Listen to the audio above while reading the transcript below (also available for download in Word Document at www.biblestudyministriesinc.com)
As we come again to look in God’s word, once again I remind my heart and I remind you that we’ve come to see the Lord. I’m going to share a couple of verses from 1 Corinthians 2:9&10, “Things that eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God prepared for those who love.” Some end that passage there and think he’s talking specifically about heaven, that our eye hasn’t seen, and our ear hasn’t heard, and it hasn’t even entered our mind how wonderful God has prepared for us in eternity. But if you read the next verse, it says, “To us God has revealed them through the Spirit.” He’s not talking about things in heaven, though it includes that, but the things that are beyond our sight and beyond our ears, our hearing, and beyond our imagination, are available for us right now. He wants us to see with our hearts, hear with our heart, understand with our heart. It has to do with right now. We, sometimes, judge the Lord by what we see, hear and understand, but the fact is, we should hear, see and understand by understanding who He is, what is taking place in our lives, what we can see, hear and understand depends on who He is, His character.
With that in mind, let’s bow before the Lord and we’ll look in His Word. Heavenly Father, we thank You again that You’ve gathered us here. We’re trusting the indwelling Holy Spirit to guide and lead us into the truth. We know the Truth, which is our Lord Jesus, sets us free. We pray this morning that we might once again have a fresh revelation of Jesus. Lord, we thank You for the record of Elijah and Elisha, but we want to see Jesus. So, we commit this time to You and ask You to guide our hearts. Meet us where we are and take us where You would have us. We ask in Jesus’ precious name. Amen.
Once again, we’re here to see Jesus. That’s why I come to this Bethany, and I hope that’s why you come. We’ll see Elijah and Elisha, but only in order to see the Lord. In our gathering so far, we’ve had two introduction lessons in the lives of Elijah and Elisha. In the first lesson we sort of focused on Elijah, and in the second lesson we focused on Elisha, and in both lessons, we focused on the primary revelation of the Lord through Elijah and Elisha. So, this morning I want to begin the actual record, in other words our introduction is over, and we’re going to start the actual record. I do recommend that if you missed the introduction, that you’ll take time to listen to the tapes, because I think it will be helpful. When I say helpful, I didn’t say necessary. You don’t need my first introduction and you don’t need my second introduction. I want you to understand what I’m saying and what I’m intending. I’m not saying, “If you missed those introduction lessons, you’re going to be lost.” You aren’t going to be lost because every lesson stands on its own two feet, because every lesson is a revelation of Christ. So, you can actually come in lesson 30 or 35, walk in, see the Lord, be blessed and walk out. It’s all about seeing the Lord. So, I do hope you’ll follow up, but if you don’t, that’s alright. Let’s plan to see the Lord. I want my teaching to be more like going through an orchard, and eating from the trees, rather than doing a building, that we’re building a building, because in a building, this rests on that and that rests on that and if you don’t have a good foundation, then you aren’t going to understand where the window goes, and so on. We’re not building. We’re going through an orchard, and if you miss a couple of trees, so what. There’s more in front of you, so just pluck and eat, and you are free to eat any tree that grows in this garden. I just hope that you understand that and set your heart to see the Lord.
Without developing it all over again, and reteaching the introduction lessons, let me give you the main thrust of where we’ve been and then move to our new material. We suggested that Elijah was an Old Testament picture of the kind of man God chooses and uses that can recover His people, even in the worst condition. That’s God’s heart. He wants to recover His people. So, He has special instruments that He prepares and uses for that task.
What kind of man is that? 1 King 17:1, the first appearance of Elijah in the Bible, the first things that’s mentioned about him, “Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, ‘As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, surely there shall be neither dew nor rain these years except by my word.’” In that verse we get the direction of the heart of the man of God that God chooses, and his direction was toward the Lord. We took that verse apart and we saw that it was a man who believed God loved His people at their worst, even though they had thrown God out, and he’s one who believes the Lord is alive, even though they were choosing gods that were dead, and it’s one who stands in the presence of the Lord, and it’s one who faithfully and fearlessly proclaims the message, even if it’s tough, to those who need to hear.
