God Is the Sovereign Source of Supply a) When Elijah Approached the Widow b) What Elijah Asked the Widow 3. Because what she was doing there has led her to what she is doing now. When you look through the Bible, most of God's saints have gone through a 'Cherith'. 1 Kings Chapter 17. Last week we noted that by sending Elijah to the Brook Cherith God was doing several things - He was declaring to Ahab and the nation an act of judgment, such that the Word of God which had been despised was now removed, a famine of the Word; and he was declaring to Elijah that he could fully depend on God and His Word, and daily finding opportunity to . Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years So he went and did according to the word of the Lord. This is the crying need of our times for there is a great deal of talking but little walking according to Divine precepts and directions. God can bring a blessing through an unclean vessel because the entire world is His. The brook that had provided him so much nourishment and tranquility had dried up and God was pressing him forward. So this is the second lesson. God may teach and test us but He never deserts us. It will be the same for you. Three times in the opening verses we have the phrase the Word of the Lord (v.2, 5 and also v.8). Here he was to be alone for at least a year without human company. He didnt have many outward comforts except that supplied by twice daily visits by ravens and the gurgling of the brook but it didnt seem to matter for he was with God. There are 12 kings of the Northern Kingdom of Israel and 3 kings of the Southern Kingdom (the Kingdom of Judah). It is not detailed how Elijah traveled (whether on foot or by animal), but it is detailed that Elijah followed God even to the heart of this city where Jezebel was murdering the prophets of God--knowing full well that he could be next. They had spurned it, now they will be deprived of it. God had spoken to this nation. In this God was teaching Elijah to trust Him contrary to sight. Over the next few days he watched it dwindle and shrink . In a time of drought, Elijah had to sit by a stream of water. Think of the obstacles to faith: Ravens! The second thing that Elijah had to learn here was His provision. This brook was not far from where he lived. The issue is neither context nor means; it is the presence of a loving, wise, purposeful, faithful God. See more on human trafficking from my previous articles below: Blissful Faith started as a lifestyle and branched into a blog to help others hear about Jesus Christ and how they too can develop a blissful faith through knowing God. Lesson: God provides For Elijah And Widow. What is asserted is that everything Elijah was doing was in accordance to the Word of the Lord, and even his leaving was not without the direction of the Word of the Lord. Paul, straight after he was saved, spent virtually eleven years in obscurity in the desert. The acquisition of spiritual power is impossible unless we hide ourselves from men and from ourselves in some gorge where we may absorb the power of the eternal God (Martin). If I am in the shower he is waiting for me. An Act of Judgement. This lesson plan is next in the series following Elijah confronts Ahab . Moderate. The Kerith Ravine is home to a river somewhere east of the Jordan, which marked the eastern border of the land given to Israel. I have commanded the ravens. God was calling him forward, out of his silence. How easy it is to make the service which God trusts us with a pedestal on which to display ourselves. He was completely reliant of the word of God. As I was thinking about this, I noticed the simplicity of it. It's out of relationship that we do these things because our Master loves us and we love the Master. The contacts that she made there in that year, have led her in a completely different direction which she enjoys far more. There are two common ways to explain this: In both cases, it's important to note that the text does not actually say "in the third year of the drought." Let us never presume that we will always have the opportunities we now have. 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, I the Lord do keep it; I will water it every moment; I will even keep it night and day. And of whom it is said in Psalm 84:11, No really good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly.. There are so many distractions that demolish our best plans. They are ravens, unclean scavenger birds. It is a place where you are completely cut off and are totally dependent upon God and His resources. 1 Kings 17:3 Go away from here and turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan.. We are not forsaken. 