Power of the Surrendered Life
I Kings 17
Intro: Hi! My name is Tim and I like to be in control. I like things to go my way. I like to know what’s coming and what I’m going to do about it.
Deep down inside, all of us like to be in control, to be the boss of our own destiny. We want to take charge of our own circumstances, to get our own way.
One of the areas where this gets played out is in the family, especially between husbands and wives.
1. That’s why automobiles have duel climate controls.
2. Microwaveable foods make it easy to have different things for dinner.
Ill. When we were younger, Debra and I fought over the blankets. This is not exclusive to us. When you look at the blankets on a bed, they appear to be large enough for both to have some. They aren’t. So we got an electric blanket with duel controls, one for each side of the bed. This is really handy when you both like to sleep at different temperatures. I could control my side, and Debra could control hers. One night, though, I woke up blazing hot. I turned my control way down and still was burning up. The next morning, Debra said she was freezing all night. It took me three nights to figure out that we had switched the controls somehow and were each controlling the other’s side of the blanket. I was turning mine way down and freezing her and she was turning hers way up and cooking me. I learned how a roast feels in a crock-pot. For years after that I felt guilty every time we put something in the oven. I could relate to that poor chicken.
This desire to be in control is rooted in us from the time we are young children. We learned that to get what we want all we have to do is yell and scream. As we get older, hopefully we learn more tactful ways of getting what we want. Some never do!
The fact is, the control that we so desperately long for is actually hard to achieve, and even more difficult to keep. It can be a very elusive and frustrating search. Circumstances often prevent us from being in control. Sickness, accidents, even death all arrive to remind us that we are not really in charge.
We find that the stock market and the economy in general are out of control, and we are left at the mercy of something we can’t control. Uncertainty begins to seep into our lives and this uncertainty creates anxiety. If left alone long enough, anxiety leads to desperation, and desperation often leads to hopelessness.
I want to tell you today about a woman who was at this point of hopelessness. In II Kings 17 we read about a widow lady who had completely lost control of her life through no fault of her own. There was a drought in the land and famine had set in. The specter of death was hovering about, and the control that may have once been hers was now eliminated completely.
But before we meet this woman, we run across Elijah, the prophet of God. At the command of God, he is living in the Cherith Ravine, where the ravens are bringing him bread and meat in the morning and evening, and he is drinking from the brook that runs through the ravine. In a drought, this is a pretty good set up. He’s hiding from Jezebel the queen, and just sort of hanging out until further notice. The notice comes when the brook dries up and God tells Elijah to go to the city of Zeraphath, which is in Sidon. Now this would not be the first place that Elijah would choose to go. It’s the hometown of Jezebel, the queen. He’s currently hiding from her husband Ahab, the milquetoast king, so going there probably doesn’t seem like a very good idea. But God assures him that He’s taken care of things, so Elijah goes.
When he gets to the city, he sees a widow lady picking up sticks, to cook some food for her and her son. Elijah asks for some water and some bread. She informs him of her plight. Read verse 12. This demonstrates what circumstances she’s in. She has only enough food for her and her son and then they are going to die.
We cannot fathom being in this kind of a situation. One more meal and that’s it? Just sit and wait for death to take us. Have you ever thought about what it would be like to starve to death?
Ill. Process of severe hunger – First the mind clears; after several days, fantasies of food set in, and one can think of nothing else; Food becomes unimportant again, but depression sets in; the mind then becomes vulnerable to brainwashing and mind control; finally, nothing really matters; the body consumes itself in an attempt to stay alive; death comes. If you’ve seen photographs of starving people, you’ll know it’s a horrific way to die.
With no one to help her; with no govt. safety nets or welfare system, she is utterly destitute. Even those who may want to help her are in the same position. It’s difficult to share bread with others when you don’t have it for your own children. And here is a man asking her for her last bite of food. But no ordinary man; this is God’s spokesman, a prophet directly from God, but not one of her gods, for she is a pagan woman, living in a pagan land. God had told her that Elijah was coming, but apparently had not told her what would be expected of her.
