This week we honor the one-year anniversary of the terrorist attack on the United States. No one’s life has gone unaffected. The television images that came across the news networks in the weeks following September 11, 2002 changed our lives dramatically. This past year has been met with new fears and unprecedented challenges. The security that we once took for granted has been compromised, and things that we once thought inconceivable have become a reality. The question at the airport, “Have your bags have been out of your possession since you packed them?” has taken on new meaning, wouldn’t you say?
In the obscure book of Nahum we read, “His way is in the whirlwind and the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet.” (1:3c) In the cloud of smoke that swallowed New York’s twin towers and consumed the Pentagon, God was moving and working His eternal plan for mankind. It is in times like this that God emerges with mercy and grace from above. Roy Lessin, co-founder of DaySpring Cards, voiced one great lesson that has risen from ground zero in New York, “It has been the way we have sharpened our focus on what is important, and reevaluated our priorities on what has lasting value.”(1).
As a nation, we face an uncertain future. Like Elijah in 1 Kings, our future is full of questions and uncertainties, as a nation and as individuals. I would like to share 5 things that were certain and unshakable for Elijah and are the same for us. You can build your future on these truths.
1. God has a purpose for your life. Your birth, life, and death are at God’s discretion and mercy. He is not trying to play hide-and-seek with His will for your life. There are no accidents in His plan for your life.
2. God is in control. God is not on vacation at Camp David. All the resources of Heaven are at His disposal.
3. God is sovereign. Nothing in the universe can thwart or frustrate His plans for mankind. He is not caught off-guard nor is he ringing His hands in anxiety as history unfolds.
4. God’s Word is without error and fully dependable. For thousands of years the best minds of the world have attempted to discredit the Bible, to no avail. That which He has declared will come to pass. Take that to the bookmakers of Vegas, it’s as sure a bet as you can make.
5. Christ’s work on the cross has provided for your life, future, inheritance, and destiny. His blood forgives. His blood protects. His blood has bought you and canceled all the works of the enemy against your life.
We need assurances of God’s protection and His provision more than ever. The Life and Times of Elijah teaches these truths from every angle, using every setting available to the person of the Holy Spirit. Go with me now to the Advanced Training of Elijah. Two years have passed and Elijah has moved from Boot Camp into the Advanced Training that will mature this servant for the miracles God will perform and the confrontations through which God will lead him.
Elijah remained at the Brook Cherith for about 2 years. Eventually the brook dried up because of the drought predicted by Elijah. For Elijah, these last 2 years had been a place of communion. Now he would be sent right into the heart of the enemy’s territory. To go to Zeraphath was to leave safety and solitude and travel to the heart of Baal worship and the home of Jezebel. Zeraphath means place of refining. The root verb means, smelt, refine, test. In the noun form it means crucible. (2) What Cherith was to Basic Training, Zeraphath would be to Advanced Training for the soldier Elijah.
It was in the Mediterranean community of Zeraphath that God would delight in using an unlikely source to provide for Elijah’s needs. Here he met a widow picking up sticks for her final meal. Upon meeting Elijah, the widow’s attention quickly shifts from her suffering to his thirst. Her focus was redirected to someone else’s problem. Do you see the principle of God’s provision packed into her activity? When you get involved in helping others accomplish their dreams, God helps you with yours.
Let’s outline the chapter around three tests that I believe God served to Elijah. For the next sixty-seconds this is going to be a test, no peeking on your neighbor’s paper. Each test will provide insight from God’s Word on how to survive when a famine hits your life. Three tests each intended to refine the life of Elijah for the Master’s use.
1. The Test of Faithful Instructions
“Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. Then the word of the Lord came to him: ‘Go at once to Zeraphath of Sidon and stay there. I have commanded a widow in that place to supply you with food.’ So he went to Zeraphath...” (1 Kings 17:7-10a)
Let me highlight two truths I want to draw from this point. First, God has not lost track of you Next, He is aware of how painful the travel is to Zeraphath.
He Has Not Misplaced You
The brook was getting smaller and smaller. Perhaps Elijah’s faith was drying up as the brook disappeared. Elijah couldn’t help but think of those back home that were affected by his prophetic announcement. How was his family handling the drought? Had the town well run dry? As the brook dried up, perhaps the souls of his family dried unto death.
Verse 8 offers volumes of hope when you are sitting by a dry streambed – “Then the word of the Lord came to me…” The word of hope is this - God knows where you are! It is so easy to think that in the busyness of all God has going on that maybe He has misplaced us in the grand scheme of things. Worse yet, that our world is somehow unworthy of His involvement. I think the second one where most of us struggle.
Are you walking through cancer? He is there as you decide about radiation. Are you caught up in divorce proceedings, making decisions about parenting plans? He is there! Are you on the verge of financial collapse? He is the one keeping the creditors at bay, so you can lean on Him. He has not forgotten you at the brook nor misplaced you in the unemployment line. Take comfort in those words, dear one!
