ELIJAH: The Testing By The Brook - Part 2
The churches of Christ Greet You (Romans
Text: 1 Kings 17:1-7
Introduction
When you think of
Elijah,
what comes to your mind? Probably the Prophet standing on
Before Elijah could
stand on
Because we live in
a world of
sin the trials of life will come. The Apostle Peter wrote: “In this you
greatly
rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have
been
distressed by various trials, that the proof of your faith, being more
precious
than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found
to
result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ”
(1 Pet.
1:6-7). Similarly James 1:2-4 says: "Consider it all joy, my brethren,
when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your
faith
produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, that you
may be
perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."
What's the problem
we face in
suffering? We are often more interested in our comfort and pleasure
than with
genuine, spiritual growth and maturity. We want a carefree life rather
than a
life with character. We may think we are okay and mature enough just as
we are,
but the Lord knows better. We want maturity without the pain, but real
growth
requires pain.
Illustration: For instance, we may need to lose weight,
but we want
to do so without the pain of hunger, without the burning of tired
muscles
caused by exercise, and without the discomfort of changing our
lifestyle or
eating habits. As a result, people are often suckers for those
advertisements
that offer painless weight loss, like pills that burn away the fat
while we sit
on the sofa eating a bag of potato chips.
In this lesson, we
turn to
three more tests Elijah experienced by the brook. The test of God's
promise and
supply, the test of obedience, and the test of the dried up brook.
The Test of
God's Promise
and Supply (17:4)
In verse 4 God
promised to
supply Elijah's needs while by the brook. How gracious of the Lord! It
is a
wonderful truth to know He never sends us anywhere to do anything
without His
presence and provision. The promise of Scripture is always "my God
shall
supply all your need . . ." (Phil.
As we think about
God's
provision, it is helpful to note that the supply God gives may be
simple as
here in Elijah's life, or lavish as experienced by Solomon. There may
also be
in that provision a test of one's faith - a test of devotion to the
Lord and of
confidence in who He is and in what He is doing. Is God the object of
our
devotion or is it in what He supplies? If simple, will we be content or
will we
complain or be envious of others? If lavish, will we remain loyal, or
will we
become devoted to the gifts rather than the Giver? Will we keep our
values and
priorities in line with loving the Lord and putting Him first?
Two elements to
the
promise to Elijah:
"You shall drink of
the
brook . . . " God chose to supply Elijah's needs through a brook, not a
river, or a lake, or an artesian well. It was a brook that would dry up
very
soon and Elijah knew that. Why is God's provision sometimes just barely
enough?
And why does God's supply sometimes dry up? The Lord sent Elijah to a
brook He
knew would dry up, just as He sometimes allows our resources to dry up.
God
does this to remind us of a number of spiritual lessons like: True joy,
meaning
and significance in life does not consist in the abundance of our
possessions
(cf. Luke 12:15); "better is the little of the righteous than the
abundance of many wicked" (Ps. 37:16); "better is a dish of
vegetables where love is, than a fattened ox and hatred with it" (Prov.
15:17); "better is a little with righteousness than great income with
injustice (Prov. 16:8); and "godliness with contentment is great (i.e.,
the greatest) gain" (1 Tim. 6:6). History is filled with stories that
illustrate this.
Whatever our lot,
God wants
us to learn to be content in whatever state we are in by first learning
to rest
in Him by faith. Why? That we might experience God's sufficiency and
learn that
our greatest need is God (Phil.
"…and I have
commanded
the ravens to provide for you there." First, again we see the principle
of
Philippians 4:19, "My God shall supply all your needs according to His
riches in Glory by Christ Jesus." Since God has already done the most
for
us when we were enemies and alienated from Him, how much more will He
not do
for us now that we are His children and have become the special objects
of His
love and grace (Rom. 5:6-9; 8:32).
Second, notice the
two ways
the Lord supplied Elijah's need. He provided through natural means, the
brook,
and supernatural means, the ravens. While the Lord does not work
through the
supernatural today (even in Old Testament times it was the exception),
there is
an important lesson here. He is able to do exceeding abundantly above
all that
we ask or think to meet our needs. He has promised to supply according
to His
riches in glory - that's an infinite supply (Eph.