Then to that we added one other characteristic. That was the direction of his heart, somebody who knows the Lord loves His people, He’s alive, I stand in His presence, and I’m ready to deliver His message. But then we added 1 Kings 19:10, “He said, ‘I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of Hosts, for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, killed Your prophets with the sword, and I alone am left, and they seek my life to take it away.’” Though it’s not on the sheet, 1 Kings 19:14 actually gives another statement by him. That’s the drive that he had. He was jealous with a jealousy of the Lord, insisting on exclusive devotion, intolerant of rivalry. He had the same heart Jesus had when He turned the tables in the temple, and the zeal, the jealousy of His Father’s house ate Him up. That’s the kind of man God chooses in every age and generation to reach His people, even when they’re at their worst. “ I know God loves His people and wants to recover them. I know He’s alive, and I know I stand in His presence, and I know that I hear His message, and I am passionate about the jealousy of the Lord, and I’m jealous for what He’s jealous for. I want His name, His honor, His glory, His renown, and I’m driven by that,” as Elijah was.
That’s Elijah. Now what about Elisha? Who was he and how was he spiritually connected to Elijah? I gave this description last time, but I’m going to give it again in order to drive home God’s revelation of the Elisha. Who am I describing? It’s someone who cleansed the leper, who multiplied loaves, who was filled with the Holy Spirit, who opened blind eyes, who wept over Jerusalem, who raised the dead, whose ministry was marked by miracles, and who after he died was able to give life to others. You might say that’s Jesus. Actually, I was describing Elisha. Every one of those things is true in Elisha’s ministry. He is the Old Testament example of the one who looks like Jesus. You know he was praying, longing for and desiring the spirit of Elijah.
The point I’m making is this, Elijah and Elisha are not two different pictures. They’re one picture, and God says, “In this one picture here is the direction of your heart, and here is what it produces, a man that looks like Jesus. That’s the manifestation of a heart that’s in union with the Lord. That single picture, God says, “I love My people, even when they’re at their worst, when they slid away, when they’ve turned from Me, when they’ve rejected Me, when they’ve turned to other Baals, husbands and Gods, even then I love them, and I want them back, but I need somebody whose heart is focused on Me, who knows I love My people, who know that I’m alive, who stand in My presence, who hear My Word, and deliver fearlessly My message, and who are impassioned by a jealousy that I have in My heart and are eaten up by zeal, until that is accomplished.” And then that person will reproduce somebody that looks like Jesus.
Now, the question we asked, and we ended with this, “If Elijah seems to have the right direction and the right heart and the right passion, why don’t we just end in 1 Kings 17:1? It looks like he’s arrived, and that he’s pretty much in the millennium. But God gives us story after story after story. Why does Elijah need to be hidden? Why does he need the brook? Why does he need the ravens? Why does he need the widow? Why does he need the contest on Mt. Carmel? Why does he need to call down fire from heaven? Why does he need the still, small voice? Why does he need to go back to Sinai? What’s going on? If he’s already looking to the Lord, you would think that would be enough, and yet God gives us all this other story. I use Galatians 4:19 to illustrate it. This was the Apostle Paul’s burden for the Christians at Galatia, “My children, with whom I’m again in labor until Christ is formed in you.” If Elijah is going to produce a person that looks like Jesus, then he’s going to have to be conformed to Jesus. In other words, he’s going to have to learn the Lord. His direction is right, but he needs to be made like Jesus, if he’s going to manifest Jesus. I’m suggesting that all these stories, Elijah is being conformed to the Lord Jesus, so that the manifestation of his life can produce people that look like Jesus.
That brings us now to our new material. That’s where we are this morning. God draws Elijah aside and begins to form Christ in him. We’ve going to look at the various experiences in Elijah’s life and show how Christ is progressively formed in him, but this morning I want to look at the first two experiences. I’m just going to call them, “Elijah at the Brook,” and, “Elijah at the Widow’s House.” Those are the two experiences. Of course, there are stages in each of those, and we’ll try to pick that up along the way. Once again, Elijah at the brook and Elijah at the widow’s house is one story, and there he’s going to learn…. I’ll tell you right up-front what God is going to do. Elijah needs to learn to be totally dependent on the Lord. Elijah needs to learn to walk by faith and not by sight. In all these experiences he’s going to learn a deeper dependence and to live more by faith and not by sight. Don’t forget that these stories are not given for our admiration; they’ve given for our admonition, so that we can become like what God is doing.
