I. Elijah
A. Elijah is one of the most colorful personalities found in the entire Bible. Here in 1 Kings chapter 17, he appears suddenly upon the scene, he doesn’t have a huge introduction, and not a lot is said about his life previous to here in this passage. He comes on the scene during some of Israel’s most troubling times to rebuke the king. He tells Ahab that there will be no rain, nor even dew according to his word. One of the great judgments that God said He would send against His people if they did not keep His word was drought. Deuteronomy 11:17 And then the LORD’S wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the LORD giveth you.
1. God tells him to go east and hide by the brook Cherith. Cherith means in the Hebrew a “cutting” or more literally a separation. Elijah is going to separate himself from Israel and hide under God’s protection.
2. Every day the ravens were commanded to bring him food and everyday he drank from the brook. Elijah had it made. His needs were being taken care of, he was hidden, he was fed, and he had water to drink while the rest of Israel was under the judgment of severe drought. But then things change and the brook dries up.
B. The same thing can happen to us; our brook may dry up. We may not be always eating steak and potatoes every night, we may not be living high on the hog, but our needs are being taken care of, but then just suddenly, our brook dries up. Our job may not be the best but our needs are being taken care of, our marriage may not be the best, but our needs are being taken care of, things may not be the best, but our needs are being taken care of, but then suddenly, without warning, our brook dries up.
1. What we thought was going to continue, what we took for granted, suddenly is gone. The Bible says that this occurred because there was no rain in the land, but God was still in control. If God can command ravens, He could have commanded that brook to continue to flow, even during dry times. God watered a million Israelites and their flocks in the desert with enough water; surely He could have watered one man for a period of time.
2. It was not God’s will for Elijah stay at Cherith, for there were still greater miracles to perform. Elijah doesn’t raise the dead at Cherith, he does where God is calling for him to go. There were greater miracles in store for Elijah and that was why God was moving him from Cherith to someplace else.
3. When your brook dries up, it is because God has some greater miracles in store for you, but in order to get you there, He has to dry some things up to help motivate you to move on and move forward.
II. Do you want to go from glory to glory?
A. It takes obedience to be placed and positioned. 1 Kings 17:5 So he went and did according unto the word of the LORD: 1 Kings 17:10 So he arose and went to Zarephath.
1. Elijah was no superman. There were times that he struggled with discouragement and there were times that he struggled with depression, even to the point that he wanted to die. He was a man that struggled with a lot of the same things that we do, he had his highs and they were very high and he had his lows and they were very low.
a. However, there is one thing that I want you to see about Elijah, his life was marked by obedience. Every time that God said to do something, Elijah did it.
b. If God told Elijah to stand and rebuke kings, even with his own life on the line, Elijah did it, if God told Elijah to hide, Elijah did it, if God told Elijah to move, then Elijah did it. His life was marked by total obedience to God.
c. When God spoke, Elijah moved. There was not argument, there was no discussion, his obedience was immediate.
B. I believe that God will speak to us if we will just listen. God will give us direction, if we will just listen. When our brook dries up, when things have changed and we don’t know the reason why, we are still expected to obey God when He speaks; if we will listen.
1. God did not give Elijah the total plan, He just sent His word and Elijah obeyed. We cannot wait around for God to tell us the next step, when we have not obeyed the first one. That’s what we like isn’t it? “God, I understand that You want me to do this, but what about next?”
2. Elijah was inclusive he did whatever God wanted him to do. We’re good at doing what we like to do. “God, I have no problem with doing this, but I don’t know about that”. We want to pick and choose what we can be obedient in. In our society today, we have the premise that we obey only the least amount possible. God calls for total obedience. God told Elijah to go to Zarephath, he didn’t go part of the way and stop, but he went all the way to Zarephath.
3. One of the things we find is that when Jesus healed in the NT, He sometimes healed by just speaking the word, however there were other times when He told someone to do some specific something and then they would be healed. The blind man had to wash at the pool, the man with the withered hand, had to stretch it out toward the Lord. Obedience was often required to demonstrate faith.