Third, the ravens
would bring
bread and meat to Elijah. Bread is the Hebrew lechem that can refer to
food in
general and may well have included berries, fruits, nuts, and even
eggs. Isn't
this interesting? God could have rained bread from heaven or brought up
quails
as He did for the Israelites in the wilderness. Instead, He chose to
feed
Elijah through the ravens. Why ravens? What did this mean to Elijah?
Elijah was
a Jew and according to the Law the raven was an unclean bird, one of
the
species the Jew was not allowed to eat. Though he is not told to eat
the
ravens, still, God chose an unclean bird to feed Elijah. Why? Perhaps
to remind
him (and us of course) the Lord is sovereign and supreme and we need to
learn
to submit to the tools He chooses to use to mold us and to the methods
He uses
to supply our needs. Here God was nourishing Elijah's faith, building
his
confidence, and reminding him of who was in charge.
Principle: There are no limits to what the Lord can do
and His
tools are limitless.
Application: Are we willing to trust God's promises and
provision
no matter how contrary to our ideas His provision seems? He uses all
kinds of
instruments, all kinds of people, and all kinds of situations. Think
about your
problems - people, finances, health, family, job conditions, whatever.
These
are tools, agents of the Lord, like ravens sent to supply certain needs
in our
lives. So what is our need? Of course, our need is to trust the Lord,
but how
is that trust to manifest itself? Our need is to follow Solomon's
council in
Ecclesiastes.
In Ecclesiastes
7:11-12 we
have an emphasis on the value of biblical wisdom and how God works.
Then, in
verses 13 and 14 Solomon gives us insight into how God works as the
synchronizer and orchestrator of our lives.
The Command: We are told to "consider the work of God."
Does the phrase "work of God" ring a bell? It refers to the concept
of Ephesians
The Question: The question is then asked, "For who is able
to
straighten what He has bent." Note the connective "for." This
links the question to the command to consider and points to the reason
or
cause. It shows us what God can do and does. He bends the path of our
lives.
First, this means the path of life, like a mountainous road, is
sometimes bent;
it has curves, ups and downs, rough places and smooth places. It isn't
always
an interstate highway and along the way it has its brooks that dry up.
Second,
this means God has not deserted us in those ups and downs or turns in
the road.
He is involved in our lives. Life is not just a matter of blind chance,
or the
flip of a coin. Third, this text also teaches us what we cannot do! We
cannot
straighten what God has bent. When God puts a curve in our road, He is
calling
us to follow the curve. If, in the providence of God, He allows you to
fall and
break your arm, you cannot reverse the film and cut out that part of
the film.
You must live with the fall and the broken bone. Isn't this an
intriguing way
to teach us how God is intimately and lovingly involved in our
circumstances?
He bends the paths of our lives, but Scripture shows He does so out of
love and
wisdom.
The Instruction: This is followed by instruction that tells
us how we
are to act and respond to the varied circumstances of life (vs. 14).
(a) When
things are going well, when the road is straight, be happy, rejoice,
and enjoy
the life God gives - though other Scripture warns us to never seek our
security
in such conditions. (b) In the day of adversity, when God puts a bend
in the
road, "consider," observe, inspect your circumstances, stop, think
and learn. Think about what is God telling you? Apply the truth of the
fact
that a sovereign, all wise, all knowing, and all powerful God is
involved; our
circumstances are not chance happenings. When things don't go well,
when the
car breaks down, when you have a sinus headache, when the package is
late, when
you hear about the criticism, whatever it is, how do we respond? Do we
blow up
or stay calm? Do we trust the Lord or become depressed? What do we do?
Well,
our instructions are to think (cf. James 1:2-5). This means we are to
think in
terms of the principles and promises of the Word. We are to remember
that God
is at work. He makes both the day of prosperity and the day of
adversity. He
synchronizes both into our lives - often the same day - but He is
working it
all together for good, the ultimate good of making us like His Son, the
Lord
Jesus Christ.
