Bible Study - Elijah (2) - Serve with Trust - 1 Kings 17:7-16 - August 1, 2021

 

Bible Study – Elijah (2) – Serve with Trust – August 1, 2021

This is lesson two (2) in our series entitled, “Elijah: Living Outside the Comfort Zone.”

Our focus scripture is 1 Kings 17:7-16.

Service to GOD should be/must be fueled by trust in HIM.

The title of our study is “Serve with Trust.” Often, as Christians, most of us think, “Yes, LORD help me to build my faith and trust in YOU.” Often, we think that GOD will sprinkle Holy Dust over us and we are magically empowered with mountain moving faith and trust. Well, GOD does not work that way. Often, HE works by what I refer to as cleaning your clock or cleaning the false things that we have considered faith and eliminating them from our lives. Oh, gee, then what? HE rebuilds using the faith building circumstances that can be trusted and eternal.

I begin our scripture with a review of verses 5 and 6 from last week’s study. The wadi was a ditch with water. It could have been a spring that had water at certain times and dry at other times. The key is GOD controlled its water supply.

Let’s explore!

Let’s read 1 Kings 17:5-12:

⁵ So he proceeded to do what the Lord commanded. Elijah left and lived at the Wadi Cherith where it enters the Jordan. ⁶ The ravens kept bringing him bread and meat in the morning and in the evening, and he would drink from the wadi. ⁷ After a while, the wadi dried up because there had been no rain in the land.

GOD was building faith and trust in Elijah as HE cared for him while he waited. We know that GOD cared for and sustained the Israelites while they wandered in the desert for 40 years. We know that the angels fed JESUS after HIS 40 days in the wilderness. GOD can be trusted to sustain us when we are in HIS will.

It is important that we not test GOD by us deciding how we can prove to our selves the existence of GOD. I can tell you it will backfire on you every time. Don’t do it! When GOD leads you, do it.

He may direct us to provide food, money, clothing or a word of encouragement to others as we go along life’s journey. When prompted, do it.

The wadi dried up. It was time for Elijah to move on. Did GOD have another faith building event for Elijah? Let’s read on ----

Elijah and the Widow

⁸ Then the word of the Lord came to him: ⁹ “Get up, go to Zarephath that belongs to Sidon and stay there. Look, I have commanded a woman who is a widow to provide for you there.” ¹⁰ So Elijah got up and went to Zarephath. When he arrived at the city gate, there was a widow gathering wood. Elijah called to her and said, “Please bring me a little water in a cup and let me drink.” ¹¹ As she went to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a piece of bread in your hand.”

GOD spoke to Elijah and gave him specific instructions where he was to go. Elijah didn’t argue with GOD but went as instructed. That is trusting GOD. GOD often gives us baby steps to take as HE builds our faith in HIM. As HIS chosen, we walk with HIM in faith toward the mountain that needs to be relocated. It only takes faith the size of a mustard seed.

GOD instructed Elijah to go to “Zarephath that belongs to Sidon and stay there.” What is unique about this move? GOD has HIS ways and they are exciting.

Zarephath was a village near the Mediterranean coast. Its importance is due to the fact that it belonged to Sidon some eight miles away. Sidon was a city in Phoenicia and essentially Jezebel’s hometown. It could be that Jezebel’s father, Ethbaal, was still king of that area when Elijah arrived in that area. It was a hotspot for the worship of Baal.

This gives us an idea of how GOD works. HE loves a “gotcha” to HIS enemies. Here GOD has Elijah living in the backyard of those who worship Baal. Was GOD showing Elijah HIS protective care for HIM, thus building his faith in enemy territory?  

GOD told Elijah, “Look, I have commanded a woman, who is a widow, to provide for you there.” Most of us are shocked when GOD directs our lives and we see that HE is faithful. GOD gave Elijah further instructions after he responded to GOD’S message as we read on, “¹⁰ So Elijah got up and went to Zarephath. When he arrived at the city gate, there was a widow gathering wood. Elijah called to her and said, “Please bring me a little water in a cup and let me drink.” ¹¹ As she went to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a piece of bread in your hand.”

As we respond to GOD, HE reveals further steps for us to take. Again, building our faith as we respond. It is exciting to be called by GOD. But again, it is exciting but we must never get ahead of HIM. We must stay in step with GOD.

Elijah asked the woman first for water and then for bread. This was an opportunity for her to reveal to Elijah her needs and her willingness to meet Elijah’s needs, as we read on ----

¹² But she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I don’t have anything baked—only a handful of flour in the jar and a bit of oil in the jug. Just now, I am gathering a couple of sticks in order to go prepare it for myself and my son so we can eat it and die.”

Oh my, a dire situation. She recognized Elijah as a man of GOD. She discerned that Elijah did not serve a dead god but a living GOD, “As the Lord your God lives.” That shows her faith in the one true GOD. With that confession of faith, Elijah gave her encouraging words as we read on---

Let’s read 1 Kings 17:13-14:

¹³ Then Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid; go and do as you have said. But first make me a small loaf from it and bring it out to me. Afterward, you may make some for yourself and your son, ¹⁴ for this is what the Lord God of Israel says, ‘The flour jar will not become empty and the oil jug will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the surface of the land.’”

