again," he said, and they did it again. "Do it a third time," he ordered, and they did it the third time. 35 The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench. 6 At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: "O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. 37 Answer me, O LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again." 38 Then the fire of the LORD fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench. 39 When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, "The LORD--he is God! The LORD--he is God!" 40 Then Elijah commanded them, "Seize the prophets of Baal. Don’t let anyone get away!" They seized them, and Elijah had them brought down to the Kishon Valley and slaughtered there. 1 Kings 18:30-40
Elijah has set up a contest of divine proportions between himself and the prophets of Baal. The wager is simple both Baal and God would be sought and whichever answers that is who Israel will follow. This may seem like an incredibly bold move on the part of Elijah. However, Elijah has seen the rain stop pouring, ravens bring food and the dead live again. There is not much that Elijah won’t trust God for.
All of the previous situations have been building to this situation. Everything that God has done for Elijah was preparing him for this moment. It would be a moment that God would use to prove Himself as the God of Israel. It would be a moment of victory.
Again Elijah cries out to God to show Himself in power and just like before God delivers. Notice how Elijah prays: "O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, O LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again." When you hear this prayer, do you hear the passion? Do you hear the dependence on God? Do you hear the trust?
Before Elijah begins to speak, heaven is already moving to answer. When Elijah prays, he proclaims that God not only can answer but will answer. God sent the fire in answer to Elijah’s prayer. God sent the fire to prove that He is God.
This evening as we close, what fire do you need God to send down from heaven? What will it take for you to cry out to Him?
