Living In Baals Backyard
1 Kings 17:8-17:16
TEXT: 1 Kings 17:8-16
1 Kings 17:8-16 KJV 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. [12] 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. [13] 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.
I. INTRODUCTION—DIRECTIONS FOR CHANGING COURSE
A We pick up with our man Elijah leaving the brook Cherith because it dried up.
1 The ravens quit bringing him food and the famine has caught up with the creek that God had parked Elijah beside.
a If you use your imagination, it probably would lead us to think that Elijah was alarmed, worried, and distressed at this new turn of events.
b James 5:17 KJV Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are. . .
-Despite that we do not find that Elijah said anything against God or his
circumstances.
• He was silent before God.
• He waited in faith.
• He prayed in faith.
• He crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts in faith.
-Live in faith and rest in faith knowing the hand of God is at work!
c But with every brook that dries up, the righteous will hear the voice of God. . . the word of the Lord came unto him, saying. . .
aa When God closes doors He generally opens up another door that is clear to us where we should go.
bb Hindrances and obstacles are ways that God moves us forward.
2 Just for a short detour, the book of Acts adds some principles about when course-changing decisions in life. This is just before Paul is about to experience his last recorded shipwreck.
a Paul had advised them not to sail but they refused to take his advice and it ended up detrimental for the ship although no life was lost.
Acts 27:13 KJV And when the south wind blew softly, supposing that they had
obtained their purpose, loosing thence, they sailed close by Crete.
b I think that there were three principles that was guiding Paul to tell them not to go forward. (For another day: Sometimes you can get caught up in the storms of others despite your own advice for them not to get involved in it.) The principles we should consider when moving on from dried up brooks:
aa • The inner voice of conviction—Sometimes described as a “gut” feeling although I believe that those who are Spirit-filled and Word-driven, it is the wisdom of God.
bb • The outer voice of circumstances—What are the conditions on the outside? What are the wise counselors saying to me?
cc • The deciding voice of the Word of God—There is great direction that comes from the pages of Scripture if we are willing to seek it out.
c Elijah was experienced with the inner voice of conviction and the deciding voice of the Word of God.
aa Now his outward circumstances are moving him forward. Follow this pattern in your life and make careful and spiritual choices about where you go.
bb As we shall see sometimes moving forward does not necessarily seem to be the best place to go.
cc When God leads in a surprising direction, don’t overanalyze it.
dd Zarephath was moving Elijah into Baal’s neighborhood which was literally in the backyard of Baal country.
I. LIVING IN BAAL’S BACKYARD
A. Go to Zarephath—1 Kings 17:9
1 Kings 17:9 KJV Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.
1 Elijah was tested at Cherith which means a “cutting place” and now he is moving to Zarephath which means a “melting or smelting place.”
a It is a place that is associated with a refiner’s fire in a furnace.
b In our walk with God we may find that the tests often come back to back and just because we may be children of God, it does not grant us a pass from difficulty.
2 Gold is very prominent throughout the Bible.
a It is found in the Tabernacle, the Temple, and will be found in Heaven.
b As the gold was formed throughout Scripture for inanimate things, the process that God puts His saints through is
• Mining—Pulled from the earth is chunks of rock and the ore would be pulled out.
• Smelting—Separating the gold from the ore by using fire. This is where the bits of gold would be pulled from the rocks.
• Refining—The gold was then put into a cup-shaped container (a crucible) and the fire was raised to 1000 degrees and the impurities would rise to the surface and the refiner would remove it. The process was complete when the refiner could see his face in the reflection.
• Forming—The goldsmith would shape the gold into what he wanted it to become. It could be a fine wire or a piece of furniture overlaid with gold.
B The process is crucial and necessary and God uses these kinds’ steps to turn His children into saints of God.
1 Far too many fight against the fire that God is desiring to use to form them into what He longs them to be. Elijah was sent through the fire at Zarephath.
Job 23:10 KJV But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.
Proverbs 17:3 KJV The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the LORD trieth the hearts.
