Brook Failure
1 Kings 17:1-7
I Kings 17:1-7 -- And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word. And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there. So he went and did according unto the word of the LORD: for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook. And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.
l. INTRODUCTION -- ELIJAH, THE TISHBITE
-Elijah, the prophet of fire. The man who was invincible. The man who struck fear in the heart of Ahab and of Jezebeel. The man who towered above the prophets of Baal. The man whose prayers brought fire streaming from heaven.
-The background of Elijah is not really known. He just kind of shows up on the scene. He was not the ordinary type of prophet. He was a man of volcanic force. He was a man who had granite strength.
-Elijah was one of those men who periodically show up in history and have the ability to lift themselves above the common levels of humanity yet in doing this they are made solitary and lonely by their very size.
-He was a man who had such a tremendous spiritual force within him that he could outdistance the King’s chariot and horses in a wild race before the storm to Jezreel.
-He was a man who could confront King Ahab in the courtyards of the stolen vineyard of Naboth and pronounce doom on him.
-He was a man who had such magnificent strength, such noble courage, and character traits that we should desire to uphold.
ll. THE BROOK
-Cherith. The brook that God sent Elijah to. It was one of the little tributaries of the Jordan River. Somewhere in the uplands of the south portion of the land of Palestine, it chattered quietly with the teeming life that characterizes the small streams.
-Cherith means “separated” and that generally is God’s pattern with his greatest men. He takes them aside and sets them apart for a while and then places them in the direction that they need to go.
* Moses had his Midian.
* Joshua had his time of servitude in the Exodus.
* Paul had his Arabian desert experience.
* Jesus Christ had his wilderness.
-Cherith. The place where God draws His men aside. It will always be that way. A place to stretch, a place to be challenged, and place to be developed. To pull men away from the bustles of life is to commune with Him.
A. The Brooks and Waters in the Word of God
-Every man has his own brook. Regardless of that man’s status in the Kingdom of God, he will have a brook that he will be sent to on a directive of God.
-The Bible is full of examples of places where water filled reservoirs such as creeks, brooks, pools, and rivers.
* Waters of Marah, the waters of bitterness -- Exodus 15:23.
* Waters of Meribah, the waters of strife and contention -- Dt. 35:21; Psalm 81:7
* Waters of Enshemesh, the fountain of the sun -- Josh. 15:7-9
-There are other waters in the Word of God that are generally spoken of:
* Waters of purifying -- Numbers 8:7
* Waters of separation -- Numbers 19:9; 19:13
* Waters of affliction -- l Kings 22:27; ll Chron. 18:26; l Sam. 30:20
* Waters of gall -- Jeremiah 8:14; 9:15; 23:15
* Water of life -- Rev. 21:16; 22:1; 22:17
-So it was that Elijah was sent to the brook Cherith by the express commandment of God. It was no doubt a very strange twist of fate to him when the brook began to shrivel and finally to taper out. It was going to be a staggering thing to his faith when his brook began to fail.
-You must understand that every man will have a brook but it is also true that the brook with fail. It will dry up, it will give out.
* If Elijah had been a sinner.
* If Elijah would have been a fugitive running from the hand of God.
* If Elijah would have been a rebellious man resisting the purpose of God.
* If Elijah would have been recalcitrant in his own duties. . .
. . . . . the brook failure would have been perhaps conceivable to him.
-But that was not the case with Elijah. His brook failed him when he had been sent there by the will of God. It had been the Spirit of God that had driven him to the brook in the first place.
-Picture for a moment the surprise of Elijah. Look at Elijah as he scouts toward the head of the creek. Look at Elijah as he gets down on his hands and knees and begins to dig in the dry creek bed. Perhaps he wanted to not believe what was happening to him, his senses had failed him. But as he touched the rocks in the creek bed they were hot from the sunlight. The brooks of yesterday are now just dusty memories.
-The brook failure was enough to crush ordinary faith, but then Elijah did not have ordinary faith. There is something noble in the heart of a man who can quote these words when the creeks dry up:
Proverbs 3:5-6 -- 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.
-The man is blessed who can walk through the confusion of this life and hear the clear voice of God.
lll. WHY THE BROOK FAILED
-Yet, there is that gnawing question of why do the brooks fail? There are several reasons for the failure of the brooks in our lives.
1. The failure of the water was meant to deepen Elijah=s sense of brotherhood with those around him.
-Remember now that Israel is in the wearisome days of a great famine. God’s prophet has spoken and the clouds are shut up. Everywhere, the drought had left nothing untouched. Elijah now was a brother to the man whose cattle had died and whose crops had failed. Elijah was now a brother to the woman whose children were crying out due to the lack of the water in the land.
-Prior to the brook drying up, there was Elijah in his quiet little valley. Cherith was trickling and murmuring. It was very comfortable and it was very happy but that is not how that God makes his prophets. His prophets are shaped through hardship.
-What men must suffer, God’s prophets must suffer. What men must endure, God’s prophets must endure.
* What of Noah’s ridiculing and sarcastic neighbors?
* What of Joseph’s rejection by his brethren?
* What of Moses’ enduring the rebellion of Korah?
* What of David’s fleeing from Saul?
* What of Jeremiah’s weepings?
* What of the sufferings of Jesus Christ?
* What of the hardships endured by Paul?
-All for one purpose, and one purpose only, that I may know him.
Philippians 3:8-10 -- Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
-Hey, your brook has dried up. Everything is caving in on you. . . . . .But I know the Lord. Your world is standing on it’s head. . . . . But I know the Lord. . . .
-I am convinced that there is a brotherhood of suffering. Every man who has really lived has had to endure things in life. The brook has not failed because God is displeased with me, nor because God is angry with me, it is because the Father wants men to become brothers. One touch of nature makes men equal.
