The Backdrop of a Miracle

Life of Elijah, Part 4

By Pastor Matt Black

02 September 2007
Lord's Day evening
1 Kings 17:1-8

 

Introduction: Open your Bibles to the book of I Kings 17:1-8.  Once you’ve found that please stand.  We are continuing on in our series on the life of Elijah. The title of this evening’s message is “The Backdrop of a Miracle”.  This is Part 4 in a miniseries I’ve entitled “Life of Elijah”.  If we have time we’ll deal with more than the first 16 verses, but let’s go ahead and read 1 Kings 17:1-8, “And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word. 2  And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, 3  Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. 4  And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there. 5  So he went and did according unto the word of the LORD: for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. 6  And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook. 7  And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.

    8 And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, 9  Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.”

 

[Prayer for guidance]

 

Last week we talked about the circumstances for miracles. 

 

Elijah told wicked King Ahab—a man who offered his own child to Molech—that the drought that had already around for six months would continue another three years.  God then took Elijah and fed him and protected him by the Brook Cherith.  Who fed Elijah?  God fed Elijah by sending ravens and placing him by the brook.  Every morning and every evening Elijah had to trust God to provide.

 

But we come to verse 7, and we find some very grim circumstances.  And the principle we are going to dwell on tonight is that harsh and grim circumstances are often a backdrop for a miracle.

 

What is the backdrop we see in verse 7?  There’s a huge turn of events.  Look at 1 Kings 17:7, “And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.”

 

The Brook Cherith dried up.  The Brook Cherith was a mountain stream that simply dried up.  Now that sounds like bad news.  It means old Elijah is in need once again.  From time to time you and I know what that feels like.  But Elijah knew that God was never in need.  He had no idea what was going to happen as he waited there on God at that dry Brook. 

 

But all that dry Brook was in the life of Elijah was a backdrop for a miracle. 

 

Miraculous provisions are very common for the children of God.  Those of you who have walked with God know that the Christian life is filled with dry Brooks and miracles.  Now tonight were not going to get into the miracles themselves, but we are going to talk about the soil of miraculous living.  God will miraculously provide for you and work on your behalf.  But there are certain conditions that we want to look at.  Let’s review our first principle.

 

I.          1st Principle: Miracles often happened when there is an extreme or sudden change in circumstances.  The brook was flowing for Elijah, but we read very clearly in verse 7 that “after a while…the brook dried up”.  But we ought to be ready for this. 

 

A.   We should expect change because this world is passing away.  The Brook dried up because Brooks do that in a fallen world.  1 John 2:17 tells us that “the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever”.  “The fashion of this world passeth away” (1 Corinthians 7:31), and therefore “here have we no continuing city” (Hebrews 13:14). 

 

Brooks dry up in this fallen world.  But God is not bound to the laws of this fallen world.  He does unusual things.  Now miracles are unusual because they are not common in our day to day life.  So when things go wrong in this sin cursed world, remember that we serve a God that reigns above this world, and he’s not bound to nature, but is supernatural!

 

God loves to display His omnipotence on the backdrop of a fallen world, so therefore, be ready—be prepared for sudden and unexpected changes in life.

 

B.   We should expect change because God wants us to rely on Him alone. God can use manna or ravens to provide.  God can use a widow’s cruse of oil and a handful of meal.  If you’ve walked with God long at all, you know that God is the one that opens and shuts doors, and He’s the only one that can do it. 

 

If you ask “WHY” when circumstances get hard—then remember this reason.   God would have you depend on Him alone.  If God is sufficient at the Brook, then He is also sufficient when the Brook dries up.  Remember the words of the Psalmist in Psalm 37:25.  He says that he’d been young and now was old, and in all those years he says, “I [have] not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.”  God’s going to care for you.  Count on it.  If you are his child, you’ll not be a beggar.  God owns the cattle on a thousand hills.

 

C.   We should expect change and trials because God has promised to build our faith through them.  God uses suffering of all kinds to build our faith.  As James 1 says, “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; 3  Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience” (James 1:2).  If God were to leave us at the Brook Cherith for too long, we might begin trusting in the Brook instead of trusting in the Lord.  That wouldn’t build our faith.

