1Ki 17:2-11 And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, (3) Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. (4) And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there. (5) So he went and did according unto the word of the LORD: for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. (6) And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook. (7) And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land. (8) And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, (9) Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee. (10) So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering of sticks: and he called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink. (11) And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand.
There is so much to talk about that I will have to try limiting myself to one subject! Yeah right! So hold on to your wallets, purses and handbags…the collector has come to town!
I have been involved in the Elijah Chronicles for a long time now. So rather than an outline there may be a good cook-up, metemgee, or pepperpot with something good for you somewhere in there!! So let's plunge in!
Elijah went to the brook Cherith at Yahweh's command!
There he was fed with bread and flesh by ravens at Yahweh's command until the brook dried up at which time he was given new marching orders.
Press the pause button here! Wait! Why did he even have to move?
Had Yahweh's resource of bread and flesh been exhausted? NO! Php 4:19 But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
Could not Yahweh have commanded that the brook remain filled? YES!
So this divine providence by Yahweh could have continued therefore? YES! AS LONG AS HE WANTED IT TO!
But Yahweh had other plans...plans that included a "random" widow and her son living in Zarepath a little town in Sidon a country to the north of Israel. Its ruler is king Ethbaal who is, would you believe it, the father of Jezebel queen of Israel and wife of King Ahab!
Note: Elijah had no choice in who the widow should be. God in His sovereignty made the decision...Elijah simply obeyed Yahweh! Elijah's diet moved from heavenly bread and flesh to flour and oil. Seems like a step down isn't it? But God ordered it to preserve a widow and her son.
There are times when we have to step out of our comfort zone in order to minister effectively as God wishes.
1Ki 16:30-33 And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD above all that were before him. (31) And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him. (32) And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. (33) And Ahab made a grove; and Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him.
The very name Ethbaal means 'baal is with him' and he is reputedly the priest king whose daughter seems to have been an ardent and zealous acolyte of her father promoting baal worship in Israel. The irony is that Yahweh sent Elijah right into the heart of the evil queen’s homeland as though thumbing His nose at one and all of the lame gods of Sidon!
I believe that Elijah could have spent the entire three and a half years in solitary Cherith, supplied by heaven in a spectacular way.
But Yahweh wanted him to move on up! Our lives are not isolated but closely connected with the world around us. We are in this world but not of this world and as long as we are in this world we need to let our light shine for there is no other light that leads to eternal life and salvation. I fear that many of us will shed buckets of remorseful and regretful tears because of the time we wasted on trivialities which could have been profitably spent on knowing God and making Him known. Rather we became experts at all kinds of trivial stuff and great exponents, disseminating useless knowledge.
From Cherith to Zarepath
At Cherith Elijah was passively dependent God's providence. At Zarepath Elijah was actively used in God's providence
At Cherith he waited alone. At Zarepath he was connected with other lives
At Cherith he received without involvement. At Zarepath he had to speak the Word of faith.
At Cherith he was carefree. At Zarepath he had responsibility.
At Cerith he was separated to God. At Zarepath he was being refined in faith.
Cherith means cut, cutting. Zarepath means refine, refinery.
Elijah is commanded to move from a place of separation to a place of refining.
How many times are we not contented to sit down passively waiting for Yahweh to provide as He promised? We just love the closeness of God and His miraculous provision for us. We are contented to remain right there, alone, having nothing to do with the world. You know…we go to church get a little bit of religion and religious instruction then go back to our selfish lonely life of non involvement until one day the brook dries up! How many times have we not ignored His instructions to take action? How many times have we had doubt arise in our hearts because the brook dried up? How many times have we not ignored God's instructions to our own disappointments and the resulting tragedy of others? Have you given thought to what would have happened to the widow and her son if Elijah had decided he was safer remaining by the brook? The brook would have dried up. He would have suffered and a widow and her son in the next country would have died. Your action or failure to act can precipitate an international incident! It is NEVER a good thing to remain sitting where you are when God gives a command to move on. You will find yourself sitting there Godless and alone for He has moved on. AND I am NOT talking about a physical move but a spiritual advance in your life.
Elijah is being fine tuned for the pending confrontation between Yahweh and the accumulated forces of evil.
The Lord specifically told Elijah to go to Zidon. Elijah was also told that a widow woman has been commanded to sustain him. Yes that is right! A widow woman. Let us hear the description of this woman from her own mouth.
, "And she said, As the LORD thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die."
There it is:
All she had was a handful of meal in a barrel and a little oil in a cruse.
It was just enough to make a meager meal for herself and her son.
They would eat it and then die for that was the last of it
So here we have two people who were alone in the world. The husband (and father) was dead. The son could not sustain himself and mother for he was too young. They were down to their last meager meal. The future stared at them with the grim and implacable face of death. It was the end of the road and there was no hope. This also in a time when widows were not well esteemed!
So, here is the scenario.
A widow woman and her son, from a foreign country.
A woman about to have her last meal with her son.
A woman who had already resigned herself to no future on earth.