4. God did not tell Elijah His entire plan, Elijah was just to obey. We are told that the just walk by faith.
C. Consider Jesus. He was in the desert for forty days and nights without water, food, or comfort. Hunger pains pierced His belly as starvation began its harsh work. If He didn’t have food and water soon, He would die. But what came first: the provision or the temptation?
1. At that point Satan came to question Him, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread” (Matt.4:3). The enemy was again questioning what God had just clearly stated. The Father openly declared Jesus was His Son at the banks of the Jordan. Satan was again attempting to distort God’s character: “If you are God’s son, why has He led you out here to starve? Why doesn’t He provide for you? Perhaps it is time you provided for yourself. If you don’t get nutrition soon, you’ll die, or if you get it too late, you’ll end up with severe physical problems. Use your authority to serve yourself. Turn these stones to bread.”
2. Not only was Satan trying to discredit God but was also trying to cause doubt in the mind of Christ, by saying “If you are the Son of God”, the enemy wants you to doubt who you are and whose you are!
3. Jesus resisted and waited for God’s provision. He would not allow the enemy to pervert the character of God in his mind. He knew his father provided for his needs. He remained submitted to God’s authority, no matter how unpleasant it was at the moment.
4. After he resisted Satan’s temptation to take matters into his own hands, “the devil left him, and behold, angels came and ministered to him” (Matt. 4:11). Why? The writer of Hebrews described Jesus this way: Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; (Heb 5:7-8).
5. God heard him because of his godly fear. He did not doubt the father’s goodness. Even in the face of great temptation and intense suffering, more than any had undergone, he chose obedience, though it meant severe hardship.
D. God’s request may not always make since at first. However, if we walk by faith, there will be times when we are going to scratch our heads and want to tell God, “God, are You out of Your mind? That makes no sense whatsoever.”
1. To obey by faith is not always going to be the most logical thing to do. I mean, it’s not logical to attack a city by marching around, it’s not logical for a small shepherd boy to fight a giant, It does not make since to dip seven times or wash mud out of our eyes. These things don’t make a lot of sense to us, but to God they do.
2. Right here, in the life of Elijah, comes one of those commands from God, that if ever would have caused Elijah to question God, this would have been it. God told him to arise and go to Zarephath.
3. Zarephath was over a hundred miles away. From where Elijah was located, to get to Zarephath meant he had to go through the mountains of northern Israel to get there.
4. It wasn’t an easy place to get to from where Elijah was located. How guilty we are of always wanting God to lead us in the easiest way possible.
E. It’s like, God, I want You to work in my life, but don’t inconvenience me. One of the sign of our religious life in America is that of an easy, inconvenient lifestyle. We want God to operate, but only in our comfort zone. Elijah may have not have everything he wanted at Cherith, but he certainly was in a comfort zone.
1. He had meals on wings provided for him and he was comfortable. THAT is the biggest obstacle to having our needs met by God. Our own comfort level. We’d rather deal with the hassles of old problems than the challenge of new solutions. True our present situation isn’t all it should be…but at least it’s familiar and it is comfortable! Remember that God had bigger miracles in the life of Elijah, Elijah is going to raise the dead at Zarephath, not Cherith. But to get to that place of greater miracles, God may lead us in a way that we don’t necessary like. He may take us the most illogical way possible, He may take us the very way that we don’t want to go, but He has His purpose.
2. God told Elijah that not only was he going to Zarephath, he was being sent to a widow. We might be able to understand if he was going to a palace where his needs could have been taken care of, but he was being sent to a widow, and a poor one at that. No social security or retirement benefits existed at this time. A widow was considered among the poorest of the poor. A woman at this time found her substance through her husband’s provision. A widow did not have that method of income.
3. When Elijah makes it to Zarephath, just after he entered the gate of the city, he saw and noticed what the scripture says, the widow, not a widow. God led him right to the right widow. He saw the widow gathering sticks and he spoke to her and first asked her for some water. As she was going to get him some water, he then spoke up and said to please bring him a piece of bread. The widow replied that she only had a handful of meal and that she was gathering sticks to make a fire and cook the little meal she had left and then she and her son were going to die.
