Days of Elijah (Part B)

This is always the platform that God starts off with, what He demands. He demands that He be honored first and will not settle for second place. Now, you have to use wisdom here because some will abuse this, good God first, and they're really up to no good, and they're really not using any brains.

They're just wicked. But Elijah's challenge to the widow would call for her to employ faith in the midst of her desperate situation, and that's what stands out. This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the Book of 1 Kings.

Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. And now here's Pastor Rick as he continues teaching his message called Days of Elijah in 1 Kings chapter 17. The righteous have their assignment within the drought, the remnant. They have something to do besides just enduring the hardship.

God does care about them, but He's got other things to do, and He has to use them as part of the process, and they're going to take some of the heat. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or parallel sword? Which one of those are going to separate you from Christ? Good question.

May none of them, because some have opted out because of those things. And Jesus talked about the seed that fell amongst the thorns in the cares of this world, choked out the Word of God in the lives of those people. He says, before whom I stand? To stand for anything means you have to stand against something else. That is this life. You're going to stand for Christ, you're going to stand against the world.

There's no merging of the two. A little leaven leavens the lump in our thinking, and sometimes it's a lot of work trying to keep the leaven out. There shall not be due nor reign these years except at my word. No reason to doubt God's Word. Israel's famines, all of them, were a result of their idolatry, and that's made clear not only in Leviticus 26.

It just makes it very clear. The heavens are going to be like iron to you, like steel. You're not going to be able to reach me with prayer if you start praying to these idols.

Of course, if they repented. Hey, we got to verse 2. I was going to name this Days of Elijah Part 1.

That still might happen. Anyway, the Word of Yahweh came to him saying, before we get to the saying, the point is, of course, God speaks to Elijah, but the New Testament then rings in on this and says, James chapter 5 verse 70, Elijah was a man with a nature like ours. What? If God can speak to him and he's got a fallen nature like mind and God can speak to me, I'd rather dodge the whole drought thing, but here we are. That's a significant little verse. The Word of the Lord came to him, to Elijah, a man with a nature like mine, but I'm preoccupied with feeling better about life. I mean, what would life, man has tried to give us a picture of what they would like humanity to be. You know, for any of you Star Trek fans, Mr. Spock was the guy without feelings and everybody wished they could be like him, but we're not.

And so, you know, in this life, our feelings get in the way of so much stuff and we have to learn how to overcome. In verse 3, he said, God's speaking to the prophet after he delivers the message to the king, it's not going to rain. God says, preach it and beat it.

Get away from here and turn eastward and hide at the brook Keirith, which flows into the Jordan. So he was to preach and run. Now the next time the prophet flees, it's not because God told him to, it's because he was afraid and did not wait for the Lord. The Lord caught up with him and when the Lord caught up, he sent an angel to catch up with him first.

And when the angel got there, the angel said, I had to catch up to you and you could run. Anyway, the judgment he pronounced, you're going to inconvenience him too. He's got to go hide out by a brook. Now he's the kind of character he might not have mined too much, like John the Baptist in this old locust eating thing.

I mean, it's so gross. Some Bible commentators have tried to get John out of that. Well, they really weren't locusts. No, they were locusts. That's what he ate.

Stop doing that. Anyway, the judgment he pronounced inconvenienced him too and now he was in danger for his life. You know, again, you preach it and beat it, man, because he's going to get you if he doesn't. And so he says by the brook Keirith, which flows into the Jordan, the exact location is unknown to us. It was unknown to Ahab too, or else he would have found him there. But Elijah had had a place to flee to, which he did not know was a safe zone, safe house, until God told him it was. And he may have been at this point in his ministry too naive to understand that he needed to run for his life. Though there is a time to run and there's a time to stand. He still stands with God, but he's not going to be standing anywhere near Ahab.

So again, likely a newcomer to prophetic ministry on a national scale, on the political field, and so God helps him out. Verse 4, and it will be that you shall drink from the brook and I have commanded ravens to feed you there. Now these ravens are going to be carrying his food in their mouth. That's gross. I wouldn't eat it.

Well, eventually I would. So God assures him that he is going to be protected and provided for. Again, how did he get in such a mess? By preaching the word of God. What God told him to say, we have it in print now.