The Test of
Obedience
(17:5-6)
"So he went and did
according to the word of the Lord, for he went and lived . . ." "He
went and did." How absolutely beautiful! Elijah went and did NOT
according
to how he felt or what he thought, or what others might think or want,
but
according to the directions of the Lord. Immediate obedience - no
arguments, no
questions. Once he knew for sure what God wanted, in simple trust, he
simply
obeyed.
How and Why? Was
this simply
pharisaic obedience? No! Elijah obeyed because he knew and trusted in
his God -
omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, loving, faithful, merciful, true,
and
good. He believed that the Lord's will is always perfect and designed
for the
highest good with ramifications extending into eternity. He knew the
Lord was
building his faith, his character, and preparing him for things to
come. His
obedience was a work of faith.
Application: What would you or I have been doing? Would
we have
been conducting a little argument with the Lord out of our great data
bank of
information? It might go something like this. "Now wait just a minute
Lord. Across the
Once when a woman
said to
Christ, "Blessed is the womb that bore you," the Lord responded with
these words, "On the contrary (contrary to our arguments, our ideas of
security
and blessing, contrary to what we think), blessed are those who hear
the word
of God, and observe it" (Luke 11:27-28). Not legalistic obedience as
with
the Pharisees, but the obedience of faith that acts on the principles
and
promises of God.
Not only does God
speak to us
in the Word, there is a certain sense in which He also speaks to us in
the
circumstances of life and this is the point of Ecclesiastes 7:13.
Are you perplexed
about
certain things in your life? Then ask, “What is the Lord seeking to
teach me?”
Ask, "How is the Lord wanting to use this in my life or in some else's
life?" Ask, "Is God trying to change some of my values and
priorities, or reveal some of my false sources of trust?" Pray and
think!
The Testing of
the Dried
Up Brook (17:7)
Let's look at each
of the
clauses here, because each is significant.
The Happenings
In Life - "And it happened
after a while." This
translation could give you the impression that Elijah was simply the
victim of
some unfortunate circumstance that just happened. But literally the
text says,
"and it came to pass," or "it came to be." The verb is the
Hebrew hayah that means "to come to pass, become, or be." This was
not a matter of unfortunate chance, but as seen previously, it was the
sovereign will and plan of God at work.
Principle: Things do not just happen to us. They are
the
outworking of a sovereign God who works all things according to the
council of
His own will. Again, this means God works and orchestrates all things
in
accordance with His deliberations and decisions based on His wisdom,
power and
purposes.
Two
Illustrations:
1. Remember how the
Lord
Jesus showed us God's involvement, control, and concern for every
detail of our
lives? He taught us that God numbers even the hairs of our head, and
that not a
single sparrow falls to the ground without His knowledge and control
(Matt.
2. Another time, to
show
God's involvement and care for us, He called attention to God's care
for the
birds of the air and then said, "are you not worth more than they?"
He then turned to the glorious beauty of the lilies of the field that
neither
toil nor spin, and then added, "will He not much more do so for you, O
men
of little faith?" (Matt. 6:26-30).
To further impress
upon our
hearts the reality of God's involvement in the happenings of life,
let's
remember these words of the Psalmist: "The Lord has established His
throne
in the heavens; and His sovereignty rules over all" (Ps. 103:19). What
does the word "sovereignty" mean? It's the Hebrew word malkuth that
means sovereign power and authority. It comes from malak "to reign,
rule,
or be king." It emphatically speaks of God's authority and control as
King
over every sphere of life. The Psalmist declares that God is in control
regardless
of how it may appear to us. In the context of this passage, the
Psalmist is
calling us to trust the Lord because He is also just (vss. 6-7),
gracious (vss.
8-12), like a loving father (vs. 13), and our creator/architect who
knows us
completely (vs. 14).