Undoubtedly, the path that God takes Elijah; you’re going to recognize in your life. That’s the path He takes us. He’s conforming Christ in Elijah, and He’s conforming Christ in you, and He’s conforming Christ in me. So, we can expect the lessons that he’s taught here. Learning to be helplessly dependent, and I promise you as Christians that you’ve got to learn that and learning to walk by faith and not by sight, those are principles of the Christian life. Principles are not Christ. That’s not the revelation of Christ. You can learn those principles and miss the Lord. I can learn those principles and miss the Lord. Until we have the revelation of Christ, we cannot be conformed to Christ. It’s not by learning principles that we’re conformed to Christ. It’s by seeing the revelation of the Lord. When we see Him, we’ll be like Him. That’s true in heaven, and it’s also true now. So, let’s have a present foretaste of that glorious future that we expect.
Let’s take a little walk with Elijah and we’ll go to the brook and then to the widow’s house and see how the Lord begins to teach him to be dependent and how the Lord began to teach him, you notice that sight will fail him, and he’ll need to learn to walk by faith. Let me begin with the bare facts. 1 Kings 17:1, he now has addressed Ahab, “Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, ‘As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives before whom I stand, surely there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by My word.’” Right after that confrontation, we read verse 3, “Go away from here, and turn eastward and hide yourself by the Book Cherith, which is east of Jordan.” Many commentaries believe that that’s when the persecution by Jezebel began. In 1 Kings 18:13, “Has it not been told to my master what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of the Lord,” and then he hid a hundred. So, God’s people are dying, and many think that because of that prediction, “You are going to have a severe famine and for years,” that God said, “You better go hide. They’re coming after you,” and that’s when the persecution began.
But there’s instruction that’s a little deeper than the literal facts, “Go hide yourself by the Brook Cherith,” in verse 2 & 3. “Go hide yourself,” was really the first observation in God’s ministry in conforming Elijah to the Lord Jesus Christ, getting alone with God for a season, and go hide yourself. Peters speaks of the hidden person of the heart; Hebrews 11 says that Moses’ parents hid him, and they did it by faith. We know that Moses spent a lot of time in the wilderness, and God did a lot of work in his heart to get him ready, and Jesus Himself the first thirty years of His life, there’s a lot of silence there. I’m sure He walked in union with His Holy Father God. John the Baptist was prepared in the wilderness, and the Apostle Paul after his conversion was taken to the wilderness. I’m only mentioning this to point out that before the Lord will use someone mightily in public, there’s a hidden life. There’s something behind the scenes. There is the root system underground and you don’t see it with the natural eye, but there’s a time when God makes Himself known intimately to His people. When we discover the Lord in the private place, He’s preparing us to manifest in the public place. What you learn of the Lord in the closet, you are able to shout from the housetops. First, you’ve got to see the Lord in the closet. Don’t answer when I ask these questions; it’s just to challenge your heart. Have you ever been hidden in the private place. Have you given the Lord that time?
Let me read the full text, 1 Kings 17:2, “The word of the Lord came to him saying, ‘Go away from here, and turn eastward, and hide yourself by the Brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan, and it shall be that you’ll drink of the brook, and I’ve commanded the ravens to provide for you there.’ So, he went and did according to the word of the Lord. He went and lived by the Brook Cherith which is east of Jordan. The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he would drink from the brook. It happened after a while the brook dried up because there was no rain in the land.”
At the brook where Elijah experienced the provision of the water and the raven, there God is going to begin to conform Elijah to Christ, and He’s going to teach him that God can be trusted, God can be depended upon. He’s going to teach him that through these circumstances he can learn the Lord. He can learn Jesus. So, God begins by putting him, naturally, in an impossible place. Elijah’s faithful prediction of a famine that’s going to last for years, that didn’t exempt Elijah from the smart of that famine. He’s going to feel it, as well. So, he obeys the Lord, and he goes down and hides himself by the brook. Here he’s going to learn that God is enough. You’re going to hear me say that quite a bit this morning. That’s what he’s going to discover at the brook. Is God enough for him to keep him safe from persecution. Is God enough for him, so he doesn’t die of thirst in the famine? Is God enough for him, so he doesn’t die of hunger in the famine, and starvation?
Remember James 5:17, “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours,” with passions like ours. In other words, he’s like you, he’s like me. That makes me think that he feels like I feel, and he thinks like I think, and he has the same fears I have, and he has the same foibles as I have, and so his inclination. As I read this, I’m trying to remember that he’s like me, and I tried to put myself in his shoes, or sandals, or whatever he had, and I tried to picture what would I’d be thinking as He says to go hide yourself by the brook. What would be going through my mind?
