By Pastor Matt Black
28
October 2007
Lord's Day evening
1 Kings 17:8-16
Introduction: Open your Bibles to the book of I Kings 17:8-16. We are continuing our study on the life of Elijah. He lived an amazing life. He came out of obscurity. He didn’t have much education. He didn’t have much wealth. He was virtually unknown, a humble farmer from Gilead. But he had a heart for God, and He trusted God in the darkest of circumstances.
We’re going to talk about that tonight. So the title of this evening’s message is “Trusting God in the Darkness”.
Let’s go ahead and read 1 Kings 17:8-16, “And the word of the LORD came unto him [Elijah], 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. 10 So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering of sticks: and he called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink. 11 And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand. 12 And she said, As the LORD thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, 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. 13 And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son. 14 For thus saith the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the LORD sendeth rain upon the earth. 15 And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days. 16 And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Elijah.”
So far we have seen Elijah’s public life and his prayer life. We saw how Elijah had no fear even standing up to King Ahab in public because He knew God in private.
But Elijah’s faith is tested over and over again. First in public before Ahab. But then he was tested more intensely. It is one thing to stand up and serve God when all are watching, but then God took Elijah to the Brook Cherith where no human being cared. Yet Elijah waited for God’s instruction to move from the Brook even after it dried up.
But today we see he is invited into a family. Here we see Elijah’s faith at operation in every day life, and in life’s most severe disappointments. This is probably the hardest sphere of life to be consistent in.
· In our public service for Christ, we are doing battle for the Lord. When you are at work, you are keyed up and on your guard. You are expecting attack.
· In your private prayer life, you are doing battle, because we know that we “wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:2). So in prayer we know if we “resist the devil” then “he will flee” from us.
· But in our home lives, we often do not expect satanic attack. We go home with our energies spent to relax and recuperate. But we need to be aware that often our greatest testings will be at home. We must “be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8).
The last time we were together, we saw how the Brook Cherith dried up, and how that was a great backdrop for a miracle. When the brook dried up, Elijah didn’t have to come up with a clever plan. He simply had to obey the Lord. Jesus said in John 13:17, “If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them”. Obedience is what we are called to in times of crisis.
And here we see that Elijah is called to Zarephath. Here he is tested severely.
Ø He was required to leave his home land and journey to the headquarters of Baal-worship, the Gentile homeland of Jezebel.
Ø He was tired when he got there (75 mile journey)
He obeyed. He had no idea that the Lord had already secretly prepared a widow there to take care of him.
And so we come to our main principle of what to do in the darkness. Trust God. Proverbs 3:5-6 give us the same principle: “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.”
You can trust God in the Darkness! Let’s look at five principles of trusting God when everything else tells you to give up…
I. The time to trust God is especially when there’s no indication of earthly provision.
A. We see this first in Elijah’s journey. Now Elijah gets to the gates of the city. He’s tired after his 75 mile journey. He does not get a celebrity’s welcome. In fact, Elijah sees the widow and asks her for a little food. That’s not too much to ask after walking 75 miles, and he’s hungry. He finds out very quickly how desperate things are. Listen to how the widow greets him in verse 12. She says, “As the LORD thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, 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.”
Application: Now you may be in a dark and trying time in your life like Elijah. Elijah was supposed to believe that God was going to feed him with a handful of flour and a little flask of oil. It’s not too exciting when the cook for the evening says—there’s not even enough for you, and after my son and I eat this, we’re going to die!
You can trust God when there’s no outward indication of His provision. We see this in his journey.
B. We see this also in Elijah’s cook. Here a starving Gentile widow woman is the candidate that God chooses to be Elijah’s cook! We are called to obey God when it seems unreasonable. Elijah had no outward indication that God would provide. From all indications, the month’s paycheck was gone and all the stores in town were gone, and the vegetable gardens were all dried up. We are called to walk by faith and not by sight.The only thing Elijah had was God’s promises.
Yet look at Elijah’s faith in verse 13, “And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son.” Here the story turns from Elijah’s faith to the faith of the widow woman. Will she obey the Lord? Well, first of all, it seems on the surface like a very selfish request. But Elijah knows something the widow doesn’t know. He makes it known to here in verse 14, “For thus saith the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the LORD sendeth rain upon the earth.”
Elijah had learned a vital lesson at the Brook Cherith. So we come to our second principle.
II. You can trust God, because of His record in your life. Has God ever failed you yet? Elijah had learned an important lesson at the Brook Cherith. He learned that God would never leave him nor forsake him. He learned that God is faithful, and his faith grew. You can tell someone who has a growing faith, because they are always encouraging others. When you go through the deep waters, know that God will be with you, because you’ve been there before.
III. You can also trust that God is not arbitrary. We have a high priest that is “touched with the feeling of our infirmities. Jesus Christ gave His life for you. You are precious to Him. God allows you to suffer because He has a very important purpose in it. Number one, He wants to strengthen your faith. And second, He’s using the trial in your life to encourage others and give others hope in tribulation. Look for a moment at 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, “Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; 4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.” Have you come to the conviction that God is the “God of all comfort”? He gives you tribulation so that you will be strong enough to lift up others.
