The prophet of God has just pronounced a drought, sent by God although not mentioned.
• The drought will end only at his word – which means at God’s bidding, when God said so.
• We know that it lasted for 3.5 years because of two accounts in NT:
• James 5:17 - Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.
• Jesus mentioned it in Luke 4:25 - I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land.
James mentioned that Elijah prayed earnestly that it would not rain. He was praying for an awakening to happen in his own land.
• It was comforting to know that in the midst of all this idolatry, God has His faithful servants praying for the salvation of Israel.
• Not just Elijah, but the Lord says in 19:18 He has 7000 prophets in Israel – “all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose months have not kissed him.”
• God’s light still shines, we can be assured of that. Even so today.
Having wrestled with God, Elijah finally confronted King Ahab.
• 17:1 “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.”
• It’s a confrontation that would prove WHO is truly God, and He is not Baal.
• The sign would be absolute. There won’t even be dew in the morning - no moisture in the air – until the Lord say so.
This would mean, of course, that Elijah would have to go through the drought too.
• If the Lord SENT him, then He would SUSTAIN him. Read 1 Kings 17:2-6.
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.
Elijah has to depend on God completely. He would drink from the brook and God would supply him with food.
• God commanded the ravens to bring him the food – the FoodPanda or Deliveroo of that day.
• God used the most unlikely and unexpected means to sustain His servant.
• It is a miracle that the ravens did not eat the meat they carried.
• And they came consistently without fail, every day, in the morning and evening, for as long as the brook had water.
We see this same God feeding Israel in their exodus from Egypt – He is faithful, dependable, and trustworthy.
• When we find ourselves in a ravine like this (or walking through the wilderness like the Israelites), where everything is cut off, then understand this – God provides.
• God is teaching us through such circumstances to depend on Him fully.
• It is in such situations - where we have nothing to depend on except God - that we learn God can be trusted.
• So don’t mourn those moments, because we probably know more of God during those difficult times.
For how long did Elijah stayed at the brook? Let’s read 1 Kings 17:7-11.
7 Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. 8 Then the word of the LORD came to him: 9 "Go at once to Zarephath of Sidon and stay there. I have commanded a widow in that place to supply you with food." 10 So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, "Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?" 11 As she was going to get it, he called, "And bring me, please, a piece of bread."
So how long did Elijah stayed at the brook? UNTIL the brook dried up – that is, for as long as there is water.
• When the need arises, God speaks, again! This is our comfort - God speaks when the need arises.
• This is the pattern we see in the Scriptures. God doesn’t speak unnecessarily or without a purpose.
God directed Elijah to move to Zarephath, that’s where he would find food and water.
• The odd thing is that Zarephath is in SIDON. That’s the place of the Sidonians, where Queen Jezebel’s family came from.
• They brought Baal worship into Israel (which Elijah denounces), and now Elijah was called to move into their land – the land of Baal worshippers.
God says, “I have commanded a widow in that place to supply you with food.” (17:9)
• God commanded (ESV) the ravens and now He commanded a widow, to feed Elijah.
• God prepared for him. And again it was an unlikely and unexpected means.
• Not to someone rich and with abundance, but to a poor widow, living in SIDON with almost nothing to offer.
• Later on we will likely understand why.
To survive, Elijah has to be at the place where God has planned, no matter how uncomfortable he might be with the means.
• Elijah needs to obey God and be at the place God wants him to be.
• That’s the place he would find water and food. That’s the place he could survive.
Jesus mentioned this move in Luke 4 when commenting about His own rejection.
Luke 4:24-26 "I tell you the truth," he continued, "no prophet is accepted in his hometown. 25 I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah's time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. 26 Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon.
• There were many other widows in Israel but they’ve turned their hearts away from God. God can still find a Gentile widow even in foreign land to accomplish His will.
• Elijah would be provided for, through a poor Gentile widow, staying among Baal worshippers.
• God has His ways. God can still fulfil His purposes in surprising ways.
Both times God led Elijah to unexpected places and provided in very unusual ways.
• Elijah trusted God and obeyed Him, and he saw the provision of God.
• We trust and obey, and we will see the provision of God.
• God provides. God provides our needs. God will provide, but not necessarily in the way we expect.
From the brook to this place in Zarephath, it is about 160km. I went to check, it’s the distance from here to Batu Pahat, our retreat hotel last June (Katerina Hotel).
• We do not know how long it takes for Elijah to reach this place, or what mode of transportation he has.
• 17:10 - But when he arrived at the city gate, he met the very woman that God had arranged, gathering sticks at that right place and at just the right time.
This is the providence of God. God arranged. The world calls it a coincidence, we call it a divine appointment.
• God works in ways above and beyond our understanding. God arranges things so perfectly, without us actually knowing what is going on.
• We can only see His hand of providence LOOKING BACK, when everything has already taken place.
• Looking back in life we see God’s hand in the places that we’ve been, the people that we’ve met, and the experiences that we’ve gone through.
It would be the same for this widow, who was in such a dire state and was preparing for her last meal.
• She was out at that time, not to meet anyone but to gather sticks. But God has a greater plan in mind. God wants to save her life.
• Let’s read 1 Kings 17:12-16.
12 "As surely as the LORD your God lives," she replied, "I don't have any bread-only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it-and die."
13 Elijah said to her, "Don't be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small cake of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. 14 For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: `The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD gives rain on the land.'"
15 She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. 16 For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the LORD spoken by Elijah.
So, did God arrange this to provide for Elijah, or to provide for the widow and her son?
• Did God send Elijah to this woman so that Elijah could survive, or was Elijah sent to this widow so that she could survive?
• It’s not either-or. It’s both! This is the amazing providence of God! He works in ways above and beyond our understanding.
The situation did not look good to Elijah. “I thought You ask me to come here and look for a woman to get some food (must be some rich widow with lots to spare), and here I am with this poor widow who cannot even feed herself, with nothing left.”
• We are actually called, not so much to understand God’s ways (and try to figure out the ‘what’ and ‘how’ God is going to do things) but to TRUST God’s Word.
• The Lord has already told Elijah that the supply would not end until the drought is over. So he told the widow what God said.
The woman went away and did what Elijah said, on the basis of “this is what the LORD, the God of Israel says…” (17:14)
• She might not know Yahweh fully but she was willing to put her faith in Him.
• And she demonstrated her faith by her action. Just like what James 2:8 says, we show our faith by our works.
• And so the Lord provided what they needed, every day, for the entire duration of the drought.
• It was a daily miracle “in keeping with the Word of the LORD spoken by Elijah” (17:16). That’s the basis of our faith. We have faith in God’s Word.
The miracle happened because God said so. It has nothing to do with the method or any formula, it has to do with the promise of God.
Hudson Taylor, a British missionary to China, one of the early pioneers of mission to China: “Our Heavenly Father is very experienced. He knows that His children wake up with a good appetite every morning. He sustained three million Jews in the desert for a period of forty years. We do not expect He would send three million people to China, but if He did He would have ample ways to sustain them all. Depend on it. God's work, done in God's way, will never lack God's supply.”
Elijah will not die prematurely. He has to give the word for rain to return.
• The work of God is not completed yet. He has an unfinished task. God will sustain His servant.
• Depend on it. God's work, done in God's way, will never lack God's supply.
