OBEDIENCE BRINGS MIRACLES
I Kings 17:1-16
1.And Elijah the Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, “as the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew or rain these years, except at my word.
2.Then the word of the Lord came to him saying
3.Get away from here and turn eastward, and hide by the brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan.
4.And it will be that you shall drink from the brook and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.
5.So he went and did according to the word of the Lord, for he went and stayed by the brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan.
6.The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat at night.
7.And it happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.
8.Then the word of the Lord came to him saying,
I want to stop there for a moment. Sometimes we go to a place that we believe God has directed us, and we are doing very well, but there comes a time that everything seems to be drying up. The blessings that we had are no longer coming through. The successes that were so easy for us, as others were struggling stopped altogether, now everyone around us seems to be getting the blessings and we have gone from number one, to out of the running. Nothing that we do seems to be getting us anywhere. We continue to try those things that have always worked for us in the past, but have stopped working for us now. It’s not fun anymore!
We start to examine ourselves, (which we should) to see what we have done wrong. Where have we stepped off God’s path, we must be out if His will, because He has stopped blessing us in the thing we were convinced that He sent us to do!
I believe that when God sends us to a place where we become successful, and comfortable, being human and not liking a lot of unnecessary changes in our life, we would become complacent. And would stay there forever. It is for this reason that God dries up the brook and then He sends His word to us letting us know that it is time to move on. Why would anyone want to leave a wonderful flowing brook when there is a drought in the land? You have plenty to drink, the ravens are bringing you two well-balanced meals a day and you are happy.
I’d like to make three points at this juncture:
.If your brook dries up where you are, first look inward and make sure that you are still doing those things that you should, and that you are not sabotaging yourself in the work place causing your own brook to dry up. If you are not sure ask the Lord to reveal to you any problems that you might be having such as sin, unforgiveness, or pride. If none of the above seem to be the problem, then move to point number two.
•God may be drying up your brook because He is about to move you out of your comfort zone to take you to a new place in your mindset, emotions or even in an entirely new direction.
•Wait for the word of the Lord. If Elijah had no faith he might have jumped up and started running as soon as the brook dried up, but instead he waited for the word of the Lord to come and tell him where He wanted Elijah to go. It is God who gives us success in whatever we do and it will be God who will continue to give us our successes if we will wait on Him.
It had to be somewhat uncomfortable for Elijah to sit by a dried up brook wondering if God forgot he was there, or did I ever even hear from God, or what did I do wrong for God to dry up my brook? And where are those ravens anyway?
The last secular job I had, dried up and I sat by that dried up brook for about a year wondering what I was doing, nothing was working out. I was the only Christian surrounded by angry people. I had four glorious months of flowing water and they saw me as a light of hope in a dark place. The ravens were bringing my blessings every day and I said well Lord, I’d rather be in full time ministry, but this isn’t bad, success feels good no mater where you are. The last 8 months were terrible, but I had to wait on the Lord.
I jumped out ahead of the Lord once before and paid a terrible price, so I stayed until He gave me His word to move. No matter how bad you think it is, if you don’t wait on the Lord to give you direction, I promise it will be much worse.
Verse 9. “Arise and go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See I have commanded a widow there to provide for you. This is the second time God used the term I have commanded. He commanded the ravens to bring him food twice a day, and now The Lord says that He commanded a widow to provide.
10. So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, indeed a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called her and said, “Please bring me a little water in a cup that I might drink.
11. And as she was going to get it (Apparently there was no shortage of water since she didn’t say anything about it she just set off to get it) he called to her and said, “Please bring me a morsel of
bread in your hand.”
12. So she said, as the Lord your God lives, I do not have bread, only a handful of flour in a bin and a little oil in a jar; and see I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die.” (Wait a minute, didn’t God say that He commanded this widow to provide for Elijah? Apparently the widow never heard God’s commandment, and if she did, she didn’t have anything to provide with? Why didn’t God command a rich widow to provide?)
13.And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake first, and bring it to me; and afterward make some for yourself and your son.
14.“For thus says the Lord God of Israel: The bin of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil run dry, until the day the Lord sends rain on the earth.”
Our God is in the blessing business. The silent command of God bypasses our mind (because our minds will try to figure it out on a logical basis) and thought process and goes directly into our spirit, and lays dormant there until He brings it to life, through a word or a circumstance, and when He brings His commandment to life we will have a “Crisis of Belief”. The woman’s spirit was awakened to some truths, She knew that she stood before a man of God, because she said to him “As your God lives”.
As she heard his prophesy, the commandment of the Lord was awakened in her, but God will not over-ride our will. She had to make a decision to trust that God would bless her obedience. It is not easy when you are hungry to give your last bit of food to someone else, trusting in a God you do not see, to provide for you and your family.
Even more then sacrifice God wants obedience, but when there is a sacrifice that must take place in order to be obedient, the blessings are multiplied beyond your ability to contain it. Sharon and I walk a faith walk, and we have never seen it fail, as we continue to give out of our need, God provides in a most miraculous way. But it took time to get to that point of trust. We took a leap of faith, but I must be honest with you we did it afraid. It’s ok to do it afraid. God honors us because we do it afraid. He knows that as we continue to walk He has already provided. Our giving, walking, doing and praying brings it from the spiritual into the natural realm.
We met 4 women at a retreat in Clarksville, GA the youngest is 75 the oldest is 88 they started Fellowship Valley Retreat over 25 years ago on 55 acres of land with no money. They were missionaries to Africa, and they translated the bible into those languages. God called them to GA to start this retreat and every step of faith brought a new challenge, and all they did was take the authority of God and called in what was needed and God has been providing for over 25 years, and usually at the 11th hour, but they are undaunted by the circumstances, they simply say when we need it, we call it in and God provides, because we have dedicated this place to Him.
It is not easy to start a walk of faith, but the only way that your faith will be built is by exercising it. If you want big muscles you must exercise them, is it painful? You better believe it! There are no short cuts! Trust me, if there were I would have found them, because for years I did nothing but look for them and failed every time.
The wonderful part about exercising is, that you will find that it works and when you start to see the results you are encouraged to continue, and as you continue you are experiencing the word precept upon precept, glory to glory. It makes no difference if it is physical exercise or spiritual the results are the same. Growth.
15. So she went away and did according to the word of Elijah; and she and he and her household ate for many days.
16. The bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry,according to the word of the Lord which He spoke by Elijah.
Invite God to work by His unlimited power within our limited circumstances
Two principles of giving are illustrated by this story
1.We must give something out of our need. When we give out of our need it demands faith, because our faith is not tested when we give out of our abundance.
This woman had a need for herself and her family, but she gave to sustain the ministry and the life of God’s prophet, Elijah. Then God multiplied all that she gave, back to her!
2.This woman gave first. Her giving activated the miracle supply of God flowing back into her life. God multiplied her seed sown. She gave one small cake, but it was all she had. God blessed this woman’s sacrifice and obedience for a period of almost two years.
Your giving causes something to happen according to God’s eternal principles of seedtime and harvest.
There is an old saying :
“Without God, you cannot. Without you God will not.” God has already given from His side. Now we must step out in our giving to Him. Doing so will release His flow of provision in the natural side of things.
Sow that seed and give God something to multiply!