IV. You can trust God because He is sovereign.
A. Think of God’s sovereignty in Elijah’s past experiences. He learned through his time with Ahab and his time at the Brook Cherith that God is totally sovereign. He did not fear Ahab because he knew his life was in the Lord’s, not Ahab’s hands. He did not fret at the Brook Cherith when he ran out of water, but quietly waited on God’s sovereign direction. The only thing that will sustain you in dark and difficult times is the sovereignty of God. In your darkest and hardest circumstance you must believe that God is sovereign.
Jerry Bridges, in his book, Trusting God says that “Confidence in the sovereignty of God in all that affects us is crucial to our trusting Him. If there is a single event in all the universe that can occur outside of God’s sovereign control then we cannot trust Him. His love may be infinite, but if His power is limited and His purpose can be thwarted, we cannot trust Him.”
Psalm 115:3 says I think says it best: “our God is in the heavens: He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased.” What do we have to fear? God can do anything He wants, and He loves us. He does what He pleases. That includes providing not only for our earthly needs, but for our eternity by the blood of Christ!
B. Now think of the sovereign hand of God in leading Elijah to a poor Gentile widow woman. Why was Elijah, probably the greatest prophet of the Old Testament, here at this obscure, unknown place ministering to a starving Gentile widow woman miles and miles away from anything familiar? I’ll tell you first, that what seems arbitrary and unknown and small to us is planned, and known and huge in the plan of a sovereign God. This poor starving widow woman is more important in the history of the world than any of the world leaders of history. Here she is being rescued by God in an amazing way. God is sovereign! And what you consider small, God considers big. Zechariah asks a question in Zechariah 4:10, “For who hath despised the day of small things?” Don’t you know that the Lord can provide for a multitude with a little boy’s lunch? And He can provide for 2 million Hebrews in the wilderness for 40 years. If he can provide for a widow and her son and a prophet for “many days”, then God can certainly provide for you. He created everything you see out of nothing. Don’t you think he can take care of your needs? Your greatest need is nothing for him to provide, but He is more concerned about it than you. Let me prove it to you.
Matthew 6:32 is a very comforting verse. It says “your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things.” The word knoweth has the idea that God sees and that He is right there in the situation. God is totally sovereign over your situation. The Gentile widow of Zarephath could trust him, and you can trust Him too.
C. You can trust the Lord, just like the widow of Zarephath did. Let’s look at verse 12 back in 1 Kings 17. I want you to see how this widow of Zarephath came to trust the Lord. She had already had the seed planted in her heart. She says back in verse 12, “As the LORD thy God liveth, I have not a cake…”. She had heard something about the living God. She must have heard how God had led 2 million people on dry land across the Red Sea, and then how He provide food for 40 years in the wilderness.
You know what this tells me? It tells me that you never know who God is going to send your way. This woman already had the seeds of faith planted in her heart. I have no idea how she knew about the Living God, but she says, “As the LORD thy God liveth, I have not a cake…”.
So Elijah says to her in verse 13-14, “Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son. 14 For thus saith the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the LORD sendeth rain upon the earth.”
And here we come to our final principle. It’s what I call the Manna Principle. Here it is:
V. God will provide for you, but often he will not provide for more than your daily needs. Look at verse 14 again, “For thus saith the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the LORD sendeth rain upon the earth.” Elijah didn’t promise here another barrel of meal, or another cruse full of oil. But she had to rely on the barrel that had just a handful of meal in it. There was just a little oil in the cruse. It was just enough. God promises to give you your daily bread. Now let’s understand that God could give you the whole world if He wanted to. And you are an heir of the world with Abraham. You are a co-heir with Jesus Christ. Are you fearful for food, clothing, a home or a car? There is no need at all for such fears. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things (temporal necessities) shall be added unto you" (Matthew 6:33). Psalm 34:9 tells us to "fear the Lord, ye His saints: for there is no want to them that fear Him". Listen, "No good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly" (Psalm 84:11). But note well that each of these promises is conditional : your task is to give God the first place in your life, to fear, obey and love Him in all things, and in return He guarantees your needs will be provided.
Philippians 4:19, “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”
There’s probably someone here tonight that says—you have no idea how desperate my situation is. You are right. But you must remember also, that your situation is not so rare that many others have not already faced it and gained the victory. 1 Corinthians 10:13, “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it”.
Your situation might be desperate, but I would ask you to think about the widow from Zarephath. I can’t imagine that you’ve ever been one meal away from death by starvation. But she put God first. And what does verse 15 say? “And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah”. She obeyed. She sought first the kingdom of heaven. And the Bible says here in verse 15, that “she, and he, and her house, did eat many day”.
Conclusion: So what is the lesson we learn from the Widow of Zarephath? I think we find it in 1 Timothy 6:8. "Having food and raiment let us be therewith content". The question is, are we content in God? When all we have is God, can we truly say we have everything we need?
So what happened to the widow of Zarephath? Let’s look back at 1 Kings 17:15-16, “And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days. 16 And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Elijah.”
God is going to provide. Count on it. God sees your next car repair. He sees that college bill. He also sees your bank account. He sees the oil and the handful of meal. He’s the one that multiplied the loaves and fishes, and he’s promised to provide for you.