Do you trust God? I mean do you really trust God?
Back in 1859 there was a tightrope walker by the name of Charles Blondin. He amazed the world when he walked the tightrope across Niagara Falls. The cable sagged about 60 ft in the middle and formed a sharp slope and the drop below him was nearly 200 ft. but he made it okay. He would perform this feat many more times and each time would make it a little more risky. He crossed over blindfolded, on stilts, and even wearing a gorilla suit and pushing a wheelbarrow.
One time after crossing he asked the audience, “Do you think I can make it across pushing this wheelbarrow?” The crowd applauded and hollered, “Yes, you can do it.” He pointed to one individual and asked him personally, “Do you, sir, think I can push this wheelbarrow across on the tightrope.” “I sure do,” answered the man. Then Blondin replied, “Then get in.” Needless to say, it didn't happen.
Another time he asked the same question and when the audience responded, “Yes you can do it,” he said, “Then climb on my back.” The crowds believed he could do it, but no one believed it enough to climb on his back. Only his manager trusted him enough to accept his challenge. That is real trust.
We began last week talking about the life of the prophet Elijah. Today we will continue our story in 1 Kings 17. We are talking today about serving God with trust. Elijah demonstrated real trust in serving God. He didn't just talk about what God could do. He built his life on it and showed others how to do the same.
PRAYER
The prophet Elijah was doing his best to prove that Yahweh was the one, true God. You might remember last time when he declared that God would stop the rain indefinitely—proving that God alone had the power to water the land and feed the people. But when Elijah spoke that prophecy, he was in grave danger from Ahab and Jezebel who were the nation’s rulers at that time and worshiped Baal. So, God had led Elijah into hiding at the Wadi Cherith. And the water flowing from this stream and the food that was brought by ravens sustained Elijah during the time of this drought.
1 Kings 17:7 – “After a while, the wadi dried up because there had been no rain in the land.” Now if you were with us last week remember in verse 3 where God instructed Elijah to go to the Wadi Cherith. That was where God would provide food and water for the prophet. But after some time, the stream dried up.
A wadi is a rocky waterway that runs dry most of the year but fills up during the rainy season. As time went on without rain, the stream stopped flowing. But why? Surely God who miraculously stopped the rain and sent ravens with food could keep this brook filled, even during a drought. We know that God cared about Elijah. And God certainly had the power and has the power to do all things. So, why did He allow the life-sustaining stream to dry up?
Why questions hit us all. Why did I get laid off? Why did my husband leave? Why have I gotten so sick that it prevents me from working? Why did my 401k plummet? Why has my life savings run dry?
Yet, when God is our provider, we will always have what we need. The nature of the provision may change, but God himself is our source. And sometimes what God permits us to lose or endure, points us to the truth that He is all we really need. It's a matter of learning to trust God in the good and in the bad. It's a matter of trusting God and not trusting the things that He provides.
It was Paul who said in 2 Corinthians 12:9, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness.”
1 Kings 17:8-12 – “Then the word of the Lord came to him: 9 “Get up, go to Zarephath that belongs to Sidon and stay there. Look, I have commanded a woman who is a widow to provide for you there.” 10 So Elijah got up and went to Zarephath. When he arrived at the city gate, there was a widow gathering wood. Elijah called to her and said, “Please bring me a little water in a cup and let me drink.” 11 As she went to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a piece of bread in your hand.”12 But she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I don’t have anything baked—only a handful of flour in the jar and a bit of oil in the jug. Just now, I am gathering a couple of sticks in order to go prepare it for myself and my son so we can eat it and die.”
Instructions don't always make sense. For example, note the following warning labels:
? Directions for a hair dryer say, “Do not use while sleeping.
? Instructions on a baby stroller warn, “Remove child before folding.”
? A carpenter's drill has the label, “This product is not intended for use as a dental drill.”
Ridiculous instructions we just ignore, or make fun of in a sermon. But what do you do when the instructions don't make sense? Even more, what do you do when those instructions come from God? In verse 9, God instructs Elijah to “get up, go to Zarephath that belongs to Sidon and stay there. Look I have commanded a woman who is a widow to provide for you there.” Scripture doesn't record what Elijah thought about this plan, but we do know that he responded - he obeyed.
I ask you again, do you trust God? Do you trust God as much as Elijah trusted God?
Trust comes easily when God's leading makes sense, but that's not always the case. When the Wadi Cherith dried up, God tells Elijah to go to Zarephath. That seems a little strange because Zarephath was in Phoenicia, Jezebel's home and the center of Baal worship in that region.
And then on top of that, God promises to support Elijah on the income of a widow living there. That sounds improbable because widows in that agricultural society typically lived in poverty. Yet that was where God sent Elijah, and Elijah trusted God enough to go.
So Elijah arrives at the city gate, and he meets the widow as she was gathering wood. When he asked her for water and food, it seemed to just reinforce what seem to be an outrageous plan. The widow was actually preparing to make her final meal with her last flour and oil. With her pantry bear, she had made up her mind that she and her son would soon starve to death.
Many of us, if we were in Elijah's place, would have probably turned around and walked out the door. We would probably formulate a plan in our own mind that if I'm going to make it, I'll have to provide for myself. But Elijah trusted God enough to follow through with this plan. Do you trust God that much?
Elijah finds the widow and he requests water and a piece of bread. The widow was focused on how little she had. “I don't have anything baked - only a handful of flour in the jar and a bit of oil in the jug.” (v.12) Elijah challenged her to see what God could do with what she placed in God's hands.