He is Aware of the Pain of Travel
She was just a teenager. First pregnancy. Now an unexpected census would take her and Joseph from Galilee back to their hometown in Bethlehem. She would ride sidesaddle for several days and feel every bump in the road. The last thing a young, first-time mother needs is a long trip using primitive travel. Mary experienced pain. Perhaps you are experiencing pain today in your travel. Can you see beyond the travel metaphor and draw out the timeless insights for living?
How painful the travel must have been from the Brook Cherith to Zeraphath, 100 miles of misery and pain. These were days when the sound of celebration was replaced with the sound of funeral dirges. Death filled the land. With every step he took, Elijah was acutely aware of his role in the centerpiece of the drama that was unfolding. Not only was Ahab looking for Elijah, all of Israel was looking for the prophet that had caused such pain.
At times obedience is painful. Eddie Willis is a close friend from Texas. He and 4 other guys from our church moved to Austin to make it in the music industry. Austin, like Seattle and Nashville, draws people because of the music industry. While Eddie and his band WideAwake are waiting for their ship to come in, Eddie cuts laws in Austin suburbs in 100-degree heat. Pushing a lawn mover in that humidity, trying to supplement your income as your band grinds out hits waiting for one of them to become a chart buster is not the most pleasant experience. Following God’s will can be downright difficult at times. Have you recognized that truth in life? I am deeply impressed with a person who knows what God has called them to do and is willing to live on the painful road of obedience.
2. The Test of First Impressions
“When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called her and asked, ‘Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?’ As she was going to get it, he called, ‘And bring me please, a piece of bread.’ ‘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 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.’” (1 Kings 17:10b – 12)
Elijah’s journey had finally ended; he had arrived at his destination, the Gentile city of Sidon on the Mediterranean coast. This was the home of Jezebel (1 Kings 16:31). From this verse we learn another important truth - God knows where you are and where you are going! Elijah didn’t know what would happen after he left the brook. We don’t know what will happen in our future, but God knows and that is all that matters.
Do you remember from earlier in our lesson that Zeraphath means, refine, crucible or test? What will this test look like for Elijah? It would come in the form of the person God would use to provide for Elijah’s needs - a widow! God used a widow to accomplish the Lord’s refining work on His servant. This wasn’t just any widow; she was preparing her last meal for herself and her son. As a widow, she was no stranger to pain. She had grieved the loss of a husband, and now she was at the end of the road. Talk about hopelessness.
What was Elijah doing in such an impossible situation? Elijah was the all-sufficient prophet from Gilead who stood before kings. God would humble him by using this weak, frail widow to be his supply. The crucible’s fire is being ignited.
What is God trying to teach us through this widow? There are any number of directions we could go, let me suggest two. First, she has nothing to offer. Listen to the description of her plight as told by W. Phillip Keller…
“She was apparently too poor to procure fuel for herself from the dealers of the town. So, in shame and humility she had gone into the country to collect what sticks she could to fuel the last fire she thought she would ever need to make. It was the end for her and her son. Elijah’s drought had done its deadly deed. The famine had finished off her family. This was the termination of the tortuous path she had trod in life.” (3)
Elijah ended up in front of the neediest person God could direct him to, one that had suffered under the consequences of Elijah’s drought. God expected Elijah to rely on her to have his needs met. Not only was the crucible getting hotter, the smelting was beginning.
James 1:27 tells us that religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this, “to look after orphans and widows in their distress.” Why does this type of Christianity please God? Because orphans and widows can offer nothing in return! This was true of Elijah’s widow. All she had was a little flour and some oil.
Elijah had to get past what he saw in the natural and trust God for the supernatural. He had to see beyond the temporal and trust God for the eternal. He couldn’t rely on the visible; he had to learn to see in the invisible. God was teaching this desert-baked, bearded beggar with cracked lips and a swollen tongue to see with his heart and not his eyes. Is seeing believing? Or is believing seeing?
3. The Test of Physical Impossibilities
“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. 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.’”” (1 Kings 17:13-14)
The second point I want you to see is that she represents complete impossibility. After asking for a cool drink, Elijah asks for the impossible, “As she was going to get it, he called, ‘And bring me, please, a piece of bread.’”(verse 11)
The widow stopped in her tracks. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Bringing water from the village well was one thing! But she had an empty barrel of flour and a jar that needed a spatula to scrape the remnant of oil that had almost evaporated. She must have felt put out by the request because she protests immediately: “As surely as the Lord your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread.” (verse 12) Elijah was asking her to exhaust all of her resources. It would only lead to one result - death.
There you have it, the Christian life summed up in one truth: God wants to exhaust all of our resources, and that will lead to death. Paul knew this truth when he wrote, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” (Gal. 2:20).
Have you discovered the victory that comes with allowing God to have it all? It is the most liberating way to live. God wants to press upon you the need to use your resources, even if they seem like such a small amount. Mark my words, God will come and claim the need to use your (His) resources over and over again as you serve Him. If you refuse, you will be out of flour and oil. If you release them to His purposes, you will never lack.