A woman who would not even allow herself to think of good ahead.
A woman who had no hope without God.
A woman who assumed her insignificance to such an extent she could not recognize that a special moment in her life was at hand.
A woman who had no idea that God had laid a special commission on her life! God was about to perform a miracle and she did not even know that God had commissioned her to be the principal recipient!
She is also a hospitable woman shown by her intent to bring water at Elijah's request.
She had a choice whether to obey or disregard the Word of the Lord from the prophet
She obviously had no help from anyone around her and it would seem that she did not expect any. Apparently no one even seemed to care that this woman was about to take her last meal. There seemed a singular lack of sympathy for her plight.
No one cared? Not quite! Way back by Cherith's brook God had ordained a stupendous breakthrough in her life. Way back before the drought she was in the plan of God. Yes God cared, and He was about to show it in a way she had not in her wildest dream conceived!
Let us see the peculiarity of the situation here. God had said to Elijah, “I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.” She was commanded in the same way that the ravens had been, and they had done as commanded.
Now let’s see… It would seem to me that the woman would have had a sense of expectancy when Elijah appeared. It would seem that she should have been happy to oblige Elijah in his request. It would seem that she could even have said, “I was expecting you. God spoke to me about you. I know what I have to do! Welcome!"
But no! While probably recognizing Elijah as an Israelite she seemed not to have the faintest idea who Elijah really was and apparently did not even care.
Her mind was too preoccupied.
Preoccupied with destitution and its results.
Preoccupied with coming doom.
Preoccupied with gloom and despair.
Preoccupied with the fact that she had failed to provide for her son.
Her mind was just too full of her present distress and no future.
It just did not matter anymore. She had made up her mind about the inevitable and was prepared to face it. In fact she was in the identical position that we sometimes find ourselves. At the end of the rope. Facing an uncaring world. A world that is so caught up in its mad rush to secular doom and spiritual destruction that you become just another minor (easily kicked aside) pebble, in its way. You become an unknown statistic, an insignificant blot on the landscape that will soon fade into the nothingness of oblivion.
She was certainly not a candidate for bountiful giving in our books. Definitely not one we would chose to support a project or a cause that needed giving. Why, she was a project and a cause herself.
Our tendency would have been to make up a basket for this poor widow woman who was down to her last meal and about to die. She was at the end of her rope. She was not aware of any but a grim and terminal future. Impending doom hung over her head and the head of her son like the legendary sword of Damocles. She herself needed a miracle.
Say Elijah, couldn’t you have been wrong? Was this the woman that God sent you to? Are you sure? Could it not have been the rich house down the road with those spacious well kept lawns? You know, that large four-bedroom, two-garage house with the indoor swimming pool and all those other fine features. Now that would be our choice for a donation, wouldn't it?
It is a bit of a shame to go and ask that poor widow to sustain you isn't it Elijah? You are a big strong man…the wilderness variety. You can fend for yourself. You are capable. Why are you preying on this poor widow?
Go find a job you big lug, you useless piece of garbage! Hey, only recently your God was supporting you through air dashed bread, from Celestial Bakeries, and meat from Stellar “Kosher” Plaza. Surely He could have continued to sustain you rather than having you going to make demands of this poor woman who had no means of support? You serve Him don’t you? Then let Him perform a miracle on your behalf. Come on Elijah have a heart. Give the poor woman something instead of taking from her.
Isn’t that just how it is sometimes? We are on the threshold of despair and cannot begin to understand how we got there in the first place. We are at the point where it seems as if God has totally deserted us and care not if we die tomorrow, or even now. We are so entangled in our shroud of despair that we cannot even hear God’s voice of reassurance and promise of faith. The person who God sends to help us seems to be the one who is trying to take our last piece of bread away from us.
We have forgotten that when everything seems down and there is no place to turn that God is still in control.
Until the Word comes from the Lord and we obey.
He still has a Word for us. A Word that is not just an empty promise but:
A Word that will bring life and sustenance.
A Word that will renew our strength and restore our hope in the future.
A Word that will create faith in our hearts which will then respond in obedience to His command.
And we have such a Word. The Word that was in the beginning. The Word that was God, that was made flesh. He said, "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the Words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." .
It is the Word that brings faith; "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." .
1Ki 17:13-16 And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son. (14) For thus saith the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the LORD sendeth rain upon the earth. (15) And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days. (16) And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Elijah.
A few things that can be learned from Elijah and the Widow
You can be commanded by God and yet not be aware
Obeying the Word of God from the man of God releases the Miracle of God
You can be provided for in a variety of ways as God chooses.
Do not lock God into your preconceived pattern
God deals with you in isolation or in company
There are times when you do not need to do anything for God's supply and at other times there is no supply if you do not take action
Learn to listen to and obey the Word of Yahweh.
Do not consider your own pride when God gives you a mission.
There are times when we have to step out of our comfort zone in order to minister effectively as God wishes.
God can lead you to the most unlikely and unexpected channel of supply!