I think, at first, it would be exciting to me. Maybe you would think a little differently. I think it would be exciting, almost like a little vacation, because at that time I don’t know how long I’m going to be there, but I’m hidden, I’m safe, and I’ve got God’s word that He’s going to provide me water and He’s going to provide me food. 1 Kings 7:4, “It will be that when you drink of the brook, I’ve commanded the ravens to provide for you there.” And then in verse 6, “The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he would drink from the brook.” I think it would be rather exciting. When I look at it with these eyes, I wonder what time the ravens are coming. And then all of a sudden here comes a flock of birds, and they’ve got something for me, they drop it off, and every night they do the same thing. That would be exciting for me, especially if there were fish in the brook. I enjoy fishing.
But, again, thinking like I think, after a week or two I think I’d start feeling a need to fellowship with somebody. I’m all alone here, and I’d like to have a little fellowship. I’m not suggesting that God is not good company. Don’t get that idea. But God has made us gregarious. God has made us in a way that fellowship is a wonderful thing. Remember, God didn’t announce in advance to Elijah, “I want you at the brook so that you’ll learn dependence. I want you there so that you’ll learn to live by faith and not sight.” We know that, but he didn’t know that. It’s like Job. We’ve got the inside story, but he didn’t have that. When days turn to weeks, and when weeks turn to months, and when months turn to years, and you’re all by yourself by a brook, and your only company are the trees and the birds, and maybe once in a while a rabbit will come by or a chipmunk or squirrel, or something like that, a time like that when you’re all alone by yourself, is God enough?
Don’t read this “la, la, la.” This was a trial for Elijah. Being alone for all that time, I can’t imagine my Lillian being alone with no furniture to move for weeks and months, or something like that. He had no news from the outside world. It’s just a brook and the birds. As I said, maybe he had some friendly little animals come by. Let me get closer to the principle here, and a few applications.
This story, being alone for a long, long time has a special application to some who may have lost their life partners. I had a dear friend whose husband died, and she was in California, and I called her up, and I said, “How are you doing? We’ve been praying for you.” She said, “How do you think I’m doing? I just lost my head, and I’m running around like a chicken with her head cut off.” It’s a lonely thing to have lost a life partner. This has a special application to single men and single women, especially as they’re getting older and they might think, “Am I going to be alone all of my life as I get older?” It has a special application to those who have already aged, to those who are shut-ins, to those who are in nursing homes, or in prison, or in orphanages, or homeless out on the streets, and it has a special application to everyone, because you can feel alone even if you’re in a crowd, and I can feel alone even in a crowd of people.
Is Jesus enough when your wife dies, when your husband dies, when a child dies? If you’re shut out because you’re shut in, is Jesus enough? Is there a difference between alone-ness and loneliness? Many Christians find themselves alone, but I wonder if any Christian ever has the right to be lonely, because they have the Lord. Is Jesus enough when God leads you to a place where you’re alone for a long period of time? Elijah had to learn not to depend upon sight, but to depend upon the Lord, and I think he learned that God was enough, even when he was alone for a long period of time.
But it wasn’t even that was a test that challenged Elijah, but God began to deal with him in paradoxical ways. You know what a paradox is. It goes the opposite way; you wouldn’t expect it, and God began to shatter sight in Elijah, and called him to the life of faith. Now, it’s probably more than probable that Elijah grew up in a Jewish home. He would have known in God’s eyes what was clean and what was considered unclean before the Lord. I assume that he knew that list of unclean things in Leviticus 11, and among the unclean things, the raven is listed. The Bible calls the raven the abhorrent bird. They were listed with the vultures, buzzards, falcons and the bat. But I don’t think he ate the ravens. When the ravens flew in, they were God’s caterers; they were bringing food. I wonder if in his Jewish mind when God said that He had commanded the ravens to provide, ravens are scavengers. They don’t bring food; they steal it and take the food. I wonder, if like Peter, Elijah had misgivings because he was commanded to eat something that was to be delivered through an unclean instrument. I don’t know where the ravens got their food. I don’t know if they got it from Ahab’s kitchen or grill, or if it was roadkill. It would be hard to think of carrion, that God is going to bring that every day, but that would be a call to faith, wouldn’t it? I’m thinking like I think because he was like me, and I’m thinking, “Lord, did you say that right? Ravens? Do you mean sparrows? Do you mean robins? Do you mean Canada geese? Chickens, turkeys, anything, but not ravens.