“She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and or the woman and her family. 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.” (1 Kings 17:15-16)
Don’t panic friend. Don’t worry. The Lord can and will supply all the flour and oil that is needed for your provision. This was Elijah’s powerful and positive response to a doubtful generation. This was faith in action. This comes only when we have an unshakable confidence in God’s character, knowing that He will come through.
Remember the first thing out of Elijah’s mouth in the king’s palace? Let’s review for a moment… “As the Lord, the God of Israel lives, whom I serve…” This is faith without fear. This is unwavering loyalty and obedience to the declared will of God. This was the key to Elijah’s success and power. And it is the key to our success and power. Test God. Put Him first. Hold loosely whatever you have in your hand. Give it away gladly. The widow gave her fragments of food and it fed her family until the drought disappeared.
Before we move away from our text, let’s glean 4 lessons that offer words of hope.
Four Lessons As We Leave Zeraphath
1. God’s promptings can be unique. Follow the Spirit’s guidance-don’t try to figure it out! If God tells you to go into the ministry – don’t fight it! If God wants you to give your car to a single mother—respond without hesitation. When God speaks through His still small voice, be available to do His bidding immediately. Don’t argue. Flee the questions. Don’t try to figure this thing out. We are finite - He is infinite. Remember, He sees the beginning from the end. He can see the larger context; at best, you only get a shadow or glimpse. When He calls you to Zeraphath, to Indonesia, to Bahrain, to Royal Family Kids Camp, to answer phones on Wednesday before church, just do it!
2. God’s plan might seem overwhelming in those first days-stay with it! As a Chinese proverb says, “The journey of a 1000 miles begins with the first step.” Sometimes the first step is often the hardest. It is those first hours or days that are the most difficult when it comes to fasting. Those first days at a new job often seem the hardest, but it will not last for long.
Learn this important principle of motivation: if you are being challenged to do something, be open to a first fruits effort to get you started. In our building program, called the Nehemiah project, much of the success is accredited to a person’s commitment to the first fruits offering. The idea of first fruits in the Bible is offering your best and first as a symbol of your commitment. Most often it was associated with crops, cattle, and children.
3. God’s promises sometimes are conditional, based on our obedience- what are you waiting for? Look at verses 9 and 13; they communicate the idea of obedience. God instructed Elijah to, “Go at once to Zeraphath of Sidon and stay there.” The widow was told to go and make a little cake. It is significant to note that, provision always precedes obedience. You do your part and God will do His.
4. God’s provisions are more than enough, even though they are not what you expect- be a person of thanksgiving. Even though biscuits and water may seem like a sorry smorgasbord for a prophet, it filled those hungry stomachs. The resources saved the family from death. The flour and oil lasted supernaturally until the drought ended. Are you giving Him thanks for what He is providing to meet your needs?
Tracy Harp of Lynnwood, Washington is 34 years of age and has been a diabetic for 21 years. She recently sent me the following letter.
"On Monday, August 19, 2002, I was running late for work. I had missed my carpool, which meant I had to drive myself into work. I work 4:00pm to midnight. I live in Lynnwood, Washington and work in downtown Seattle.
"I had been very busy that day and hadn’t eaten enough. This causes my blood sugar to drop too low. For the 21 years I have had diabetes, I always had a warning sign before one of these episodes was coming on. I always get a weak and shaky feeling in my legs. When this happens, I have about 10 minutes to get some sugar in me before I get confused and disoriented. Never before has this not happened…until that day.
"I remember merging on the freeway in Lynnwood. I don’t remember anything else after that, when I woke up I was in an ambulance in Tukwila. For about 30 miles I had driven in a diabetic coma and was unconscious. I didn’t have a scratch on me. My car had only a few scratches of paint missing. More importantly, I hadn’t hurt anybody else. Traffic is very busy that time of the day.
"The miracle of this event is this: All my life, especially when I am feeling down, I ask the Lord for a sign, to prove He is still with me. And He probably does, but I’m always to blind to see it. But how more obvious could He be? He drove my car for me while I was out cold. He saved many lives and their cars. He pulled the car over for me and stopped it safely away from all the traffic.
"That day was a blessing for me. God is with us every second of the day, even when our thoughts are a million miles away. Do not ever doubt that He is with you. Once you have given your life and heart over to Him, He never leaves. He is faithful, loving, kind and protecting to those who honor Him.
"I also think He has a sense of humor. Okay, God, I finally, get it. I’m never alone. You are always there. And You’ve never left me.
Thanks to the Lord,
Tracy Harp"
End Notes
1. Roy Lessin. E-Card for 9-11. Published by DaySpring.com
2. Chuck Swindoll. Life and Times of Elijah. Living For Insight. Anaheim, California. PO Box 69,000. 1992, pg. 20.
3. W. Phillip Keller. Prophet of Power. Word Books. Waco, Texas. 1980. Pg. 30.
Edited by Diane Gardner