"But our God is in
the
heavens; He does whatever He pleases" (Ps. 115:3). That God sits in the
heavens stresses that God is above all and in charge. That He does
whatever He
pleases stresses not only is He in control, but He is actively involved
in the
affairs of mankind according to His all-wise purposes. Note the context
and
reason for the statement of this verse. Three things: First, this
statement is
made against the attitude of the nations who are blind to the presence
and
activity of God, at least as He is revealed in Scripture (vs. 2). How
easy it
is for us to fall in with the dominate viewpoint of the world and
question the
presence and concern of the Lord and fail to see the hand of God at
work in the
happenings of life through various personalities, events, and needs.
Second, this
statement about
God's sovereignty is made to contrast the sovereign God of the Bible
with the
impotent idols of the world (vss. 4-8). Idolatry can take many forms;
some of
which are material, like money or possessions, and some are
ideological, like
our ideas or the strategies we use to try to meet our needs. The
Apostle Paul
defined a covetous person as an idolater in Ephesians 5:5, and greed as
idolatry in Colossians 3:5. God has given us all things to enjoy, but
anytime we
depend on something other than God for our security, significance, or
happiness, we have made that something into an idol. We are worshipping
it as
God and giving it the power to do what only God can do.
Third, this
statement of
God's sovereign control and activity is made as an incentive for God's
people
to trust the Lord as their help and shield, as their source of life,
security,
significance and joy (vss. 9-11).
Again, we need to
remember the
words of Solomon in Ecclesiastes 7:13-14. It is God who bends the path
and when
He does so, we need to reflect on what He is doing. Though much of the
difficulty of life and all of the evil are caused by man's sinfulness,
his
foolishness, and Satan's activity, still God is in control, is aware of
every
detail, and allows and uses it all for His own wise purposes.
So, we have a
principle:
Based on these statements and promises of Scripture, we can know that
even the
apparently normal happenings of life, like the drying of the brook, are
not
without God's control and concern. Regardless of how it may look or
seem to us,
God is at work, concerned for us, and in control.
The Passing Days
In Life - "After a while" is
literally "at the
end of days." The NIV has "some time later." But the literal
Hebrew brings out an important point that our English translations
miss. God
deals with us not simply "after a while," or "sometime
later," but at the end of specific days, in His time which is the best
time. Here we see God's involvement is a day-by-day involvement.
Let's note
several things:
1. God's timing is
usually
not our timing (cf. Isa. 55:8-9). This is one of the reasons we are
told
numerous times in Scripture to wait on the Lord. Rather than turn to
our own
devices and run ahead of the Lord, we are to take it to Him and wait by
faith
on His timing and directions.
2. God had a
specific plan
that included divine provision by the brook for a specific number of
days. This
plan was unknown to Elijah (and unknown to us), but it was known to God
from
all eternity and calculated by Him to be a test, a learning place, and
a
blessing for Elijah.
3. This also
emphasizes the
temporary nature and shortness of this life and our experiences in it.
It
reinforces the principle that we should be prepared for sudden changes
in life.
Concerning our days and particularly our days in testing, we have found
it
helpful to remember a number of vital concepts: (a) This world is
temporary. It
is passing away and a new and glorious day is coming (1 Cor. 7:31; 1
John 2:17;
2 Cor. 4:16-18). (b) We have no abiding city or place in this world.
Our
citizenship and our lasting treasures are in heaven and we are to think
of life
in this way. This is what distinguishes children of God (or should)
from the
unbelieving world which Scripture calls "earth dwellers" (Heb.
4. The Lord has
promised to
supply our needs according to His riches in glory. There can never be
an end of
His supply for our needs (Phil.
5. The Lord is
never confined
to any one method in supplying our needs, but uses a variety of ways,
people,
things, places, and conditions to supply them. When the brook dried up,
God
could have caused water to come out of a rock as with Moses, or from a
hollow
place, as with Samson (Judges
6. We should never
get caught
up with the method, or means He uses, or the things He supplies. Our
need is to
ever keep our eyes on the Supplier who is in control and working all
things
together for His own purposes. Our only real need is to know and trust
Him. We
are reminded of Martha's words to the Lord in Luke 10:40. She said,
"Lord,
do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone?