 

Application: Is your faith and dependence in the Lord, or are you resting in the gifts of the Lord?  A car and a job and a bank account are fine.  But money and provision do not come from your ability to work or drive a car or have a job or open a bank account.  We need to praise GOD from whom all blessings flow.  When the brook dries up, there’s need for God to work again.  Our hope is in God, not in a job, a bank account, a stock market, or a vehicle.  Brooks dry up and earthly things pass away.  God will provide for you.  As you look at life and all is dim and depressing, look beyond this life to a God of miracles.  Because as Psalm 115:3 says, our God is not limited to dry Brooks and broken down cars.  “… Our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased”. 

 

So remember the 1st Principle: Miracles often happened when there is an extreme or sudden change in circumstances. 

 

That could be a death in the family.  It could be a serious financial or a health need.  It could be an emotional struggle with depression.  The Lord “knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust” (Psalm 103:14).  Maybe you are going through a valley right now, and you say, why is God allowing this?  The answer is that God has not loved you less.  In fact, He’s trying your faith so that you can trust Him more.  I don’t know when God’s going to send you a miracle, but they often occur when there are sudden or extreme changes in circumstances.

 

II.       Now the 2nd Principle is this: Miracles often occur when obedience to God’s Word is exercised.   God is faithful to his people.  That faithfulness is often expressed in a miraculous change in circumstances. 

 

Elijah was no stranger to miracles.  He had just spent several months, possibly even up to a year, being fed by ravens.  Each morning the Lord miraculously provided from those vultures and from that Brook.  Now Elijah waited at that Brook.  Elijah would not move a muscle until God told him too.  Elijah knew if he were going to see a miracle, he needed to obey God explicitly.  Just like the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night, Elijah waited for God to move him.  I don’t know how long he stayed at that Brook after it dried up.  But he waited on the Lord.  It’s hard to wait on the Lord when your mouth is parched.  But the child of God has no other choice.  You certainly don’t know better than God what is best for you.  God is the only one that can open and shut doors.

 

So Elijah waits.  How long I do not know.  Until one day, something happens to Elijah.  Look at verse 8.  What happens?  “And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, 9  Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.”  Now Elijah did not know how or in what way he would be sustained, but He did know that God would use the woman in some way. 

 

Verse 10 we read, “So he arose and went to Zarephath…”  Elijah obeyed!  Now in a moment, we are going to find out that this was not an easy command to obey!  But we can always trust the Shepherd’s voice.  He is the good shepherd that giveth His life for the sheep.  The nail scarred hands will always guide you in the right direction!!

 

Elijah obeyed.  Let’s learn a few things about this obedience.

 

A.   Obedience is easier in the good times, but it is essential in the hard times.  Are we fair-weather Christians?  There is no such thing.  The unfruitful heart that is choked by “the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts” of this world is not a heart of genuine faith.  Genuine, Holy Spirit given faith endures until the end.  You may go into a valley.  You may doubt from time to time, but there is no such thing as a fair-whether Christian.  We are in this to the death. 

 

My faith has found a resting place,
Not in device or creed;
I trust the ever living One,
His wounds for me shall plead.

 

Refrain

I need no other argument,
I need no other plea,
It is enough that Jesus died,
And that He died for me.

 

Is your faith choked by trials?  Then it is no faith at all.  The genuine faith of a Christian is tried.  The sunlight of trials and tribulations never hurt a Christian’s faith, but only GROW it. 

 

Application:  So what your faith is in your hour of trial is what it is and nothing more.  Do you obey the Lord your darkest hour? 

Ø       If you’re laid off, will you seek to keep the Lord’s Day holy and insist that any job you apply for give you the Lord’s Day and Wednesday night off? 

 

Ø       Many folk who call themselves Christians will rob God of His tithe, but they have no problem pampering themselves with various kinds of comforts.  The high car payment and meals out come before the Lord’s tithe.  That’s no faith at all. 

 

B.   Obedience leaves no room for clever scheming. Our human scheming is worthless.  Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us to “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths”.

 

Now our own understanding would tell us that it was foolish to go to Zidon. 

Ø       Zidon was the home of Jezebel.  It was the center of the pagan worship of Baal.

