Now Elijah, who was from Tishbe in Gilead, told King Ahab, As surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, livesthe God I servethere will be no dew or rain during the next few years until I give the word! (1 Kings 17:1 NLT), Later on, IN THE THIRD YEAR of the drought, the LORD said to Elijah, Go and present yourself to King Ahab. When we get comfortable, we are no longer growing or having an impact on our environment. Maybe you are in a season of your life where you do not know what the Lord is doing? 1 King 17:2-7. When we first meet Elijah, God tells him to hide from King Ahab in the Kerith Ravine. They were absolutely evil and disobedient to the ways of the Lord. 1. If I go anywhere on my property he's right there with me. Wendy couldn't understand why God would bring her provision in that way and then allow it to be gone. By drying up the brook, He forces us to search out His provision in another place. (1 Kings 17:5) To the functionally minded, Elijah's prolonged stay by the brook Cherith looks like a waste of a promising life. It is here we find a conscience calmed by the Prince of Peace. Even a river would have been regarded as insufficient. This is indicated in two ways. Wonderful post! If at this time you have yielded to this temptation to throw in the towel of faith and to rely on your own thoughts or on someone else, if your zeal for Christ has diminished, your spirit of devotion is dying, if you find no delight in prayer, nothing to give praise and thanksgiving for, and can find nothing about you to stir you up and encourage you remember Him who said of His vineyard in Isaiah 27:3, Intentionally Biblical, Confessional, Presbyterian and Reformed, Church Planting and School of Discipleship, Philippines. Is this how we look at the trials in our Christian life as tests in Gods school of faith aimed to see if we have learned faiths lessons taught up to this point in our Christian life and are able to put them into practice? Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust: A Hopeful Reminder, A Call to Prayer for Ukraine My Country, My Home. It is surely no coincidence that God lead him to a quiet place where the only continual sound would be the rippling of this brook. One can live in the land of memory for a long time this way, gaining sustenance among the stories and wonders of the past. Heb 12:2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, Elijah - The background and introduction to his times, The Widow at Zarephath and the Provision of God, Elijah, resurrection and the fear of Ahab. 1 Kings 17:3 Go away from here and turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan.. "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord" Joshua 24:15, Church Mail: PO Box 9007, South Yarra 3141. And God loves you far more than these things! The Bible says, "Elijah was a man with a nature like ours" (James 5:17); it also says he confronted idolatry, performed miracles, spoke God's judgment, and changed his world. But further, as a result it meant that the opportunity to apply some pressure on Elijah to pray for a shorting of the judgement was removed. Consider Joseph God told Joseph in a dream that provision was going to dry up. My wife, Wendy, actually shared on this passage about a year ago. Elijah was not running away, he was being removed. God rises up Elijah, a Tishbite (a resident of Tishbe), to be a prophet to Israel. VERSES: 1 Kings 17:1-7 MEMORY VERSE: 1 Kings 17:4 ".thou shalt drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there." BOOK TO REMEMBER: Song of Solomon.Write "Song Of Solomon" on small slips of paper and hand out at the end of class. Mukti has been working to restore shattered lives in India for over 120 years. There would be none here for Elijah to be tempted to parade himself before. What God teaches Elijah, and us, at brook Cherith 1 Kings 17:5-6 So he did what the LORD had told him. Cherith is a place of isolation. Having passed one grade in the school of faith, it was now time for the next. James and Luke say the drought lasted for three and a half years. The God who gives water can also withhold it. Elijah the Prophet (known in Hebrew as Eliyahu Hanavi) is perhaps the most beloved prophet in the Bible. Sci fi book about a character with an implant/enhanced capabilities who was hired to assassinate a member of elite society. Before the more mature faith and ability to handle the Mount Carmels of life, there must be the maturing experiences of the Cherith brooks of life and the widow of Zarephath. Above all, he stands before God. So it was in this context that Elijah came to speak forth the word of judgement in the presence of Ahab. Its important here to note this against the background of v.1 where we read of the close identification between the word of the prophet and God my word said Elijah though it was Gods Word. What did he do down there? What this clearly indicates is that Ahab had not changed, he was still hardened in sin of rebellious unbelief. You can only live a certain amount of time without water, but he stayed put. These birds that I once considered pretty ugly, I now delight in the thought of how the Lord takes care of them and of me. You were getting good at doing what you were doing. The first thing he did was to head for Egypt and what trouble he got into there! I learned my identity was not in a relationship status with anyone but Him. The Lord values the ravens, but how much more did He value Elijah? Can a VGA monitor be connected to parallel port? It is described as being "before," that is "east," of Jordan. Even more, they were also a practical confirmation of Gods approval of where he was, that he was indeed where God wanted him, doing what God wanted him. However, before long Jezebel tried to wipe out Yahweh's name from the land. I was just thinking about how God speaks to me when I walk my dog. What Does It Mean To Be "A Man After My Own Heart"? document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Enter your email address to receive a regular newsletter from Compassion with inspirational stories, poverty news and more. The mystery of the ways in which our Lord works is eye-opening in this biblical account. Well Elijah didn't - he stayed put. I had been faithful to Him and loved Him, but I was in a Cherith. Be assured that God will never forsake you nor fail you. This is the second message on Elijah and we are in 1 Kings chapter 17. the brook dried up, because there had been no rain, Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular, A stream, a winter torrent, a, valley, a shaft, To be ashamed, confused, disappointed, to dry up, wither, Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person masculine singular, Preposition-b, Article | Noun - feminine singular. Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah: Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. We need to wait on God as Elijah did and let Him tell us what we should do. When Elijah got to the palace, God told him what to say. God opened up a job for her and she had the job virtually a year to the day and it was the greatest job she had ever had. If we knew the end from the beginning we might try to devise a better way of arriving at that end, we certainly would be tempted to run ahead of God. He said, Lord what will you have me to do? (Acts 9:6). That is what a 'Cherith' is. I think I know why God takes our brooks away. But then despite months of living by faith in dependence upon God in obedience to Gods word and enjoying Gods blessing in that place, that things suddenly and dramatically changed. The Bible says he was a normal person just like us, yet he prayed enormous prayers - and God answered! God knows where Elijah is. (1 Kings 17:5) To the functionally minded, Elijah's prolonged stay by the brook Cherith looks like a waste of a promising life. He was where God wanted him to be, doing what God wanted him to do. And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land. Maybe you are the one to be a special provision and be used by the Lord like the ravens? In the light of this we are to understand that the drying brook was an important trial to see if he had learnt the lessons up to this point which he had. God saw the need for Elijah to keep things in perspective, and there is nothing like quiet times where we are alone with the Lord to help us find that. The Land of Israel was then divided into two kingdoms: the kingdom of Judah and the kingdom of the Ten Tribes. We first meet Elijah in 1 Kings 17:1 when he suddenly appears to challenge Ahab, an evil king who ruled the northern kingdom from 874 to 853 BC. For Elijah every raven visit was a reminder not only of Gods loving provision but of Gods loving presence with him as well. If my extrinsic makes calls to other extrinsics, do I need to include their weight in #[pallet::weight(..)]? But God will not share His glory, so Elijah is told to go to a lonely place. Sed malesuada dolor eget velit pretium. 'Come aside to a quiet place,' He said. He never sent out flyers presenting his needs. Eventually one day it dried up! Or 'Why the brook Cherith?' Not necessarily post annum. Why do Luke and James both say the drought lasted 3 years and 6 months? The prophet Elijah hid himself on the banks of the Cherith and was fed by ravens during the early . Normally we want a road map on life. He then got converted and felt God's leading to start orphanages in England during the 1800's. We ought not be surprised if our Father says, You have had enough of this hurry, publicity and excitement. Our natural inclination would be to begin to think of the next task. The woman believes him Pulpit Commentary Verse 7. It is in those places where we gain greater intimacy with the Lord. But you also see this other principle here of a brook that is drying up and he doesn't move because it is part of what God is doing with his character. How are we to interpret this hiding of Elijah by the brook Cherith? Only you can answer that but you need to hear from God just as we saw that Elijah waited upon the Lord. This was a time of severe drought. God's provision was with Elijah and though hard times came and the provision in that location started to dwindle, God still had other means available for His servant if he would simply wait and be obedient upon the word of God. When we are living in Gods revealed will remember secondly that this, 2. The answer lies in the fact that God is not just interested in imparting faith; He is interested in its development, in its improvement. Now it is while Elijah is by the Brook Cherith, in a deep ravine in the wild and rugged terrain of Gilead, being cared for by creatures who clearly show more obedience to God than that greedy and self-serving Ahab, that something unexpected happens. The first act of the battle scene, as it were, was Elijah the prophet of God standing as Gods ambassador in the very throne room of King Ahab making known Gods judgement to this ungodly King who not only built a temple for Baal in his capital but also actively pursued an anti-God policy which was aimed at the full and final eradication of anything to do with the God of Israel from his kingdom. A Change of scenery. What if Elijah had never left the brook? The third thing that interests me here is that God led him to a brook that was drying up. OBEDIENCE AND THE WILL OF GOD A) Prompt Obedience B) Perfect Obedience 3. He was actually pro-active and he said okay, if there is going to be a famine, let's start storing our grain now to get us through. They wanted Elijah dead and looked in all of the other cities. Decay and change may characterise all our earthly comforts, but they do not characterise God; He remains the same, and His care can never fail. Ive got something new for you to do.. In verse 5 we see Elijah's response: "So he went and did according to the word of the Lord." Many times, our God does not choose to work in rational ways so that without a shadow of a doubt we can know that it had to be Him. How do we build on it. And in that he certainly had a taste of heaven, of communion with God. That which had driven him to hunt Christians, now drove him to serve Christ. God provided the brook, and God dried it up. They sat down and gave thanks (without there being any food!) It maybe a drying brook of finance, or it may be of health, or of the removal of a dear Christian friend who has been Gods daily instrument of refreshing your soul in His truth, of a churchs ministry those things given by God to us which we could rely on before to provide for us are no longer there for us. Sometimes a Cherith experience is there to get the world out of us. He took it away. Elijah represents any of . Elijahs means the Lord is God. Elijahs ministry corresponded exactly to his name, for he was sent by God to confront the worship of Baal by Gods people, and to declare to Israel that the Lord was God and there was no other. Elijah was a Prophet. But Elijah spent part of that time in the Kerith Ravine and the remainder in Zarephath. When Elijah was in Cherith during a time of separation and preparation, God fed him by ravens. But God also commanded ravens to bring him his food. For it was from here that Elijah began the journey to Mt Carmel. Now we now that Elijah was not here at the brook Cherith because he was running away from risky ministry; nor because he thought it wise or best, in fact he may have thought otherwise. Why would the Lord even make him go live in an obscure dry place? Our great God could have used any means to feed Elijah, but He intentionally chose ravens. The brook dries up. No matter the circumstances we will always find God adequate. This is how God trains His young eaglets to fly. 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