Elijah's challenge reminds me of when Jesus instructed his disciples to feed the 5,000. They responded just like the widow, we only have five loaves and two fish here. But Jesus challenged them to offer their meager resources to God and see Him do what only He can accomplish. So, Elijah directs the widow to feed him before feeding her son and herself. In doing that, Elijah is asking her to believe God's promise.
Keep in mind that this widow had nothing to offer Elijah and no prospects of getting more. She had lost hope and given up. Elijah could have joined her in her despair. After all, he also had nothing to live on. The difference was Elijah had learned from experience that God always provided. Elijah didn't have to see God's promises with his eyes to claim them by faith.
1 Kings 17:13-14 - “Then Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid; go and do as you have said. But first make me a small loaf from it and bring it out to me. Afterward, you may make some for yourself and your son, 14 for this is what the Lord God of Israel says, ‘The flour jar will not become empty and the oil jug will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the surface of the land.”
So, Elijah tells the widow, “Don't be afraid.” He was allowing God to speak through him to comfort this widow in that moment. Elijah knew that God is sovereign over the universe, and He is our all-loving, all-powerful God that holds all things in His hands.
Again, notice the confidence that Elijah had. He was in tune with the voice of God. So, he spoke aloud with the confidence that God had impressed upon him in secret. Just as when God told Elijah he would stop the rain and Elijah stood boldly and proclaimed the prophecy, he is now proclaiming to this widow that God will provide and for her not to be afraid.
His example serves as a model for all of us. Will we believe God's promises in our times of despair? Will we share our faith and invite others to trust with us in the God who never forsakes us? Again I ask, “Do you really trust God that much?”
I wish we had time to pause for a moment and allow testimonies from you who have seen how God provided for you when you thought there was no way out. God is telling us today that He still provides if we will trust in Him.
1 Kings 17:15 – “So she proceeded to do according to the word of Elijah. Then the woman, Elijah, and her household ate for many days.” Did God provide? This woman just told Elijah that she only had enough flour and oil to make one more small loaf of bread for her and her son. And this verse tells us that Elijah, the woman, and her son ate for many days. You might say, “Yeah but that's just a story in the Old testament of the Bible.” God is stressing to us today that He is still alive and well and will still provide for us if we will only trust in Him.
Some of you may remember the polio epidemic of the 20th century. At a time when most scientists believed only vaccines made from live viruses would work, it was Jonas Salk that developed an effective killed-virus polio vaccine. He grew virus samples and then deactivated them with formaldehyde, which prevented them from reproducing. Injecting these impotent strains into the bloodstream triggered the human immune system to produce protective antibodies. What Salk believed in his heart, he had to test to prove. Someone had to be a guinea pig to see if the vaccine worked. And it did.
Trust in God is kind of like that. We can trust and believe based on how God worked in biblical times, and our faith can grow when we hear testimonies of what God has done for others today. But nothing is like the confidence we have when we take God at His word and see His power for ourselves. Take a step of faith and see how God will use that for your good and for His glory. Then you too will have a testimony to proclaim to others.
1 Kings 17:16 – “The flour jar did not become empty, and the oil jug did not run dry, according to the word of the Lord he had spoken through Elijah.” Did God do as He said? Yes, He did. Will God do as He says today? Just like the song says, “Yes He will, yes He can.”
Against all reasoning, the widow did as Elijah instructed. She used her last resources to feed the prophet. But by trusting God, she opened the door for God to prove Himself. As a result, the widow, her household, and Elijah all ate for many days. God miraculously multiplied what she entrusted to Him, and He provided for her throughout a three-and-a-half year drought. Did you catch that? When verse 15 says they ate for many days, it was actually three-and-a-half years that the flour and oil didn't run out. God demonstrated His sovereignty even in Zarephath, a Phoenician town where people believed Baal reigned supreme.
Do you know what God is wanting us to do? He is wanting us to allow others to see His faithfulness that's demonstrated in your life. Our willingness to trust God and act in faith gives Him the opportunity to display His power.
Do you remember the story in Matthew 8 when a Roman centurion trusted in Jesus' ability to heal, and Jesus healed the centurion servant from a distance. Or the story in Matthew 9 when the woman who had suffered with bleeding for 12 years dared to reach out and touch Jesus' robe. He told her, “Your faith has saved you.”
And then there's the story in Luke 17, where Jesus commanded ten lepers who needed healing to go and show themselves to the priests. And as they obeyed, they were healed.
So, what does that have to do with us today? In our modern world, no one better modeled how to trust, try, and prove God more than George Muller of the 19th century in Bristol, England. Muller founded orphanages and trusted God to provide miraculously for the children under his care.
In his autobiography, he wrote, “I want to show these people that God is faithful and can be trusted without reservation. By giving my brothers visible proof of the unchangeable faithfulness of the Lord, I might strengthen their faith. This is the primary reason for establishing the orphan house, that God would be magnified because the orphans under my care will be provided with all they need through prayer and faith.” This was a daring challenge on Muller's part. And it should challenge us today.
Do you trust in god? Do you really trust him? How can we trust, try, and prove God? And how will others see God's faithfulness through us?
We saw last week that it takes courage to serve God. Today we see that it takes trust to serve God. Our willingness to trust God and to act in faith gives God the opportunity to show His power.
If you have never trusted God completely, God just may be calling you right now to place your faith fully in Him.
And really, that's what we do when we accept Christ as our personal Savior - we trust Him fully to guide our lives from that moment forward.
Why not trust Jesus today? Why not allow Him to guide you from this day forward? That choice is yours to make.
Let's pray.
