“The Dry Brook”
I Kings 17:1-24
1KI 17:1 Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, "As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word." 2 Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah: 3 "Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. 4 You will drink from the brook, and I have ordered the ravens to feed you there." 5 So he did what the LORD had told him. He went to the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan, and stayed there. 6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook. 7 Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. 8 Then the word of the LORD came to him: 9 "Go at once to Zarephath of Sidon and stay there. I have commanded a widow in that place to supply you with food." 10 So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, "Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?" 11 As she was going to get it, he called, "And bring me, please, a piece of bread." 12 "As surely as the LORD your God lives," she replied, "I don’t have any bread--only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it--and die." 13 Elijah said to her, "Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small cake of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. 14 For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: `The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD gives rain on the land.’ " 15 She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. 16 For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the LORD spoken by Elijah. 17 Some time later the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. He grew worse and worse, and finally stopped breathing. 18 She said to Elijah, "What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?" 19 "Give me your son," Elijah replied. He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. 20 Then he cried out to the LORD, "O LORD my God, have you brought tragedy also upon this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?" 21 Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried to the LORD, "O LORD my God, let this boy’s life return to him!" 22 The LORD heard Elijah’s cry, and the boy’s life returned to him, and he lived. 23 Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house. He gave him to his mother and said, "Look, your son is alive!" 24 Then the woman said to Elijah, "Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the LORD from your mouth is the truth."
INTRODUCTION
• Elijah was fed by ravens and had his very own, personal water supply…talk about having a great time spiritually! (vs 1-6)
• Then it came to a point where all of it ended (vs 7)
You experience victory & then there comes a discouraging time
Things were going great & then it just stops
Etc.
• How do we deal with those situations?
I. Elijah’s DECISION
• Take a look at what Elijah DIDN’T do:
1. REMAIN
• He could have just stayed put…where he was comfortable
• All too often, I have seen people remain right where they are spiritually without making any moves to grow spiritually
Soda gets flat when it just sits there...so do our spiritual lives.
2. RETURN
• He didn’t retrace his steps and try to duplicate something that was done in the past
• There is a “newness” that God has for everyone of us in here
3. REBEL
• He didn’t turn his back on God when the blessing seemed to stop
• There may even be some in here who have distanced themselves from God because they have experienced a “dry brook” in their life
• You’re going to see that this dry brook was actually an instrument God used in Elijah’s life to lead him on to greater things.
• This is a key thought! We spend so much time rebuking the enemy and getting mad at God that we fail to realize that GOD IS MOVING US ON to something greater and He wants to use us in a greater capacity!!!
II. Elijah’s MISSION {vs 9-24}
• Take a look at what Elijah was led to…it’s similar to what we are being led to when our brook dries up:
1. DIFFICULTY (vs 9)
• Elijah was led to Zarephath
• Zarephath literally means “fiery trial.”
• Keep in mind that metal becomes pure, the impurities are burned away, because of the intense heat it is exposed to
I PET 1:6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
• Friend, God may be moving you on and all this time you have been rebuking the devil for it…God knows what He is doing!
2. DESPERATION (vs 9b-16)
• God leads us from the dry brooks in our lives in order for us to touch the hurting of this world
• How many times have we been able to help others because God led us from our dry brooks to someone who needed help?
3. DISCOURAGEMENT (vs 17, 18)
• How hard it must have been to handle this time of discouragement right after a great time of victory
• God has an answer, friend.
4. DYNAMIC (vs 19-24)
• God performed the miraculous
• Had Elijah not moved on from his dry brook, there would have been no dynamic move!
• I would also venture to day there would have been no victory at Mt Carmel, no chariot of fire, etc.
RESPONSE
• Has your brook dried up?
• Has a time of defeat or discouragement come your way?
• Don’t rebel, remain or return…allow God to move you to where He wants to take you
• Seek Him this morning and let Him move you from the dry brook to the dynamic!