So she is in a bit of a dilemma. In fact, the dilemma of her life; and her life depends on the outcome. Elijah has promised her that his God will keep her food jars full, but can she trust him? Will she follow the words of the prophet or stick to her own plans? Follow with me as she goes through the agonizing process of baking the bread. She enters the kitchen and builds the fire. She is going to bake bread, but for whom? She pulls down the flour container and the oil jar and begins making the dough. Great tears begin to flow down her gaunt cheeks and plop into the bowl, mingling with the dough. No matter what she does, this is all the flour and oil there is, so really, what difference does it make what she does with it? Die today or die tomorrow? How will she explain either option to her son? They’re both going to die either way! As the bread begins to brown and the smell permeates the house and yard, and the stomach makes funny sounds in anticipation of what’s to come, she still wrestles with the choice: the prophet or her son. It’s an impossible choice.
Ill. In the madness of the holocaust, it was not uncommon for families to be separated and never seen again. One such man had three young sons with him. When the Nazi guards were going to separate him from his sons, he begged the German lieutenant to allow him to stay with his sons. The German looked at him a moment and said, “I’ll tell you what; you pick one of the boys to stay with you, and the other two go without you. The choice is yours. You have about ten seconds to choose.” An impossible choice.
When the bread is finished, she takes it to the prophet. We have no record of any words being exchanged between them when she hands him the bread. We are told that she goes back home and discovers that the jar has oil in it and the pot has flour in it and that “She and her household ate for many days.” I can see her dragging herself back home and, as though it mattered where they were sitting when she died, putting the two containers back in their place, only to discover that they are much heavier than they should have been when empty. Taking the lid off, she gasps as she sees the oil jar filled with something. Could it be? She sticks her bony finger into the jar and pulls it out. She carefully places the tip of her tongue to the end of her finger; she closes her eyes in ecstacy. Oil; delicious, fabulous shiny olive oil. And not just any olive oil; the best she has ever tasted. With trembling hands, she quickly reaches for the flour pot and discovers that it, too, is full to the top with beautiful, golden brown flour that smells wonderful even in its raw state. These are the substances that will keep her and her son alive indefinitely. The tears of heartbreak that earlier had streamed down her cheeks now run as a torrent of joy and relief at her discovery that what the prophet had promised really did come true. They were not going to starve to death after all.
God had promised, through His prophet, that the oil would not run dry. He had promised that the flour would not diminish. God had promised. In this pagan culture, God had promised. In this land full of false gods, the God of Israel had promised. Just at the time that seemed hopeless, God had promised. When all seemed lost, God had promised. Where the only certainty was her starvation and death, God had promised. God had promised. And He kept His promise!
App: Is it really any different with us today? We worry about the stock market, we worry about pension plans or jobs or children or parents, but is it really that different for us today? Doesn’t it really just boil down to our last piece of bread? Most of us have never gotten to that point, though it may seem like it at times.
In such a situation, what do we want to do? Take matters into our own hands. Reassert our control. Put ourselves in the driver’s seat. Look out for number one. No matter how you phrase it, it still comes down to this one question: do you trust God to keep His promises? It’s a matter of surrendering your life to Him. This widow surrendered not just to a man of God, but to God Himself. Was it easy? No. Was it pleasant at the moment? Absolutely not. But oh how it paid off for her and her son.
God has made some promises to us, too. He has promised us a home with Him forever if we are one of His through Christ; He has promised that evil will be punished and righteousness rewarded; He has promised that He will be with us to the end of the ages; he has promised a clothing of righteousness in the ages to come; He has promised us a room in His palace; He has promised us to be like Jesus for we shall see Him just as He is; He has promised us all that we need according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
Will He do all this and more for us? Will He keep His promises?
He will, you know, if you’ve surrendered your life to Him.