Is the Lord enough when He sends a blessing to you in the beak of ravens? That’s what he has to learn. Again, it’s a call to faith, to believe that God’s blessing can actually be delivered in the mouth of something that we know is unclean. Once again, I’ll give the application. This has a special application to those who get raven blessings in a doctor’s report. You don’t expect the doctor’s report to be a blessing but look carefully in the beak. You don’t know what God is doing.
Someone suffers from a fire or a storm or from an accident or from a bad investment; those are ravens. You don’t expect anything good to come out of that. God uses unlikely means in order to provide for Elijah. He’s got to learn that God is enough, even when He’s bringing ravens to conform Christ in him. There is no end to the application of that particular principle. Failure might be a raven in disguise. Even the division in a family or in a church family can be turned to a blessing. It’s a blessing in the mouth of a raven. Rejection, a loss of an opportunity, being passed by in some career decision, disappointment; there are so many ravens that God sends. Brothers and sisters in Christ, as I sit before you and you sit before me, may God give us eyes to discern the paradoxes when God uses unlikely things in order to actually provide for us and to conform us to His dear Son. He’s got to learn that God is enough, when he’s alone for a long period of time. He doesn’t have to get lonely. He’s got to learn that God is enough when He begins to provide through ravens. Let’s not do what Abraham did, unless we do it for his reason. He chased away all of those birds, birds of prey, unless they’re attacking the sacrifice. Then you’ve got to chase them away.
There’s another paradox in this little history. 1 Kings 17:7, “It happened that after a while, the brook dried up.” Once again, put yourself in his place. I’m sure that as the famine raged, gradually, little by little, that brook began to diminish, get slower. Day after day it got lower until it became a tiny rill, and then after a while he’s looking at a bed of dry rocks. Try to put yourself there. I speak as a fool, but God says that he’s thinking like me. Of course, he didn’t know my mind. I’ve got a weird kind of mind. I would have thought that I see the brook drying up, “Come on now, God has given me a brain. He wants me to be prudent. He’s given me a mind, and so I see it drying up. God didn’t say specifically to me to camp here. He said to camp by the brook. Well, the brook has an upstream. The brook has a downstream. “So, I think I’ll do a little exploring, and I’m going to go upstream and see if there is a better flow up there, and I’ll go downstream to see if maybe there is a pocket of water or something like that, because I’ll still be obeying God. I’ll be by the brook.”
I wonder when I read verse 4, “It shall be that you shall drink of the brook, I’ve commanded the ravens to provide for you there.” I wonder where the “there” is. In other words, the ravens had their orders, and God gave them an address, and God said, “I want you to provide in the morning and in the night and everyday until I tell you not to, and I want you to bring it there.” What if when the ravens got there, Elijah was out exploring for better territory? Would the chief raven say to the flock, “The guy is not here. We better go look for him.” I don’t think so. I think they would have delivered their goods there. Too bad for Elijah, because he’s not going to get a meal that morning and he’s not going to get a meal that night. You’ve got to stay there until you get another word from the Lord to move on. God had commanded the ravens to obey. That’s like when He commanded the wind and the waves. They didn’t have a will of their own. God commanded them, the sovereign God of the universe had given them orders, and they are clicking their claws to obey the Lord.
God is teaching Elijah dependence, and not to live by sight but to live by faith. The ravens were part of that lesson. Let me ask you, would the Lord ever lead his children to a brook that dries up? He did here. He led them to a brook, and He said, “That’s where I want you,” and then He let that brook dry up. That’s to teach his child to walk by faith, to wait on the Lord, to depend upon the Lord. Once again, there are many applications. Extremity is a mighty weapon of good in the hand of the Lord. God calls the brook to dry up. Let me try to apply it several ways. Those in some kind of a Christian ministry, is it possible that God would call you to a ministry and then let that ministry dry. Yes, indeed, and it happens over and over again. God might just plant you there for a season, and it might dry up. The human resources might dry up, or people might stop attending and it starts to dry up, or you might be opposed and be given the right foot of fellowship. That might be a reason that it dries up.