 

Ø       Not only that, it was 75 miles north.  It would be hard for Elijah to obey God.  He was hungry.  God could have chosen any number of widows to feed Elijah.  Look at Luke 4.  There were plenty of widows around.  Jesus said in Luke 4:25-26, “But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land; 26  But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow.”

 

It just didn’t make any sense.  Listen, who are we to question God?  As Romans 11:33 says, “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! 34  For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?”  Who are we to be God’s counselor and tell God what is best for us?  He is the potter; we are the clay.  It is not ours to question, but only to be obedient.

 

Elijah’s steps were directed by God.  Elijah obeyed because he knew that as Jeremiah said in chapter 10:23, “…the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.”

 

Clever scheming does God’s children no good.  We have the map for life right here in our hands.  As Elijah, the Word of God is what we need to listen to.

 

C.   Then we see that obedience is good because it crosses our deceitful wills and requires what is contrary to our natural inclinations.  James 5:17 tells us that Elijah “was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly”.  In prayer Elijah daily surrendered His will for the Lord’s will.  You’ll not be obedient if you are not in your prayer closet.  The verse before James 5:17 tells us about Elijah’s prayer life.  What does it say?  “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much” (James 5:16).  Elijah  “was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly”!  If you are to obey God in the hour of trial, you must also pray earnestly!  Let your carnal will always be crossed by the Word of God and the Spirit of God.  Let God move you and use you. 

 

So Elijah went to Zidon, and he was on his way to see a miracle.  But the backdrop of that miracle was his own obedience.  He lived a life of faith and prayer.  Miracles often occur when obedience to God’s Word is exercised.

 

III.     Then we come to our 3rd Principle and final principle: Miracles often occur out of humble circumstances. Verse 9 we read, “Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.”

 

A.   Humble circumstances are often a place of refining.  The name of the place to which God ordered Elijah to go is quite suggestive.  "Zarephath" means "refining," the root of the word is “crucible”—the place where metals are melted.  Job said in the midst of his trial in Job 23:10, “But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.”  Miracles often come out of humble, refining circumstances!

 

B.   Humble circumstances often require a demand so great on the physical body and the emotions of the heart and mind that at the end we can only say that it was only by the grace of God.  You see to go from Cherith to Zarephath involved a journey of seventy-five miles across the desert!  God may demand of you in your Christian life to do extraordinary things. 

 

(Give the example of Johnny Farese and people’s excuses)

 

C.   Humble circumstances often put us in a place where we meet undesirable people that God wants to save.  Zarephath was "in Zidon".  Where was Zidon?  Zidon was a Gentile city, and the home of none other than Queen Jezebel!  It was a land of the undesirable Gentiles quite a ways north of Israel.

 

Look at the instruments that God often uses.  He first used humble ravens.  Vultures essentially.  Then he uses a woman that is getting ready to die.  When Elijah encounters her in verse 12, she says, “behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.”  She was gathering sticks for a fire for one last meal.

 

God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble (1 Peter 5:5). 

 

It is truly strange sometimes when we think of the people and the things that God uses.  He often uses people and things our society would normally throw away!  He uses donkeys and poor Gentile widows and ravens.  God did not send Elijah to one of the rich merchants of Zidon, but a poor widow.  Elijah wasn’t provided for by the King of Zidon, but by a penniless woman who could barely provide for herself and her son.

 

Application:  Are you worried about your pension, Medicare, or social security?  Are you worried about the rising costs of health care and prescription drugs?  Are you concerned about whether you can afford a car if this one dies?  What about revival?  Who is concerned about living a holy unstoppable life for the Lord?

 

Conclusion: As we close I want you to consider the difficulties Elijah faced.

 

Ø       He was required to leave the land of his fathers and sojourn at the headquarters of Baal-worship. 

Ø       He went to a place he was unfamiliar with.

Ø       He was tired when he got there (75 mile journey)

 

All these things stood against him.  If I could leave you with one thing it is this.  In trials, you must decide to give God unquestioning obedience, not excuses, because God will not work miracles through a dirty vessel.  So determine in your heart when all the trials are coming your way never to compromise.  In compromise you may get a temporary release from stress, but you will not see God work any miracles!  Determine to obey no matter how hard or humble the circumstances.  That’s the backdrop for a miracle!

 

Closing Hymn:  38 How Great Thou Art (first and last)