Alesaggio
08-14-2004, 01:30 PM
1 Kings 17:1-16 is the setting for this study.
Spiritual deserts: they are absolutely the most mysterious and difficult times of the Christian life, but they are essential for growth in the faith. In 1 Kings 17, all of Israel is in a spiritual drought. There has been 19 evil Kings reigning over God’s people in a row. And now the worst of them all, King Ahab, has taken a strangle hold on God’s people Israel. An idol-serving, pagan worshipping disgrace. Even the priests have become corrupt—or they have ran for their lives. And so to counteract the spiritual drought, God’s prophet Elijah calls for a physical drought. And even the famed prophet himself will have to be subject to it. Notice that not even dew formed in the morning!
Droughts happen in every area of life, but the spiritual droughts are the worst. When the brook runs dry in your soul, the easiest thing to do is to wrap yourself in the cocoon of despair and quit. But despairing and quitting are hardly ever the godly options. Scripture reveals the keys to survival, when your life source evaporates.
First of all, notice that God still has a plan for Elijah. “Then the Word of the Lord came to Elijah; ‘Leave here, and turn eastward and hide yourself by the wadi Cherith.’”
(Wadi): is a small body of water that does not appear, except during the rainy season. You know what that means? It means that God sustained Elijah by a brook of water that SHOULD NOT HAVE EVEN EXISTED AT THAT TIME! Could it be, that the dry spell that you are in right now has a solution that you didn’t even know was possible? God never calls us to endure a situation that He Himself is not prepared to sustain us through.
(Ravens): “I have ordered the ravens to feed you.” “The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening” The Ravens! The dark, dirty scavenging birds that the Law declared “unclean.” Usually ravens are greedy robbers, snatching up dirty tidbits from carcasses. But again God uses the most unlikely source to supply His prophet. Can you imagine the utter astonishment on Elijah’s face the first time these birds dropped food at his feet?
But: just when things are starting to look up again for the prophet, one morning Elijah wakes up, bends down to wash his face in the brook—and the brook is gone. The miraculous brook that should have never been there in the first place has finally dried up along with the rest of the countryside. This is the point in the spiritual cycle where most Christians get frustrated and lose hope—it’s the most frustrating moment. It’s the darkest hour. It’s the most likely point for an emotional crash. God provided some morsels in the past, but now—nothing. When the brook dries up—the real crisis point has arrived. There are really only two alternatives: We either persevere in the life of discipleship, or we turn to the natural alternative—the human path of self-preservation.
(Widow): In God’s discipleship school, there’s always another advanced degree. If the brook of Cherith was a bachelor’s in faith, than Zerephath is a master’s in humility. Elijah must submit to rely on a poor, starving widow. I don’t have to remind you that in this ancient culture, the widows were often the lowest on the social order. The neglected. The downtrodden. She has her own problems. She’s at the town gate, gathering wood. Even though she is old, she is doing this physical labor herself. We know she has a son to help her, but we find out later he is physically ill and near death. The last thing that she needs is to increase her burden with a third mouth to feed. We are told she has only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. Her plan is to use these sticks she is gathering to make a fire to cook her own last meal and then die.
God intervenes and says, “I’m going to bring these three despairing people together to demonstrate my divine compassion!” And so by the widow’s blind obedience combined with the prophet’s faith, God uses one handful of flour and one jug of oil to miraculously support these three for months. As the Bible says “the jar of meal was not used up neither did the jug of oil fail, according to the Word of the Lord that he spoke to Elijah”.
David the great King and Psalmist walked through the valley of the Shadow of Death—BUT survived to say “Thou art with me.”
The disciples spent three of the longest days in history in emotional and spiritual defeat after Jesus’ death. They had no idea a resurrection was coming.
You see that’s the amazing part about wilderness times. We have no idea, how or when God is going to display His brilliance in crafting our rescue! It’s like digging a tunnel through a mountain. You have no idea when the end will come until your pick strikes a beam of light!
God’s plans of rescue are better than any a novelist could devise! Imagine, a rainy-season wadi in the middle of a drought! A bunch of ravens dropping off food! A handful of flour and a half-pint of oil! The exciting part is you need the faith to use today’s blessing to make sure tomorrow’s comes!
God is the God of unending abundance. The God of surprise endings. Trust Him. Rely on Him. Use up whatever faith you have and see if the jar, small as it may be, isn’t full again tomorrow!
God promises you the rain will come again! It doesn’t matter how small your jar, how desperate you situation, how deep your forest. It doesn’t matter how dry your land, how dark your night, how cold your relationship, how lonely your soul. It’s the cycle of faith. It the cycle of hope: after the drought, God always brings the rain!