When it dries up, some Christians think, “God started the ministry; it’s got to continue and we’ve got to survive, and we need a fund-raising program. We need a program to get people in because it’s drying up. Brothers and sisters in Christ, God may call you to a brook that dries up. Let it die. Let the ministry die. Let everything die and wait until God sends you on. God is faithful, and He’ll call you to a brook that dries up. Some people’s educational dreams have dried. They thought they were going to be certain things and get a certain degree, and so on, and they had their hopes and their dreams and future plans, and then it dries up. I’m careful when I say this, but I want to say it with boldness. Sadly, sometimes the marriage dries up. Don’t forget that God is sovereign, and everything is redemptive, and He can even turn that thing around. I hate the word divorce and so does God, but your life is not ended if it dries up. You put your ear on the heart of God and listen for His voice and what to do next and where to go next. Is He enough when things dry up, when your fellowship with the Lord seems to dry up, and your spiritual life seems to dry up? It’s a call to faith, a call to dependence. Is God enough when the provision, when the economy dries up, when your friendships dry up, when employment dries up, when your health begins to dry up, when appreciation for you begins to dry up? This is the lessons that God was teaching Elijah at the brook.
When you are alone, you don’t have to be lonely. That’s a lesson. God will provide for you, sometimes paradoxically through the raven that you don’t expect, and sometimes things will dry up. Is He enough? God has a variety of dispensation in our lives, and He does things in different ways. You know there is a difference between how He provided in the wilderness manna and water out of the rock. That’s different than ravens and a brook that dries up, but it’s still the Lord and it’s still His provision. Those are principles, but it’s still not the revelation of Christ. Praise God for those principles, and I hope I learn the principles, but I need to see Jesus. God, as I suggested, often leads us to that extremity so that we can learn dependence and the life of faith. He’s preparing us to see Jesus.
But the Lord had not yet finished teaching Elijah dependence and faith at the brook with the ravens. There I think he learned clearly that God is enough for me. I think that is the lesson he learned, “I went through this, I stayed here a long time, He never failed, the birds kept coming, and God is enough for me.” But then God says in verse 8, “The word of the Lord came to him saying, ‘Arise, and go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon. Stay there. Behold, I’ve commanded a widow there to provide for you.’” So, Elijah was faithful, and he waited until the next word and now he gets it, “Go to Zarephath; I’ve commanded a widow.”
The Lord is not finished with His paradoxical ways, ravens and a brook that dies up and leaving you all alone by yourself for maybe years. If you thought the ravens were a paradox, if you thought a drying brook was a paradox, what would you think if God said, “Go to Zarephath.” We just read that “la, la, la.” What did that mean to Elijah? You see, Zarephath and Sidon is in enemy territory. Let me word it another way. That’s Jezebel’s hometown. God says, “I’m going to provide for you, and I know she’s out for your neck, your head, but go to Jezebel’s hometown.”
It was about eighty to one hundred miles from the Brook Cherith to Zarephath, and it’s a journey through enemy territory. 1 Kings 18:10, “As the Lord your God lives, there’s no nation or kingdom where my master has not sent to search for you.” Everyone is hunting for him, and they’re blaming him for the famine. They’re blaming him for everything drying up. We’re not told about his journey, whether he travelled at night or how he went. There were no counselors that he had. He was alone. He couldn’t confer with Christian counselors where there would be some safety, but it didn’t seem logical, you talk about paradox, to seek shelter in enemy territory. That would be like saying, “I want you to hide in the lions’ den, so the lion won’t get you.” Go to Zarephath; he didn’t question God. The Bible says that he obeyed the Lord, but here’s the question, “Can I trust Him? Is He enough?” The way was long and dark, but the duty was clear. He knew exactly where he had to go. But it’s a paradox, “Seek protection, safety in a house of persecution.” And to add to that paradox, he says, “Not only seek safety in a house of persecution, but I want you to seek provision in a house of poverty.” Do you see the paradoxical ways of the Lord?
When he arrived in Zarephath, what did he find? 1 Kings 17:10, “He arose and went to Zarephath and came to the gates of the city, and behold, a widow was gathering sticks, and he called to her and said, ‘Please, get me a little water in a jar, that I may drink.’ As she was going to get it, he called to her and said, ‘Please, bring me a piece of bread in your hand,’ but she said, ‘As the Lord your God lives, I have no bread, only a handful of flour in the bowl, a little oil in the jar. Behold, I’m gathering a few sticks, that I might go in and prepare for me and my son, that we may eat it and die.’”