He was developing the part of the process of developing the print. And these birds delivering the food from who knows where, that's another problem. Do you know where that penny has been?

Gosh. Just the other day, last Thursday, I'm driving in, it's about 9 in the morning, a little before, and I see this scavenger, this turkey buzzard. I don't know what he's got on, a squirrel or something. He's in my lane. He sees me coming. And he sees me coming and he grabs the carcass and he drags it onto the shoulder of the road.

I mean, to be so smart and ugly at the same time is a blessing and a curse. Oh golly. Anyway, this brook is going to run dry and there's lessons there. These are what topical messages come from, these kind of parts of the scripture, because there's so much going on here. But here he is, the palace has a contract out on his life because he dared to stand and speak God's word, verse 5.

So he went and did according to the word of Yahweh, for he went and stayed by the brook Keirith, which flows into the Jordan. Verse 6, the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening and he drank from the brook. So this is not a single miracle.

This is what I was saying about the power this man was using. God, this was a morning and day, a morning and day miracle. Every time those ravens showed up with meat and food, it was miraculous. I mean, you know, ravens are in the crow family and they eat everything. They're scavengers, which isn't more reason not to eat what they bring. They do the undertaker's work. The carrying disposal removes, I mean, removes rotting flesh.

They're such a help. As gross as it is, they don't do their job. Rotting flesh creates a big problem for human beings. The Jews were not to eat meat that was killed by an animal or died of natural causes because the blood was not properly, ritualistically removed and God did not wanting them getting a taste of that and then it would work its way into their faith. And this was a problem even in the New Testament.

It comes up. But where did they get this? Well, you couldn't ask them. You couldn't say, well, where did you get this piece of meat? Has the blood been drained?

This was not the time for ritual. Likely they stole it. If somebody puts the meat out to dry out in the sun to make jerky, you know, I don't know.

Who knows? Still, I mean, would you want to eat a piece of food that was in a bird's beak? Bread and meat here in the bottom of verse 6, the Hebrew word for bread means food in general and not just bread as we know it. Verse 7, and it happened after a while that the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. So in the midst of spiritually hostile people, here his brook of inspiration and God is taking care of him, dries up. We all get a kirith at some point in our life, some place where God just sustains us.

He can do it in so many ways. Your job, it could be your job, it could be a good friend in your life at the time you need a good friend, when a friend counts. And then all of a sudden it dries up. Maybe the friend goes home to be with the Lord or moves away. Maybe the job ends and that place of supply, the resources, they're gone. And you're left wondering, now what's going to happen to me?

How will I be provided for? If my kirith dries up, maybe God has a zarephath to reassign me to so that I won't be fed by the ravens anymore, but I'll be feeding those in need. And that's what's going to happen with this prophet. God may give us access to a zarephath if the brook goes dry. And it's interesting because God did not miraculously, you know, send him to, well there's an underground spring and he'll have an endless amount of water. Well God had other plans and he causes all things to work together for the good, but he conveniently leaves in the fine print, it might hurt. God causes all things to work together for the good for those who love him, but it might hurt.

Okay, it's true and I don't like it because my feelings don't like it, but it is honorable under the circumstances we live in. He says because there had been no rain, so God knew that there were others about to perish. And he is now, in his timing, sending the prophet to save them. Verse 8, then the word of Yahweh came to him saying, again before I read what God says to him, this is the direct word to the prophet. This was the office of the prophets, whereas the priests, they carried on the previously spoken word that was in print from Moses, the rites, they carried that out. And so the priests would minister on behalf of the people up towards God, where the prophet would minister on behalf of the people, but from God to the people. So you've got this ladder going two different directions, one for the priests and one for the prophets.

And that is an overview of their office. Verse 9, arise. This is what God is telling him now. Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there.

See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you. Well, God is going to be sending him to a lot of places and he seems not to move again with the one exception until God instructs him. He is sent into Jezebel's territory, her home, her homeland, right under the nose of the wicked people that are importing lies from hell into Israel. And he would never have thought to do this. And God did, though, and God sends him here. And he brings into this land this power because Baal has no power to do anything about the drought because the widow is about to die.