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. We need to remember that and confess that Gods way are always right, His purposes are always good and that we can trust God in even the tragic events of life that we can never fully understand here on this earth. Mark. How did John the Baptist have the "spirit and power of Elijah"? One morning Elijah noticed that the brook wasn't gushing over the rocks or running as freely as it had in days past. According to 1 Kings 17:2-7, Elijah departed to some place along this brook after he had announced the coming drought to King Ahab of Israel.The expression "before Jordan" (KJV) is not clear as to which side of that river was . You can also find the flight distance or distance to fly from the brook cherith to Zarephath. Those dark shadows on the horizon may well be Gods ravens. In 1 Kings 17:4 the Lord declares, "I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.". When our actions are regulated by the Word of God and our lives are lived in the centre of His will, we have nothing whatsoever to fear. 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? I hope you have seen also how God in such times brings our greatest good out of our worst disasters. Best Review Site for Digital Cameras At last nothing is impossible. More importantly, here he would be alone with God. OBEDIENCE AND THE WORD OF GOD A) Able to Hear God's Voice B) Available to Hear God's Voice 2. In his youth he was a rat-bag and even got put in jail. It is a spiritual law of thermodynamics: the increase of heat upon faith produces a parallel increase expansion of faith. In other words he was to return home, but not to the comforts of home for he is told to hide . One explanation for the alleged contradiction depends on this: rather than the "third year of the drought," the text is referring to the third year of Elijah's residence in Zarephath (1 Kings 17:9), where is staying at the end of 1 Kings 17. For God did not give him a word of rebuke, rather Gods Word came as a reward to him to guide his next step. Eventually, God told Elijah to move forward after his waiting time at the brook of Cherith. And like Elijah trusting in God's direction at the Brook Cherith and like the widow of Zarephath, we must show God our faith and trust in Him by our actions (James 2:17-18). "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord" Joshua 24:15, Church Mail: PO Box 9007, South Yarra 3141, It is against this background that now we consider v.2-6, in which we see Elijah in response to Gods instruction leaving the kings presence and going to the Brook Cherith. Kyber and Dilithium explained to primary school students? Every now and then a Christian cries, perhaps youve done it, It was here at the drying brook that Elijah was to learn an important lesson relating to this apparent problem in the Christian life that, Three times in the opening verses we have the phrase , Has that not been the portion of the Lords people when instead of rebelling of their isolation through the bed of sickness or cell of persecution? The evidence in support of the Bible: The Lie: Evolution/Millions of Years. June 15, 2022 by Kelly Henderson. US English. Did Richard Feynman say that anyone who claims to understand quantum physics is lying or crazy? There is hope in Jesus. Go hide yourself by the Cherith of sick bed, of bereavement We can be too strong, too full of ourselves for God to use, and so by the Cheriths God buries our self-centeredness. It doesnt come easy. God always speaks when it is needed, not beforehand. Birds of prey more likely to take meat from him (including of his bones) than to feed him. Elijah, a prophet of God whose name means "my God is the Lord," came from Tishbeh in Gilead, but nothing is known of his family or birth. We need to capitalise on this great start! in 1 Kings 17:2 and 3 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. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top, Not the answer you're looking for? So what did Joseph do? As I mentioned before, I believe that since God had already commanded the ravens, if Elijah hadn't obeyed, God would still have been . So it was in the third year of the drought that the rains came ending it. Welcome to "Brook Cherith". Many modern translations add "of the drought" or "of the famine," but it's not actually in the text. No, he waited. July 17, 2016. by Pastor Chuck Swindoll Scriptures: 1 Kings 17:5-7. This is one of the great lessons from the life of Elijah. He walked, talked, and encouraged others to believe that truly the . Reading: 1 Kings 17. It will be the same for you. God directed him to Zarephath, the land of Sidon. This Bible lesson is targeted for an older elementary Sunday School . 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. Dont throw in the towel but wait on the Lord. See on 1 Kings 18:1] that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land. (iii) trust God contrary to sight he waited. But God will not share His glory, so Elijah is told to go to a lonely place. zar'-e-fath (tsarephath; Sarepta): The Sidonian town in which Elijah was entertained by a widow after he left the brook Cherith (1 Kings 17:9).Obadiah refers to it as a Canaanite (probably meaning Phoenicia) town (Obadiah 1:20).It appears in the Greek form Sarepta in Luke 4:26 (the King James Version), and is said to be in the land of Sidon. 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