This precious lady chose to trust GOD through the words of GOD’S prophet, Elijah. Elijah told her “Do as you have said.” That is continue gathering wood with a modification, ““Don’t be afraid; go and do as you have said. But first make me a small loaf from it and bring it out to me. Afterward, you may make some for yourself and your son, ¹⁴ for this is what the Lord God of Israel says, ‘The flour jar will not become empty and the oil jug will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the surface of the land.’”

When GOD gives us instructions, HE expects us to follow them as HE gives them to us. GOD spoke through HIS prophet Elijah and this widow heard and trusted what he said and in turn her obedience would confirm her faith in the One True GOD of Israel right in the heart of those who worshipped the false god Baal.

Was the manner in which GOD cared for this widow, her son and Elijah a witness to her neighbors and friends?

As in the song entitled “Trust and Obey,” “Trust and obey for there is no other way to be happy in JESUS but to trust and obey.”

When the flour jar and the oil jug ran dry, what then? This widow and her son were left with a life long reminder of the care of the GOD of Israel. How would we react? Would we say, “LORD, why have YOU stopped providing us with food?” Or would we rejoice and thank HIM for HIS care and ask HIM to guide us as to how we can serve HIM, trusting that HE will meet our needs both physically and Spiritually?

There are times in our lives when GOD provides and times when HE directs us to what is available to us through work. Why? Work brings us into contact with our neighbors, friends and co-workers so we can share the goodness of GOD in our lives in the middle of those who do not know Spiritual truth.

Let’s read 1 Kings 17:15-16:

¹⁵ So she proceeded to do according to the word of Elijah. Then the woman, Elijah, and her household ate for many days. ¹⁶ The flour jar did not become empty, and the oil jug did not run dry, according to the word of the Lord he had spoken through^[b] Elijah.

Trust in GOD, WHO opens the path to HIM through JESUS. Do you recall our scripture recorded in Revelation 3:7?

⁷ “Write to the angel of the church in Philadelphia: Thus says the Holy One, the true one, the one who has the key of David, who opens and no one will close, and who closes and no one opens.

JESUS is the only way to GOD. Faith in JESUS is the key that opens the path to GOD. When JESUS gave HIS sinless life upon the cross by the shedding of HIS blood, that was the key that opened the pathway to GOD and salvation. That pathway is still open until JESUS returns to earth at HIS second coming. JESUS’ shed blood opened the pathway to GOD but all must accept what JESUS did for them to have a personal intimate, trusting relationship with GOD. GOD opened the path for HIM to work in this widow’s life and in the life of Elijah, through their faith.

Elijah had to trust what GOD had placed upon his heart. Did his time at the wadi give him the confidence that he needed to tell the widow what GOD had told him? The widow had to trust what Elijah told her. It is clear that Elijah spoke with authority from the One True GOD of Israel.

We do not know what this widow lady may have thought but her actions revealed her faith in GOD while living in this idol worshipping land. The One True GOD of Israel was demonstrating HIS power over the false god, Baal, who supposedly was the fertility god over rain and the crops. She trusted in the GOD through the words of Elijah. Elijah spoke truth that resonated in the heart of the widow. She was a witness to the power of GOD over the useless, impotent power of Baal.

How long did the drought last? JESUS reveals the timeline in Luke 24:25-26:

²⁵ But I say to you, there were certainly many widows in Israel in Elijah’s days, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months while a great famine came over all the land. ²⁶ Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them except a widow at Zarephath in Sidon.

Back to the verses 15 and 16:

¹⁵ So she proceeded to do according to the word of Elijah. Then the woman, Elijah, and her household ate for many days. ¹⁶ The flour jar did not become empty, and the oil jug did not run dry, according to the word of the Lord he had spoken through^[b] Elijah.

The widow put her faith into action and in doing so, she and her family saw the hand of GOD at work in their lives and in the life of Elijah.

We must be careful that we do not test GOD by challenging HIM to do a certain thing in our lives but as recorded in the Bible, Matthew Chapter 6 verse 33 JESUS was teaching: But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.

JESUS willingly gave HIS sinless life just for you. In doing so HE paid, in full, for all of your sins, past, present and future. When you ask JESUS to forgive you for your sins and for JESUS to forgive you, HE does and the miracle of rebirth takes place in an instant. You are Spiritually born into GOD’S Family. You become a Son or Daughter of GOD, eternally. You will never be unborn. Your new destination is Heaven when your earth suit/human body dies. You will leave your human body behind and enter into the presence of GOD and JESUS in your new body fashioned by GOD. That new body is what you need for Heaven until JESUS returns to earth. You will accompany HIM and you will receive your new Glorified body for eternity. Questions – tshaw37@aol.com

Blessings!!!