That's what she's going to say. And Yahweh is not helpless, miraculously providing for her with a bounty on his head, no less. Would anyone, would anyone give him shelter? When we get to 1 Kings chapter 18, when Elijah does now dispatch back to Ahab, he goes to the prophet, to the godly man Obed, and he says, tell your master Elijah is here.

And if that were put in cinema, that would be one of those parts of the movie that you really enjoy. Elijah is here. And he's like, man, I love that little verse. Anyway, in that 18th chapter we read, and as Yahweh your God lives, there is no nation. This is Obed telling Elijah that the king has everybody looking for you to kill you.

So this is where we get this from. And as Yahweh your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my master has not sent someone to hunt for you. And when they said he is not here, he took an oath from the kingdom or nation that they could not find you. So Ahab was so serious about this, he says, well, if he's not here, this is what's going to happen. He was very serious. My point is, with word out like this to kill him, and he would have known this, who would take him in after the brook dries up?

This is how I would think. My brook is dried up. Where can I go? I can't live on my own.

People are out to kill me. Where can I go? Well, God says, go to Zarephath. Jesus remembered her. He remembers her at this time when he sends the prophet to rescue her, but he remembers her when he walked and ministered in Jerusalem. Luke chapter 4, he said, but I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah.

When the heavens were shut up, three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land. But to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath in the region of Sidon to a woman who was a widow. All of those things irked the Pharisees. She was a foreigner. She was a woman. She couldn't take care of herself. And Jesus said, God had to go outside of Israel to find somebody that would take care of Elijah.

Don't go around boasting about how self-righteous you think you are. Anyway, he's continuing here in verse nine. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you. She didn't know this.

She did not know she was commanded. This is amazing to me because in my life there are times when I don't know what God's doing and I need to know what he's doing and he does it. And it's sort of like, hmm, I landed on my feet. I thought I was going to land on my head.

And somehow it worked out. So from needing again to be fed by ravens, he is dispatched to feed those in need. And he doesn't even know what's going to happen yet. She did not know. Her name came up before the throne of God. Neither did the prophet until God. And she doesn't know the prophet's going to be sent there. And we'll live with her for, not in the same facility. He'll be there living in the upstairs apartment in those days that had an external entrance exit and he's going to take the child up that way.

And that kept the appearance of evil away. Anyway, she didn't know she had an opportunity to serve. How many Christians, how many churchgoers have opportunity to serve God?

Their name has come up to serve God and they don't in the years tick by and they just never serve. Am I ready for this? For God to avail himself of my usefulness, even if it's a drought in my life, even if things are really bad in my life as they were for her, am I ready for God to use me nonetheless?

Or do I need him to take the drought away first? Because this is the picture she gives to us. She's collecting sticks for her death and she's, let's open it, verse 10. So he arose, went to Zarephath and when he came to the gate of the city, indeed a widow was there gathering sticks and he called to her and said, please bring me a little water in a cup that I may drink.

I like that he said please. He knows that, you know, she's not obligated to do this. It's a gesture of kindness he's seeking. And so on his side, he acts on his reassignment. Okay, I move from Kirath to Zarephath in Gentile territory. Now he's involved in the sufferings of the common people.

No raven's bringing food now. And at the widow's house, he's made to feel what others are feeling because he's going to hear it coming from her voice. Zarephath, like Sidon, like now the northern kingdom, was spiritually scarred like many places today. We could go to certain areas in the country where we live and they're just scarred by the spiritually wicked blue cities.

You know, you don't want to be political, but you can't help, you know, some of it's just right there on the surface. Anyway, these scars, these hideous and cruel rights of Jezebel's religion, her hereditary religion no less. She was born into this stuff and she wasn't going anywhere. When she arrives in Israel, she's quick to obey those pagan priests that she admired so much from childhood. And when they told her you need to put altars here, you need to do this, she was on it. The devil has his dark outreach for souls also.

We're not the only ones that are supposed to be looking out for souls. Indeed a widow was gathering sticks is what it tells us here. She's a newly a widow and the way we come, well at least I do, I don't know how others get to it. He recognized her by her mourning garment, the widow's garment. This was the case with Tamar in Genesis, Genesis 38 verses 14. So she took off her widow's garment, covered herself in a veil and she went out to deceive Judah. But she was wearing a widow's garment because her husband of course died. So that is how he knew she was a widow. When God said I'm sending you to the widow of Zarephath. Also we know that she was young because the child she has is small enough for her to carry in her arms and the prophet to carry up steps. So these are how we get an idea that she, you know, could have been a year or two, but it's not like she's been a widow.