Then
tell her to help me." It seems we always want to help the Lord out and
tell Him how He should meet the problem. We always have this data bank
of
wisdom we are ready to share with the Lord to instruct Him on how He
might take
care of our needs - i.e., changing our conditions the way we want them.
We need
to remember that in Him are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
The Dry Places
In Life - Our text tells us
that “the brook dried up.” What
brook? The very one God promised as a source of water. Remember the
saying,
"Cheer up, things could be worse. So I cheered up, and sure enough,
things
got worse." This situation with Elijah reminds us of a radio program
from
the late1950s. In the series, the main character was always getting
himself
into a jam, and one of his lines in such circumstances was, "What a
revolting development this turned out to be." Today, we would say what
happened to Elijah was according to Murphy's law! This is the natural
way to
respond, but as those who know the Lord we need to see beyond the
natural to
the reality of our God.
Note also that the
words,
"dried up" refers to a process. Elijah did not just wake up one
morning and suddenly find everything gone. Day after day he saw the
little
brook dwindling in its water supply and he knew what was coming. What
must he
have thought? What do you suppose he did? Was he measuring the depth of
the
brook each day? "Oh no, it's down another inch." Did he have his eyes
on the problem? Was he remembering the way things used to be when he
was back
in the
Our tendency is to
carry a
ruler by which we constantly measure what God is doing as though we
can't
really trust Him. We measure others. We compare how God is supplying
other's
needs. Then we measure our own blessings - our gifts, talents,
opportunities,
and on the list goes. In John 21:19-21 the Lord told Peter by what kind
of
death he would glorify God and then gave Peter that all-important
command,
"follow Me!" But Peter, seeing one of the other disciples, probably
John, said, "Lord, and what about this man?" How quickly we are prone
to focus on others to measure what God is doing in and with us. We are
so quick
to seek our comfort and well being in such measurements, rather than in
the Who
and what of the Lord.
Well, what would
you have
done as the brook dried up? Sit there quietly claiming promises like
"the
battle is the Lord's," or "stand still and see the salvation of the
Lord, for the Lord this day will fight for you," or "they that wait
upon the Lord . . ."? Howard Hendricks humorously writes, "I have the
highest respect for Elijah. I wouldn't have been able to sit there and
watch
the brook diminish. I would have gotten out my road map and been
looking for
every water hole in the area. My motto would be: ‘Don't sit there. Do
something'" (Elijah, Confrontation, Conflict & Crisis, Howard G.
Hendricks, Moody Press, p. 26). Isn't this the tendency for all of us?
Do you remember the
reason
for the dried up brook. It was because "there was no rain in the
land." But why was there no rain in the land? Because Elijah had prayed
for no rain. God was simply answering Elijah's prayer, a prayer,
however,
designed to bring the people to their knees so they would turn back to
the
Lord.
When we pray for
revival in our
nation or for the restoration of others, it means God may have to bring
about
suffering to get their attention to turn them away from their
independence,
rebellion, and self-sufficiency. This also means we may have to suffer
in the
process. Are we willing? Are our values and our concern for the glory
of God,
for justice in society, and for the salvation of people such that we
are
willing to suffer in the aftermath of God's dealings with the nation or
others
to see them turn to the Lord? This really challenges our faith and the
level of
our commitment.
Finally, note 1
Kings 17:8.
"Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying." God was not
unconcerned about Elijah. He had a plan. He came to Elijah's rescue.
Granted,
sometimes He cut's it a little close in our thinking, but He is always
there.
The Lord sits in the heavens, He does that which He pleases. And He
pleases to
test us in order to build our character and transform us into the
character of
the Savior.
Likewise, God left
the
prophet by the brook until it was dry as a bone. Then, having worked in
the
heart of the prophet, He came to him in his need and sent him to his
next place
of provision. Again, it was a place for growth, but also ministry.
That's life.
God is developing our faith in Him that He might use us in the lives of
others
and them in our lives as well.