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Spiritual deserts: they are absolutely the most mysterious and difficult times of the Christian life, but they are essential for growth in the faith. In 1 Kings 17, all of Israel is in a spiritual drought. There has been 19 evil Kings reigning over God’s people in a row. And now the worst of them all, King Ahab, has taken a strangle hold on God’s people Israel. An idol-serving, pagan worshipping disgrace. Even the priests have become corrupt—or they have ran for their lives. And so to counteract the spiritual drought, God’s prophet Elijah calls for a physical drought. And even the famed prophet himself will have to be subject to it. Notice that not even dew formed in the morning!
Droughts happen in every area of life, but the spiritual droughts are the worst. When the brook runs dry in your soul, the easiest thing to do is to wrap yourself in the cocoon of despair and quit. But despairing and quitting are hardly ever the godly options. Scripture reveals the keys to survival, when your life source evaporates.
First of all, notice that God still has a plan for Elijah. “Then the Word of the Lord came to Elijah; ‘Leave here, and turn eastward and hide yourself by the wadi Cherith.’”
(Wadi): is a small body of water that does not appear, except during the rainy season. You know what that means? It means that God sustained Elijah by a brook of water that SHOULD NOT HAVE EVEN EXISTED AT THAT TIME! Could it be, that the dry spell that you are in right now has a solution that you didn’t even know was possible? God never calls us to endure a situation that He Himself is not prepared to sustain us through.
(Ravens): “I have ordered the ravens to feed you.” “The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening” The Ravens! The dark, dirty scavenging birds that the Law declared “unclean.” Usually ravens are greedy robbers, snatching up dirty tidbits from carcasses. But again God uses the most unlikely source to supply His prophet. Can you imagine the utter astonishment on Elijah’s face the first time these birds dropped food at his feet?
But: just when things are starting to look up again for the prophet, one morning Elijah wakes up, bends down to wash his face in the brook—and the brook is gone. The miraculous brook that should have never been there in the first place has finally dried up along with the rest of the countryside. This is the point in the spiritual cycle where most Christians get frustrated and lose hope—it’s the most frustrating moment. It’s the darkest hour. It’s the most likely point for an emotional crash. God provided some morsels in the past, but now—nothing. When the brook dries up—the real crisis point has arrived. There are really only two alternatives: We either persevere in the life of discipleship, or we turn to the natural alternative—the human path of self-preservation.
(Widow): In God’s discipleship school, there’s always another advanced degree. If the brook of Cherith was a bachelor’s in faith, than Zerephath is a master’s in humility. Elijah must submit to rely on a poor, starving widow. I don’t have to remind you that in this ancient culture, the widows were often the lowest on the social order. The neglected. The downtrodden. She has her own problems. She’s at the town gate, gathering wood. Even though she is old, she is doing this physical labor herself. We know she has a son to help her, but we find out later he is physically ill and near death. The last thing that she needs is to increase her burden with a third mouth to feed. We are told she has only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. Her plan is to use these sticks she is gathering to make a fire to cook her own last meal and then die.
God intervenes and says, “I’m going to bring these three despairing people together to demonstrate my divine compassion!” And so by the widow’s blind obedience combined with the prophet’s faith, God uses one handful of flour and one jug of oil to miraculously support these three for months. As the Bible says “the jar of meal was not used up neither did the jug of oil fail, according to the Word of the Lord that he spoke to Elijah”.
David the great King and Psalmist walked through the valley of the Shadow of Death—BUT survived to say “Thou art with me.”
The disciples spent three of the longest days in history in emotional and spiritual defeat after Jesus’ death. They had no idea a resurrection was coming.
You see that’s the amazing part about wilderness times. We have no idea, how or when God is going to display His brilliance in crafting our rescue! It’s like digging a tunnel through a mountain. You have no idea when the end will come until your pick strikes a beam of light!
God’s plans of rescue are better than any a novelist could devise! Imagine, a rainy-season wadi in the middle of a drought! A bunch of ravens dropping off food! A handful of flour and a half-pint of oil! The exciting part is you need the faith to use today’s blessing to make sure tomorrow’s comes!
God is the God of unending abundance. The God of surprise endings. Trust Him. Rely on Him. Use up whatever faith you have and see if the jar, small as it may be, isn’t full again tomorrow!
God promises you the rain will come again! It doesn’t matter how small your jar, how desperate you situation, how deep your forest. It doesn’t matter how dry your land, how dark your night, how cold your relationship, how lonely your soul. It’s the cycle of faith. It the cycle of hope: after the drought, God always brings the rain!
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