You don't think about those things, you kind of think well she's an older woman and no, she's actually probably pretty young. Anyway, verse 11. And as she was going to get it, he called to her and said, please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand. So he asked for some water and she's going to get it. Now he asked for food and she says, boy, you're a greedy one, aren't you? No, she doesn't say that. So she said verse 12, this is what she does say, as Yahweh your God lives, I do not have bread, only a handful of flour in a bin and a little oil in a jar.

And see, I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son that we may eat it and die. She's not being overly dramatic. She has nowhere to get food.

The stores, the shelves are empty. She's a Gentile showing deference to Yahweh. That's noticeable. She says a handful of flour in a bin. Well, it depends on whose hand is full because God's hand holds the grain fields. You know, he owns a thousand hills and cattle thereon.

There's never a resource problem for God, which becomes a problem for us because we say, God, you could do this, why aren't you doing this? And, looking at, continuing in verse 12, and see, I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son that we may eat it and die. Their last meal, as far as she is concerned, now it says a couple of sticks. That's accurate to the Hebrew, two.

That number, that Hebrew word is often is used for the number two. She's using it, you know, in a loose, not a strict sense. You know, I'm getting a few sticks. Well, she can grip two and break them in half and kindle her fire if she knows what she's doing. These two sticks, Ahab and Jezebel, the two sticks of satanic work amongst the people, responsible for this very hardship that both of them are enduring and, of course, others. And the day will come when those two sticks, Ahab and Jezebel, will be gathered for judgment. The day will come when the wicked will be gathered for judgment.

And this is part of our message that it is avoidable. All Ahab had to do was side with Elijah. That's all he had to do.

He does not. Wicked rulers sit in office doing what is good for Satan. These are the days, again, of Elijah. Verse 13, And Elijah said to her, Do not fear, go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake from it first, and bring it to me, and afterward make some for yourself and your son.

Now this is just amazing. This is what God's Word is teaching us. Some think it's harsh when the shepherds insist that God be put first. Do you do your devotions? No, I got just so much problems in my life. Have you made your offerings? I don't have any money. Well, everybody's got two cents. If you don't have it, steal it.

No kidding. Well, I guess if you're a prosperity teacher, that would be one of them. Anyway, you just, you know, put God first. Luke 21 verse four. But she, out of her poverty, put in all the livelihood that she had. She didn't wait for things to get better. It's not easy. This is not easy.

It takes faith. He says, feed the prophet first. Then you can take, you know, contrary to women and children first.

It's the reversal. Prophet's coming. Now, this wouldn't work on the Titanic. You wouldn't say, sorry, prophet's first.

Excuse me, ma'am. That's not what's going on here. She doesn't know he's a prophet yet.

He's just a stranger passing through. He may have had some indication of a prophet on his garment, but I had no indication of that though for us. Anyway, she doesn't know that he's going to take care of her.

Jesus said, seek first the kingdom of God and its righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. This is what we're seeing because she does this. She doesn't protest. We see that Matthew 633 in action on her part.

She is a heroine in the story also. Hebrews 13 to do not forget to entertain strangers for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels. Now that's a reference to Abraham directly, but indirectly it includes Elijah. She doesn't know who he is. She doesn't know where he's been, who she is in relation to God. Anyway, this is always the platform that God starts off with, what he demands. He demands that he be honored first, and will not settle for second place. Now you have to use wisdom here because some will abuse this, good God first, and they're really up to no good, and they're really not using any brains.

They're just wicked. But Elijah's challenge to the widow, we call for her to employ faith in the midst of her desperate situation, and that's what stands out. He is challenging a mother's God-given instincts to keep God first, and her and her son second. He is challenging her to do that. Now you can say, yeah well she could have said, what's a few more minutes of hunger? It's going to take her a little time to get everything going, and she's got to wait and serve him first, and he's a stranger. I think it's a pretty high demand, but I also think God purposely has left this little tidbit in the story because it is not little.

It is big. Thanks for joining us for today's teaching on Cross Reference Radio. This is the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia.

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