4. Most of us would have said, “God, You’re crazy, You don’t know what You are doing.” God doesn’t do things our way, He does them His for He is God and faith recognizes that God is God. That’s what faith is, recognizing God is God and He knows what is best. So Elijah obeyed and walked by faith. Faith=obedience.
III. Placed and Positioned
A. The brook drying up started Elijah on this journey, God has moved him out of his comfort zone. We wonder and question God when our brooks dry up. Maybe it’s a job that plays out unexpectedly, maybe its health problems that crop up unexpectedly, or maybe it’s a crisis that dries up the tranquility of our lives, but God is still in control. God provided for Elijah at the Brook Cherith for God was his source, and at Zarephath, God provides for Elijah for He is still his source.
1. Not only is Elijah walking by faith, the widow is about to learn to walk by faith. After she tells Elijah that she is about to make a small cake for her and her son and then she will die, Elijah does something that seems strange. He tells this widow to make the cake for him first, and then for her and her son.
2. I’m sure she must have thought, “Didn’t this guy hear me? I only have enough for just my son and I, that’s it”. Most of us would have said, you’re not getting my share. Let me share a great truth with you, write this down…You can’t get a blessing without being a blessing!"
3. This sounds almost selfish doesn’t it? Here’s Elijah asking this poor widow to go and make a cake for himself first and then one for her and the boy? But what we don’t understand is that Elijah was standing before her as God’s representative and telling her to put God first.
B. If you want to see God’s provision in your drought… put Him first in every area of your life… physically, emotionally, spiritually and financially. As she obeyed God, she found that when she went back, there was just enough meal and oil to make another cake. And each day, for about 1 ½ years, she found just enough to get through one more day. When you put God first, God will make amazing provision for you. When Elijah was at the brook God called the ravens to feed him; ravens are a type of sin/death/or the devil. When you are in your place God can make the devil bless you. Tell your neighbor “God is setting you up”. Set backs are set ups for God to step in.
1. The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way. Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Isa 40:31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall (“SHALL” indicates that something will or ought to happen in the future or intends to happen) (AND DO) renew [their] strength; they shall (AND DO) mount up with wings as eagles; they shall (AND DO) run, and not be weary; [and] they shall (AND DO) walk, and not faint.
C. However you may feel about where you are I want to encourage you in the fact that you are “Placed and Positioned for provision”.
1. He wants to take care of you, if nature does not worry about provision why should we, the apple of God’s eye, sons and daughters that reflect His image. Jesus said Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? I want you to know that you are being set up and placed for a miracle. A good chess player knows how to position and place all the pieces in order to win. You are set up to win….Hallelujah! Tell your neighbor “you been set up”.
2. God has put you in your place for a reason. It doesn’t look like much now, because you just see the preview the main attraction is about to play out.
3. We hear all the time about “not being in a position too…” or “you are not in a place too…” those statements may work in the natural but not with God. Through Him there is a place by Him there is a position. The Bible says in Ac 17:28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
4. In Exodus 14:13-30; the children of Israel were to be led thru the Red Sea; God could have sent them another way to reach the Promised Land a much shorter way. They could have taken the “way through the land of the Philistines” Ex.13:17, but God choose the way that no one would have taken. The way of the Red Sea would prove God knows what He is doing and how to position His people.
5. He could have sent them through a short cut and took them to the front door of the Promised Land but they would have never learned how to trust Him in the wilderness, they would have never saw God destroy their enemies, they would have missed His protection and provision, there would have never been water from a rock, manna from Heaven, Quail flying into the frying pan. God’s ways are not ours, because His ways help us to rely and trust in Him. The Bible says “that we must believe that He is and that He is rewarder of those that diligently seek Him”, if He did it all for us we would never know He is… (ex.)
6. Don’t stay in the dry places waiting for the former to happen again, it served its propose, but now God is sending you to your next provision.
