That is, you accept the Lord as your Savior, and then you can live happily ever after, and never have another crisis in your life!
But there is no such life for any of us while we are here on earth. It does not matter:
• If a person is rich or poor
• What country a person lives in
• What family a person belongs to
None of us are exempt from the problems of life. NONE!
Illus: We have those who try to give that impression though:
• They wear clothes they can not afford
• They buy cars they can not afford
• They buy homes they can not afford
• They spend money they do not have
They do all of this to impress people they do not even like. They do it to cause people to think they are living the perfect life.
But if you could enter their private life, you would discover their life is like ours, filled with crisis after crisis!
NO ONE IS EXEMPT FROM THE SORROWS OF LIFE.
Illus: Did you hear about the man and the woman who seemed to be the perfect couple? Once upon a time, a perfect man and a perfect woman met. After a perfect courtship, they had a perfect wedding. Their life together was, of course, perfect. One snowy, stormy Christmas Eve, this perfect couple was driving their perfect car (a Grand Caravan) along a winding road, when they noticed someone at the side of the road in distress. Being the perfect couple, they stopped to help. There stood Santa Claus with a huge bundle of toys. Not wanting to disappoint any children on the eve of Christmas, the perfect couple loaded Santa and his toys into their vehicle. Soon they were driving along delivering the toys. Unfortunately, the driving conditions deteriorated and the perfect couple and Santa Claus had an accident. Only one of them survived the accident.
Who was the survivor?
The perfect woman survived. She's the only one who really existed in the first place. Everyone knows there is no Santa Claus and there is no such thing as a perfect man.
But actually, when it comes to perfection, we have to move from the realm of the EARTHLY to the HEAVENLY. When all of us Christians go to be with the Lord, we then will enjoy the perfect life. But until then we can expect our share of problems!
HAVE YOU NOTICED, some folks seem to receive more than their share? Job had it right when he said, in Job 14:1, “Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.”
As we read through the Scriptures, we discover that all of God’s choice servants faced the same kinds of problems in their lives as we do in ours.
For example, in the life of Elijah, the great prophet of God, we see he faced some of the same kinds of problems we face. But during this time, when he faced crisis after crisis, God took care of him and fed him.
God chose to take care of Him during this time by using three things:
• A stream (Brook)
• Some birds
• A widow woman
God used a stream to provide for him, but one day Elijah looked at the brook, and discovered it was drying up.
I can just imagine the astonishment on his face as he watches the flow of the brook becomes a trickle one day, and eventually the day comes where the trickle turns to a dry creek bed. NO MORE WATER!
If Elijah had been like many today, he would have said, “Bad luck has set in!”
Illus: Thinking about luck makes us think of the husband that had been slipping in and out of a coma for several months, yet his wife stayed by his bedside every single day.
When he came to, he motioned for her to come nearer.
As she sat by him, he said, "You know what?
• You have been with me all through the bad times
• When I got fired, you were there to support me
• When my business failed, you were there
• When I got shot, you were by my side
• When we lost the house, you gave me support
• When my health started failing, you were still by my side
When I think about it now, I think you bring me bad luck."
But for Christians, LUCK is not what determines our destiny. The sovereign God of heaven determines our destiny.
However, that which God had used to sustain Elijah initially was no longer there. What would Elijah do now?
God had already made provision for him to be fed by the widow woman in Zarephath to supply his needs.
Look at 1 Kings 17:1-9, we read, “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. And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there. So he went and did according unto the word of the LORD: for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordanl. And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook. And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land. And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.”
Let’s look at some things in this passage of Scripture, that can teach us about living through a crisis when the brook goes dry in our life.
Notice, first of all:
I. ELIJAH WAS EXECUTING THE WILL OF GOD WHEN THE BROOK DRIED UP
One mistaken idea that we mortals seem to have, is that when a crisis comes, it means we are out of the will of God. Listen, there are times that God does send a crisis our way because we are not walking in the will of God.
• One of the things that the Book of Jonah teaches us clearly is that it is a dangerous thing to walk out of the will of God. It almost cost Jonah his life.
But it is wrong to assume that the different problems we face in our life, or the life of others, are always because we are out of the will of God.
• One of the things that the Book of Job teaches us clearly is that this just man did not suffer because he was out of the will of God. Actually, he suffered because He was in the will of God.
As Elijah was faithfully serving the Lord, he was facing crisis after crisis in his life. He was doing exactly the things God wanted him to be doing, such as:
(1) HE DELIVERED GOD’S MESSAGE TO KING AHAB
Look at 1 Kings 17:1, we read, “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) HE WENT WHERE GOD TOLD HIM TO GO
Look at 1 Kings 17: 2-6, we read, “And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there. 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. And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook.”
He did all that God had told him to do. There is nothing recorded in the Scripture that would cause us to think that God was chastising him because he was not doing the will of God.
Something we Christians had better learn and keep in the foremost of our thoughts -- DOING GOD’S WILL DOES NOT EXEMPT US FROM THE TRIALS OF LIFE.
The brook dried up while Elijah was performing the will of God. Look at verse 7, we read, “And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.”
