Provision Text: I Kings 17:1-7 NLT
1 Now Elijah, who was from Tishbe in Gilead, told King Ahab, “As surely as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives—the God I serve—there will be no dew or rain during the next few years until I give the word!” 2 Then the Lord said to Elijah, 3 “Go to the east and hide by Kerith Brook, near where it enters the Jordan River. 4 Drink from the brook and eat what the ravens bring you, for I have commanded them to bring you food.”5 So Elijah did as the Lord told him and camped beside Kerith Brook, east of the Jordan. 6 The ravens brought him bread and meat each morning and evening, and he drank from the brook. 7 But after a while the brook dried up, for there was no rainfall anywhere in the land.
Elijah. His name means “the Lord is God.” Elijah’s ministry corresponded to his name: He was sent from God to confront Baalism and to declare to Israel that the Lord was God and there was no other. Elijah prayed for the drought and God answered, it didn’t rain for 31/2 years. No spring rains, and no dew on the ground. This drought proved that Baal, the god of the rains and fertility, was impotent before the Lord.
The first thing I would like to mention here is confrontation. Every believer will face times of confrontation. Confrontation isn’t fun but it is necessary.
Always stand for the truth. Never back down from God’s word.
Look at Verse 6 again, The ravens brought him bread and meat each morning and evening, and he drank from the brook.
*God can supernaturally provide for you. In Exodus 16, God fed Israel with manna and quail during Israel’s wilderness wanderings.
Listen to Philippians 4:19NKJ And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:19TM You can be sure that God will take care of everything you need, his generosity exceeding even yours in the glory that pours from Jesus.
The Philippians’ material needs, had been depleted to some extent because of their gracious gift. Notice verse 19 says, according to His riches! (His infinite resources)
Remember Mark 12: 38-44 Jesus also taught: “Beware of these teachers of religious law! For they like to parade around in flowing robes and receive respectful greetings as they walk in the marketplaces. 39 And how they love the seats of honor in the synagogues and the head table at banquets. 40 Yet they shamelessly cheat widows out of their property and then pretend to be pious by making long prayers in public. Because of this, they will be more severely punished.” Jesus sat down near the collection box in the Temple and watched as the crowds dropped in their money. Many rich people put in large amounts. 42 Then a poor widow came and dropped in two small coins. 43 Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has given more than all the others who are making contributions. 44 For they gave a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she had to live on.”
Jesus exposed the greedy practice of some scribes. Scribes often served as estate planners for widows, which gave them the opportunity to convince distraught widows out of their money. (These scribes effectively robbed the widow of her husband’s legacy to her.)
Could this widow be one of those widows who were robbed by a scribe?
This widow gives her whole livelihood! (I believe she understood that her means wouldn’t come unless it came supernaturally.
Read story about Peter Ten Boom.
Read I Kings 17:8-24Then the Lord said to Elijah, 9 “Go and live in the village of Zarephath, near the city of Sidon. I have instructed a widow there to feed you.”10 So he went to Zarephath. As he arrived at the gates of the village, he saw a widow gathering sticks, and he asked her, “Would you please bring me a little water in a cup?” 11 As she was going to get it, he called to her, “Bring me a bite of bread, too.”12 But she said, “I swear by the Lord your God that I don’t have a single piece of bread in the house. And I have only a handful of flour left in the jar and a little cooking oil in the bottom of the jug. I was just gathering a few sticks to cook this last meal, and then my son and I will die.”13 But Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid! Go ahead and do just what you’ve said, but make a little bread for me first. Then use what’s left to prepare a meal for yourself and your son. 14 For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: There will always be flour and olive oil left in your containers until the time when the Lord sends rain and the crops grow again!”15 So she did as Elijah said, and she and Elijah and her son continued to eat for many days. 16 There was always enough flour and olive oil left in the containers, just as the Lord had promised through Elijah.17 Some time later the woman’s son became sick. He grew worse and worse, and finally he died. 18 Then she said to Elijah, “O man of God, what have you done to me? Have you come here to point out my sins and kill my son?”19 But Elijah replied, “Give me your son.” And he took the child’s body from her arms, carried him up the stairs to the room where he was staying, and laid the body on his bed. 20 Then Elijah cried out to the Lord, “O Lord my God, why have you brought tragedy to this widow who has opened her home to me, causing her son to die?”21 And he stretched himself out over the child three times and cried out to the Lord, “O Lord my God, please let this child’s life return to him.” 22 The Lord heard Elijah’s prayer, and the life of the child returned, and he revived! 23 Then Elijah brought him down from the upper room and gave him to his mother. “Look!” he said. “Your son is alive!”24 Then the woman told Elijah, “Now I know for sure that you are a man of God, and that the Lord truly speaks through you.”
I would submit to you, that this widows obediance in serving Elijah first, was tied into everything good that happened for her latter.
God provided for her supernaturally!
God raised her son back to life!
Canaanite myths claimed that Baal could revive the dead, but here it was the Lord, not Baal, who gave back the boy’s life.
Notice, verse 24 Then the woman told Elijah, “Now I know for sure that you are a man of God, and that the Lord truly speaks through you.”
A man of God has a true word from God. A man with a message from God, speaking with authority on the behalf of the Lord!