-There is no sympathy so deep and so strong as that which springs out of a common suffering. Exclude a man from what others have to bear, and you exclude him from one of the most wonderful heritages that exists in the lives of great men of God.
-Remember the Pharisee, I thank God that I am not like other men. The world was thirsty and crying and he was snug beside his bubbling Cherith. Elijah was saved from that when his brook dried up.
-Life becomes fuller, richer, and warmer than it ever was when our brooks dry up.
2. The failure of the brook proves that God makes no exceptions.
-God has His chosen men but whatever they are chosen for it is not to escape the heritage of tears. There is a great heritage that comes with tears. To separate a man from his tears is to destroy him.
-It has been said: Tell me what fuels a man’s dreams, tell me what makes a man laugh, and tell me what makes a man cry, and I can tell you the quality of his soul.
Hebrews 5:6-9 -- As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. 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; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;
John 11:35 -- Jesus wept.
* Take away His compassion and He is just another man.
* Take away His Gethsemane and He is just another man.
* Take away His Wilderness and He is just another man.
* Take away his tears and He is just another man.
-But that is never to be the case.
Isaiah 53:2-5 -- For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
-It hurts for our brooks to dry up, but it is important in the tending of the heart. The value of tears can never be underestimated.
-Somewhere between ordinary is something called an obstacle.
-One of things that drove Paul was the fact he stated in Acts 19:21 that he must see Rome. In Acts 21, a prophet named Agabus told Paul not to go to Jerusalem which was one of the doors that Paul would have to go to through to reach Rome. Agabus prophesied that the Paul would go bound in chains but Paul had that feeling of “I must” burning inside of his soul.
-So Paul, to get to Rome:
* You will go as a prisoner. . . . doesn’t matter, I must see Rome.
* You will have to endure disappointing circumstances. . . . doesn’t matter, I must see Rome.
* You will see great wickedness and have to go through much ridicule. . . . doesn’t matter, I must see Rome.
* You will be hemmed in by a Roman soldier. . . . doesn’t matter, I must see Rome.
* You will be hampered and hindered by chains on hands and feet. . . . doesn’t matter, I must see Rome.
* Your health and strength is leaving your body. . . .doesn’t matter, I must see Rome.
* You have a chop block awaiting you there. . . .doesn’t matter, I must see Rome
* Your congregation is going to be soldiers and court attendants and prisoners. . . . doesn’t matter, I must see Rome.
* You will be looked upon as a ringleader of a fanatical sect. . . . doesn’t matter, I must see Rome.
-That is the sort of attitude that separates the men from the boys. The concept of I must. That has to get inside of every man and woman in this room. “I must” make a difference in my generation.
* You will see situations that will test your faith. . . .doesn’t matter we must have a church.
* You don’t have a budget big enough for what you are trying to do. . . . doesn’t matter we must have a church.
* You will be hemmed in by some dream stealers. . . . . doesn’t matter we must have a church.
* You are going to have your health destroyed by the process. . . . doesn’t matter we must have a church.
* You are going to stand out like a sore thumb in this world. . . . doesn’t matter we must have a church.
* You are going to be looked at as a fanatical, wild-eyed man. . . . doesn’t matter we must have a church.
-Difficulties will test you, but because of this my faith is going to be increased. There are rich, rich harvests that come to those who are tested. Where will you be ten years from now, twenty years from now, one hundred years from now?
-With the passing of time our priorities and focus becomes sharper. Somewhere between average and mediocrity is a huge wall that will intimidate you and thwart you and try to destroy you. But hunker down and tell the devil that you are in this for the fight of your life.
3. The failure of the brook is for God to cast a vision in our lives.
-God spoke to Elijah and told him to go to Zarephath.
-You must walk by faith and not by sight.
2 Corinthians 5:7 -- “For we walk by faith, not by sight:”
-You cannot look at the famine and decide that God cannot take care of the difficulty. You have to walk by what you cannot see.
-Leave common things to men and they remain common, but give them to God and he has a way of moving beyond our sight into a greater realm of faith.
* What’s in your hand, David? Just a sling. . . . No that is a giant slayer.
* What’s in your window, Rahab? Just a scarlet thread. . . . .No it is a sign of salvation.
* What’s in your hand, Samson? Just a jawbone. . . . No that is a weapon of God.
* What’s in your lunch, kid? Just some fish and bread. . . . . No that is a feast for a multitude.
-No one else can see what God can see. Everyone else can see the crowd, the sick man on the stretcher, but God sees beyond the here and the now. What is it that rests within you soul right now? Only patience, discipline, prayer and time can bring it to pass.
* In our homes.
* In our jobs.
* In this church.
-Time has a way of bringing the good things out. It is when the brook fails that men discover their true purpose in life.
* What’s in your old house that you call a church? Some missionaries and some preachers, some Sunday School teachers, some stable saints, some committed folk.
* What’s in your house Bro. W.? Two preachers.
* What’s in your Sunday School Class?
* What’s on your Quiz Team?
* What’s in your Sheaves For Christ efforts?
* What’s in your mind?
-There is a purpose for every brook that dries up, it is your job to discover the reason behind the failure of the brook.
* If you want the sun to stand still, you have got to be in a fight.
* If you want the water to be sweet, you have to taste the bitter first.
* If you want manna, you have to get hungry.
* If you want the fire to fall from heaven, you have to be surrounded by doubt and unbelief.
* If you want the birds to feed you, you have to be on the run from a mad queen.
* If you want the axehead to float on the water, it has to first be lost in the pond.
-Never lose faith when the brook dries up!!!!
Philip Harrelson
November 18, 2001
