“LORD, I know this is where you told me to come and stay. You have provided for all these months. But now my most essential resource for living is gone. I cannot survive much longer in these conditions.” If you have ever prayed such a prayer, you are not alone. Being a man subject to like passions as we are (James 5:17), it is not hard to imagine that Elijah prayed a similar prayer as he sat by a stream flowing with less and less water every day until it completely dried up. Even digging down in the stream bottom, would not have provided a drink.
Many of us, knowing we were in God’s will, at times have watched our resources dry up—“OK, God, you said you would provide, BUT! My saving account is empty. I have tapped into as much of my retirement money as I can. Everything that could go wrong has gone wrong.” During my life there have been a few times when I’ve had a comfortable amount of money stored away. If lean times came, I could fall back on my financial reserve. I thought I was totally dependent on God. Since then, I have learned that total dependence comes when there is nothing stored away with no obvious hope for tomorrow. Elijah had no more reserve. The ravens still may have been bringing bread, but he needed water. We can only live three days without it. He was literally in a life or death situation. However, Elijah did not move. He did not launch out on his own and was actually only a few miles from his hometown. Instead, he stayed where God had sent him until again the word of the Lord came to him.
We do not know anything about Elijah’s early life, but do know he was a rugged individual. Staying by a stream in the wilderness with food delivered twice a day by unclean birds would not have overwhelmed him. However, when God revealed the next means of resources, his manhood must have been challenged. I have commanded a widow there to provide for you—a widow? a woman? In my ministry, I’ve had to depend on my wife’s salary as the main source of income to keep us going. For me, that was tough. It defied the core of all I believed about the responsibility of men. I wonder what went through Elijah’s mind as he walked the 100 miles up to Zarephath. Maybe he reasoned, “This must be a wealthy widow with more than enough.” But upon his arrival at the city gate, he saw his new provider—a poor widow about to prepare her and her son’s last meal.
Zarephath means refinement, purge, or purify. Was God refining and preparing Elijah’s faith for the next and most challenging encounter of his life—confrontation with the 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah? At the widow’s house, Elijah’s faith was brought to a new level. While at the Brook Cherith, he had depended on the regularity of the ravens and even thought the flow of water was diminishing, until the end, he could see there was at least enough for another day or week. In Zarephath, he was totally dependent on the LORD every day for the resources he needed and for the widow and her household to whom Elijah promised God would supply. The Lord God of Israel says: ‘The flour jar will not become empty and the oil jug will not run dry’ (1 Kings 17:14). From a human perspective, with only enough oil and flour for that day, every meal appeared to be the last meal. Elijah had to depend on God’s promises, not what he saw.
Despite the challenges to our faith, being where God places us has unseen advantages. This is where we have safety and divine protection. Remember, Elijah was a wanted man. If he stopped trusting God and left the safety of the Cherith, he probably would have been captured by King Ahab’s army. Also, where God sends us is the place we receive His provisions. People in Israel and the surrounding countries were dying of starvation because of the drought. No doubt, Elijah was not living in the lap of luxury, but in the midst of terrible times in the nations, God was taking care of him. Most important, God was preparing him. During this time, Elijah witnessed first-hand God’s power to fulfill His promises and saw Him do the impossible. Skeptics might try and explain away the miracle at Cherith saying it was mere coincidence the ravens brought bread. “This was where the ravens roosted and stored up food.” However, at the widow’s house Elijah witnessed the LORD suspend the laws of nature by miraculously increasing the flour and oil every day. God was increasing Elijah’s faith.
It required faith to remain by a drying brook. It required more faith to ask a dying widow for her last oil and flour. It was going to require a lot of faith to stand on Mt. Carmel in the presence of King Ahab and challenge the 850 prophets of Baal and Asherah. It would take faith after pouring 12 pots of water over the altar to believe the LORD’s fire would fall. But it fell and not only consumed the bull on the altar but God’s fire was so intense it consumed . . . the wood, the stones, and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench. It would take faith to seize the 850 prophets and destroy them all. It would take faith to believe God could turn a cloud the size of a man’s hand into a torrent of rain.
Has God placed you into a position of total dependence upon Him? Has your brook dry up? Remember the words of Paul, we can be fully assured that what God has promised, He is able also to perform (Rom 4:21). He is preparing you for something greater than you have ever dreamed.
Sustaining Word for the Week:
God prepares you today for what He has planned for tomorrow. The LORD desires all Christians reach the point of total dependence on Him. When the brook is dry, then He can demonstrate His power to do the impossible.