ELIJAH WAS EXECUTING THE WILL OF GOD WHEN THE BROOK DRIED UP, but also:
II. ELIJAH WAS ENJOYING THE BLESSINGS OF GOD WHEN THE BROOK DRIED UP
Listen, there are times when it seems we Christians are enjoying the blessings of God so much, that it seems as if we have died and gone to heaven.
We are enjoying God’s blessings so much, that we want to live forever on this earth.
Illus: Sometimes our life is like a ride that they used to have at the State fair. It is like a big barrel that about 30 or 40 people can walk into, and they stand in place around the wall. At the top of the barrel spectators can look down and watch that big barrel as it begins to spin in a circle. It starts off slow, and it gets faster and faster. It get so fast that the centrifugal force presses you against the wall, and then, if that is not bad enough, the bottom falls out of this barrel, and while that thing is spinning, you find yourself suspended on a wall about six feet up in the air until the bottoms returns.
The Christian life is much like that ride, it is fun, it is hilarious at times, but watch out! Sooner or later the bottom is going to fall out, and you had better be ready when it does.
WHEN DOES IT FALL OUT? Many times the bottom falls out when the blessings of God are present in our life. Notice, the brook went dry while God was greatly using Elijah.
Illus: This is a man that God used who could tell the people:
• It is not going to rain for three years and it did not rain
• It is going to rain and it rained
He was used as the “Mouthpiece of God”, He could actually say what he said as, “Thus saith the Lord.”
• God told him where to go in verse 3
• God told him what to do in verse 4
Elijah was enjoying the provision of the Lord. Elijah’s time of crisis came right in the midst of his enjoying God’s blessings. The brook began to dry up.
THE BROOK DRYING UP WASN’T THE END OF ELIJAH’S LIFE, IT WAS THE BEGINNING OF GOD MOVING HIM TO THE NEXT STEP IN HIS LIFE.
God always has something down the road to sustain us. Look at verses 8-9, we read, “And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.”
We have to always remember that what is a CRISIS TO US is not a CRISIS TO GOD! This was part of God’s divine plan. Often we do not know what those plans are, but God does.
Have you ever thought how nice it would be to know the future? God has a purpose in us not knowing the future, we have all we can do to take care of the present.
Illus: The story is told about a man who found a Genie in a bottle and released the genie. The genie was so thankful that the genie told him he could wish for anything he wanted to wish for and it would be granted.
The man thought, “Wouldn’t it be wonderful to know what the future holds, if I did I could make a fortune on the stock market.”
His request was, “I would like to know what the future holds!” Bingo! A newspaper appeared to him telling him how the economy would be a year from now. He was thrilled because this was inside information that would make him rich.
But he also looked at the obituary column in the same newspaper and saw that he died the day before.
We do not know what the future holds, but God does! And many times things happen in our life so God can to do greater things through us.
When the brook goes dry, remember it is only God preparing us for things down the road. Elijah still had four great experiences yet to face, and God was getting him ready for the future.
(1) The Widow’s provision had almost run out and God was going to use Elijah to help her through her crisis
(2) The widow’s son dies, and Elijah seeks God’s face to raise him from the dead
(3) He has yet to go to Mt. Carmel and face the prophets of Baal
(4) He has yet to be threatened by Jezebel
Conclusion:
Our lives are not dependent upon anything in this life, but they are dependent upon God. God is sovereign over everything in our lives.
God will use the crisis times in our lives to prepare us for greater service.
When the brook went dry, Elijah could have taken it upon himself to try to find another stream somewhere else. He might have found a brook somewhere else, but had he found one, he would have been out of the will of God, and never learned those valuable lessons he learned.
Perhaps there are those here today, and the brook in your life has gone dry or seems to be going dry.
If this is the case, I want to assure you that if you are doing the will of God, this is not the end, this is a time when God is trying to show you that He has greater things He is preparing you for.
Illus: In 1925, a man named Floyd Collins was exploring near Mammoth Cave, in Kentucky, and got stuck. He was fifty-five feet from the surface and he got stuck. Icy water was dripping in his face. The rescuers came in and diverted the water, and they talked with him, they calmed him down, but they couldn't get him out.
He began to come unglued there, stuck in that cave. He was able to see the light, able to see where he wanted to be, hearing voices, getting food, but he was stuck and he couldn't get out. So he slowly began to have raving lunacies about everything from chicken sandwiches to angels in white chariots.
The newspapers got in on it, and ten thousand people came to see him. They sold hot dogs and sandwiches. It was a side show. Seventeen days later Floyd Collins died in that hole, able to see where he wanted to be and not able to get there. ( Roger Thompson, "The Good News Is: The Bad News Is Wrong," Preaching Today, Tape No. 55.)
Can you see where God wants you to go? God does not want you to die in that situation there. He wants to take you from that DRIED UP BROOK IN YOUR LIFE, and help you to become a greater servant for Him.
If the brook in your life has dried up, God has other things for you to do, if you will follow Him and obey Him.
As we look at the life of Elijah we see that:
I. ELIJAH WAS EXECUTING THE WILL OF GOD WHEN THE BROOK DRIED UP
II. ELIJAH WAS ENJOYING THE WILL OF GOD WHEN THE BROOK DRIED UP