I think the Lord must have spoken to him after that long journey, and said, “See that woman? That’s the one; that’s who I commanded to provide for you.” It’s certainly contrary to sight. It certainly goes against the natural grain. With these eyes she was a poverty-stricken widow on her last meal, gathering a few sticks to build a small fire, cook a small cake, divide it with her son, and then die. Once again, Elijah is a man that thinks like I do, strange guy. So, I’m thinking, a might have then turned to the Lord and said, “Lord, I believe You, but do me a favor. Next time You command a widow to provide for me, tell her. She didn’t seem to know anything about it,” but this was the same kind of a command. A definite call of faith.
He’s not only put in the place of dependence, but as God works in his heart, it becomes very humbling for Elijah. He’s going to become a burden to her, a burden to an already broken back. She’s already got her own problem. 1 Kings 17:13, “Elijah said to her, ‘Do not fear. Go and do as you’ve said but make me a little bread cake from it first. Afterwards make one for yourself and your son.” Do you get the power of that? Elijah had to say to this poverty-stricken widow, “Me first.” Boy, I tell you, that’s a call to faith. That’s hard for anybody, especially a Godly man. I think it’s built into most people, especially Christians. They think like this; I do. “I really hope I never get to the place where I’m dependent on somebody. I don’t want to be dependent. I don’t want to drain the resources of my family. I don’t want to drain the resources of those that love me.” This has special application to the handicapped who are called to depend upon others. I see every now and then on the television the wounded veterans, and they’ve come back, and they have no arms or legs, and they give their testimony. They say, “The thing that’s killing me is that my children have to pick me up off the floor, and I have to depend upon them.” It’s grievous to them to be dependent on others.
As people age, once again, they don’t want to be dependent. Even young people are sometimes challenged because they have to be dependent. It applies to those who can’t supply for themselves. They have no income; the widow, the orphan, caregivers, those who are laid up by sickness or by accident. I’ve heard Christians say, and I regret, but I’ve also said it myself, “I hope God calls me home before I have to depend upon my family. I want to die before I depend on my family.” You know the end of the story. 1 Kings 17:14, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘The bowl of flour shall not be exhausted, nor the jar of oil be empty.” Then in verse 16, “The bowl of flour was not exhausted, nor did the jar of oil become empty.
So, what did Elijah discover in this situation? At the brook he learned that God is enough for me, even if He uses unexpected means. At the widow’s house, this is in advance, he learned that God is not only enough for me, but He’s also enough for me and others, and in an inexhaustible way. It didn’t run out. They lived at the bottom of the barrel. They lived for who knows how long on their last meal. The Lord is enough for me and those like me, many like me.
Hold that please, and I want to quickly take you to the last little story. I’m not finished with this. We’ll pick it up next time in a couple of weeks. 1 Kings 17:17, “It came about after these things that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became sick. His sickness was so severe that there was no breath left in him.” He died. The son died. Verse 20, “He called to the Lord and said, ‘Oh Lord, my God, have you also brought calamity to the widow with whom I’m staying by causing her son to die?’ Then he stretched himself upon the child three times and called to the Lord and said, ‘Oh Lord, my God, I pray You let this child’s life return to him.’”
A similar incident we’re going to read when we do the Elisha story, with the Shulamite. There’s one difference. 2 Kings 4:34, “He went up and laid on the child, put his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, his hands on his hands, and he stretched himself on him, and the flesh of the child became warm.” Elijah did it three times, and Elisha did it twice. What did he discover in this story? He discovered that God is not only enough for me, and not only enough for me and others, but He’s enough through me to bring life to others. We’re coming to the end, so I’ll suggest the principle. The principle is, “How does God through me bring life to others?” And the answer is through contact with those who are dead.
It actually seemed a little creepy for me to read that he stretched himself out on top of the corpse. When you read something like that, you’re taken back a little bit. But the idea of his eyes on his eyes and his mouth on his mouth and his hands on his hands, but brothers and sisters in Christ, there are people out there, and I’m using it spiritually, that are dead, and Christians are afraid to make contact with them. Sometimes shun and they are afraid to go near them. We’ve got to put our eyes on their eyes and see things as they see them. They’ve got a story to tell. We’ve got to listen. We’ve got to have our mouths on their mouths, and we’ve got to have our hands on their hands and take them by the hand. There are people out there that are in need, and we have the Life of Christ, and we’ve got to look them in the eye, and we’ve got to listen with our ears, and we’ve got to make contact with them.
