When The Brook Dries Up

That is, you accept the Lord as your Savior, and then you can live happily ever after, and never have another crisis in your life!

But there is no such life for any of us while we are here on earth. It does not matter:

• If a person is rich or poor

• What country a person lives in

• What family a person belongs to

None of us are exempt from the problems of life. NONE!

Illus: We have those who try to give that impression though:

• They wear clothes they can not afford

• They buy cars they can not afford

• They buy homes they can not afford

• They spend money they do not have

They do all of this to impress people they do not even like. They do it to cause people to think they are living the perfect life.

But if you could enter their private life, you would discover their life is like ours, filled with crisis after crisis!

NO ONE IS EXEMPT FROM THE SORROWS OF LIFE.

Illus: Did you hear about the man and the woman who seemed to be the perfect couple? Once upon a time, a perfect man and a perfect woman met. After a perfect courtship, they had a perfect wedding. Their life together was, of course, perfect. One snowy, stormy Christmas Eve, this perfect couple was driving their perfect car (a Grand Caravan) along a winding road, when they noticed someone at the side of the road in distress. Being the perfect couple, they stopped to help. There stood Santa Claus with a huge bundle of toys. Not wanting to disappoint any children on the eve of Christmas, the perfect couple loaded Santa and his toys into their vehicle. Soon they were driving along delivering the toys. Unfortunately, the driving conditions deteriorated and the perfect couple and Santa Claus had an accident. Only one of them survived the accident.

Who was the survivor?

The perfect woman survived. She's the only one who really existed in the first place. Everyone knows there is no Santa Claus and there is no such thing as a perfect man.

But actually, when it comes to perfection, we have to move from the realm of the EARTHLY to the HEAVENLY. When all of us Christians go to be with the Lord, we then will enjoy the perfect life. But until then we can expect our share of problems!

HAVE YOU NOTICED, some folks seem to receive more than their share? Job had it right when he said, in Job 14:1, “Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.”

As we read through the Scriptures, we discover that all of God’s choice servants faced the same kinds of problems in their lives as we do in ours.

For example, in the life of Elijah, the great prophet of God, we see he faced some of the same kinds of problems we face. But during this time, when he faced crisis after crisis, God took care of him and fed him.

God chose to take care of Him during this time by using three things:

• A stream (Brook)

• Some birds

• A widow woman

God used a stream to provide for him, but one day Elijah looked at the brook, and discovered it was drying up.

I can just imagine the astonishment on his face as he watches the flow of the brook becomes a trickle one day, and eventually the day comes where the trickle turns to a dry creek bed. NO MORE WATER!

If Elijah had been like many today, he would have said, “Bad luck has set in!”

Illus: Thinking about luck makes us think of the husband that had been slipping in and out of a coma for several months, yet his wife stayed by his bedside every single day.

When he came to, he motioned for her to come nearer.

As she sat by him, he said, "You know what?

• You have been with me all through the bad times

• When I got fired, you were there to support me

• When my business failed, you were there

• When I got shot, you were by my side

• When we lost the house, you gave me support

• When my health started failing, you were still by my side

When I think about it now, I think you bring me bad luck."

But for Christians, LUCK is not what determines our destiny. The sovereign God of heaven determines our destiny.

However, that which God had used to sustain Elijah initially was no longer there. What would Elijah do now?

God had already made provision for him to be fed by the widow woman in Zarephath to supply his needs.