Zechariah 13:9 KJV And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.
a God often times works backwards in our lives while we live forwards.
aa We cannot see around the bend but we know the Lord has chosen this path for us.
bb Don’t fight with the fire of the smelting process!
b Isaiah 41:10 KJV Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
2 Zarephath was quite a distance from Cherith.
• It was eight miles south of Zidon.
• It was thirteen miles north of Tyre.
• It was eighty miles north of Samaria.
• All summed up it was about one hundred miles for Elijah to travel.
a He had to walk it out. Twenty miles a day and it would have been nearly a week for him to walk this distance.
aa Constantly looking over his shoulder for the troopers of Ahaz to find him.
bb He had to camp out by the roadside at night and hunt or beg for any food he might have gotten.
cc Furthermore we cannot forget the famine and drought that was ravaging the land.
b Zarephath was the domain of Ethbaal, Jezebel’s daddy!
aa I imagine that Elijah knew that and he had to wonder why that God was leading him into Baal’s backyard.
bb The very fact that Elijah had brought judgment to Israel because of their allegiance to Baal it ironic because now God is placing him in the middle of it all.
3 He had spent a year at Cherith and he had no indication at all how long he would be in Zarephath. “Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there. . .”
a Elijah is also directed by God to dwell there. . . stay there. . . Here is another matter of the test. . . Sometimes staying in a place has its own set of difficulties too!
b What do you do in moments when God you are told to stay?
c You stay. . . But there is a crucial key to existing in those places:
C John 15:4-8 KJV Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. [5] I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. [6] If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. [7] If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. [8] Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
1 More fruit than we can imagine will grow when men and women are willing to put roots deep down in a place where God has called them to live in.
a Fruitfulness and dwelling . . . staying. . . settling. . . will always be connected.
• Strong families • Strong marriages • Strong churches • Strong people. . . the vast majority of the time are the results of just digging in and staying no matter what!
b That is one of the secrets to having great strength in the Christian life. . . Abide in the Lord and let His words abide in you!
2 Elijah, go and dwell in Zarephath. Even though it literally may be next door to Baal, God knows where you will be and that is all that matters.
Conclusion:
A Sightings of religious icons are rampant in today’s headlines. Whether it’s the face of Jesus on a Walmart receipt, the Cross of Christ in a cut potato, or Mother Theresa’s visage in a cinnamon bun, people are seeing spiritual images everywhere.
1 “You might have scratched your head in wonderment when a 10-year-old cheese sandwich sold at auction in 2004 for a cool $28,000 simply because people thought they saw the face of the Virgin Mary in the folds of the stale food.
a “But there’s a long history of people finding meaning in mundane objects. And scientists now say they know why this happens -- and how it works.
b “We’re wired to pay attention when we see objects that remind us of something we already know, says Joel Voss, an assistant professor at Northwestern University. Our brains automatically identify similar objects and then organize them according to type. That’s why we can look at a baseball cap and a fedora and know right away that both are hats, Voss explains.”
2 But the editors of HOMILETICS magazine (November '05, p. 38) have another take on the ever-more-frequent phenomenon. “These latter-day theophanies … point to a yearning in our culture to find Christ in everyday, ordinary things.”
3 They go on to quote Dan French of The Examiner, saying, “We’re all looking for the same thing, some faith-worthy sign to give us at least a fleeting clue on how to live our best lives and be our best selves in a confused, nearly un-navigable world.”
B The God who created the universe doesn't want to stay distant or far off. The truth is, you don’t need to search for God in your grilled cheese sandwich or your Walmart receipt. God is everywhere. He wants to be part of your everyday life. When God is in your life, even the "ordinary" becomes sacred. You need only open your eyes to see Him!
1 “They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God” (Romans 1:19-20, NLT).
a “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands” (Psalm 19:1).
b "His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him--though he is not far from any one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:27-28).
2 We can also see God when everything around is seems to be going “downhill like a snowball . . .”
a He’s doing something, up to something, building something.
b Don’t give up, give in . . . press in.
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