This has a special application to those who are friendless. They need contact. And to those who have fallen into some kind of a sin. Hopeless people need contact. We gravitate naturally to those who like us and are like us. Somehow, we gravitate to them. If you are like me and like me, then we’ll lunch together and we’ll have fellowship together, but if you get too close and you have bad breath, if you’re obnoxious, and if you don’t know the simple laws of hygiene and you don’t smell so good, and you have a reputation and have been in prison and been a felon or something like that, and if you don’t look like me and act like me, even if you’re blind or in a wheelchair or you’re deaf and can’t hear, you seem to stay away and shun. They need contact. We have the Life of Christ, and we need to stretch ourselves out and touch the world, put our eyes on their eyes, and listen to them and put our mouths on their mouths, and take them by the hand.
What Elijah learned at the brook was that He’s enough for me, even if He uses strange and unusual means, He’s enough. He’s enough for me and others and inexhaustibly enough. At the widow’s house when her son died, he’s not only enough for me and for us, he’s enough through me to communicate life to those who are separated, for those who are dead.
I need to get to Jesus. These are wonderful principles, but they are not Christ. How did God reveal Jesus to him? I’m going to quote Psalm 91:1, “He who dwells in the shelter of the most high will abide under the shadow of the almighty.” That word “almighty” is the same title used 48 times in the Old Testament. It’s the word “El Shaddai.” We’re familiar with that title. That’s the title by which God first made Himself known to Father Abraham. In the KJV it’s translated, “God Almighty.” That’s from the first part, “el,” God Almighty, the powerful God. But the second part of the word is the word “shad,” El Shaddai, and the word “shad” in the Hebrew is the word “breast,” a woman’s breast. It’s translated 21 times in the Old Testament as “breast.” This beautiful picture of El Shaddai, a breast, drawing sustenance and satisfaction. Some Christians just use the word “sufficiency,” El Shaddai, God is sufficient. I like to say, “El Shaddai, the God who is more than enough,” not only sufficient but more than enough.
As a breast is a resource, the baby’s resource to the mothers’ sufficiency, draws life from the mother, God says, “El Shaddai, God is enough when you’re by yourself, and God is enough when the brook dries up, and God is enough for you and He’s enough for us in an inexhaustible supply, and He’s enough through you, because He is El Shaddai, the God who is more than enough. You know a mother who is trying to nurse, she’s in pain if the baby will not drink. I’ll tell you; God is in pain if we will not drink.
Listen to Isaiah 66 and we’ll get ready to close, verse 12 &13, “You will be nursed, and you’ll be carried on the hip, and fondled on the knees, as one whom his mother comforts. I will comfort you.” The Lord wants to take His people on His knees, and let them draw from Him, like a branch draws from the vine, the Life of the Lord. I think that’s when Elijah became conformed to Christ. At the brook, God is enough for me. At the widow’s house, He’s enough for me and for others like me. With the death of that little child, He’s even enough through me. He’s El Shaddai. He’s the God who is more than enough. That’s why I quoted Psalm 91:1, “He will abide in the shadow of El Shaddai.” The key is abiding, abiding in the shadow of the God who is more than enough.
Having said that, Elijah is now beginning to be conformed to Christ. He has seen Him as El Shaddai. That’s only one revelation. There are other experiences and other revelations as he’s conformed to Christ, because he’s going to produce somebody who looks like Jesus, but he must first have that in his own heart. Let’s close in prayer.
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your precious Word in these wonderful stories in the Old Testament about Elijah. Lord, we think in our experience You’ve brought us many times to the brook and allowed us to be alone, and brought us to the place of dependence, so that we’re almost embarrassed, and yet You’ve taught us to be dependent, and to depend upon you and to depend upon others. That’s all part of faith. You’ve taught us that through us we can communicate Your Life to others, if we have contact with them. Teach us these things, but show us most of all, that You are our El Shaddai. You are our God that is more than enough; whatever we face, You are El Shaddai, and we praise Your holy name. In Jesus’ name. Amen.