1 Kings 17:1-7
And Elijah the Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word.”
2 Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, 3 “Get away from here and turn eastward, and hide by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. 4 And it will be that you shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.”
5 So he went and did according to the word of the Lord, for he went and stayed by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. 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 And it happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.
I love chapter 17 of 1 Kings… it is filled with so many lessons from the Lord. God’s ways are not our ways… For instance, when we look at the situation Elijah was in. God had just led him to prophesy to the rebellious and evil King Ahab that there would be no rain for years, except at his word.
God loves us… When we turn away from Him, and turn to sin, He loves us enough to do what it takes to get our attention…. sometimes it is by allowing us to suffer through the consequences of our sin….. Sometimes it is doing something that will bring us to a place of brokenness where we come to our knees in complete repentance, and submission and turn back to Him, cry out to Him…. Hold on to Him…. At this time, God brought a severe draught upon the land to help the people to turn back to Him… for three years…. no rain, meant no crops… famine….
Elijah was a man of God and God had a plan to provide for him… God tells us that His ways are not our ways…
Isaiah 55:8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
Nothing that happens to us comes as a surprise to God, but we see that God chose to reveal His plan to Elijah one step at a time…. first He told him to hide by the Brook Cherith. This was not only to keep him safe from the king and queen, but it was also a time with just Him and God to spend together, preparing him for the plans the Lord had for him in the future. God also reveals how He will provide for Elijah… He is to drink from the brook, and the Lord had command the ravens to feed him there…
I think that possibly Elijah’s first choice would not have been to go into hiding, into complete solitude… He had just had an audience with the king. He loved the Lord. He may have desired to teach the people about God, to continue to warn the people to turn from their sin and turn to God…. but God’s plan for him was different…
Elijah knew that God would provide for him during this drought… he was a servant of God, he was doing God’s work and he knew that God is faithful… However, I do not know that Elijah would have chosen for himself to be fed by ravens…. he might have preferred a nice inn to stay at, where they served good food… but His ways are not our ways…
Often we work everything out in our minds…. of what the plan is, the best way that our situation will work out. Whether it be on how God will provide the funds to bring our children home, or something entirely different…. we search the recesses of our finite minds and try to scheme up a plan…. try to “help” God on how it will all work out… But our God is Almighty! His resources are limitless. He sees the big picture. He may choose to provide in a way we would never have come up with, let alone chosen for ourselves, but we can be assured that He has a reason and it is good… that God alone will receive all the glory, not ourselves or any other man. The circumstances the Lord allows may be difficult for us, but we know that He is using it to purify us, to refine us, to answer our prayer as we cry out to Him, “Less of me and more of You oh, Lord.”
And as He reveals a part of His plan and we obey… we see the hand of God moving and His provisions for what we need… after a time, the “brook may dry up”… bringing to an end that season, and He is faithful to reveal the next step of the journey with Him… the next part of His plan… Next month I will share about the next part of the Lord’s plan for Elijah, He moves in miraculous ways…
God’s ways are not our ways… but they are good and they are the best way for us… Keep your eyes on Jesus… Rest in Him. He has all you need, and He will see you through… To God be the glory!
