Days of Elijah: Week 1

We have started our 4 week Study on "The Days of Elijah!"

Last night we studied the 3 lessons that Elijah had to learn, and that we have to learn in 1 Kings chapter 17. We are dried-up, empty, and dead with out God in our lives.

Now your probably thinking those are all negative things, they are bad things, and I don’t want to be dried-up, empty, and dead! Lets look to what the Bible teaches us in 1 Kings chapter 17. Hopefully it can be explained better with scripture.

Elijah is a Tishbite from Tishbe in Gilead, which is in the Northern Kingdom of Israel. He is the son of Jeroham, and is know as one of the most wild and out there characters in the Bible.
Elijah shows up in such a dramatic way, that it’s like something we would only see in a movie. He walks into King Ahab and Jezebel’s house with out asking and makes an announcement or threat, which ever way you want to see it, right in front of all their guests, workers, and slaves.

Here is what he said, in 1 Kings 17:1
“As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.”

While saying that Elijah gives the impression that he isn’t going to say the word to make it rain for quite a while, and then walks out.

Why is it that Elijah said that? If you look back to 1 Kings chapters 15 and 16 you will see a list of kings. Under each king it says something like “He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, walking in the ways of his father and his sin, which he had caused Israel to commit. This list of kings ends with Ahab, but under Ahab’s name it says something different.

1 Kings 16:30-33
Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the LORD than any of those before him.  He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him.  He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he built in Samaria.  Ahab also made an Asherah pole and did more to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger than did all the kings of Israel before him.

Ahab was a bad dude! The other kings were just full of sin, but Ahab set out to make God mad. And he married Jezebel who was known for killing God’s prophets and servants. Because of that God called Elijah to go and set them straight. Ahab and Jezebel were probably shocked when Elijah walked in. They never dreamed that anyone would have the guts to do that.

1 Kings 17:2-4
Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah:  “Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan.  You will drink from the brook, and I have ordered the ravens to feed you there.”

That is exactly what Elijah did, and God sent the birds to feed him twice a day. Once in the morning and once in the evening.

This isn’t the first time that God sent someone to the desert. God did this with Moses, Abraham, John the Baptist, and the Apostle Paul. This is one God’s method of training his servants. Now God is going to train Elijah and teach him what he needs to know. Not only did God send Elijah out to train him, but He also did so that Ahab and Jezebel wouldn’t kill him.

So here we have Elijah, he is in the desert being trained by God, and having his needs provided by birds and the brook. Remember how Elijah told Ahab that it wasn’t going to rain? Well, it hadn’t raided for quite a while, and the brook dried up.

This is where Elijah learned that he is all dried-up without God. It didn’t take long for Elijah to realize that the brook was starting to dry up. He was probably able to do the math to figure out how long he had till the brook was completely dry where he couldn’t get any water, and die of dehydration.

He saw that his life was a dried-up brook. Elijah was nothing—he was just a channel, that the living water could flow through.

John 4:13-14 Jesus tells us…
“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Elijah learned that he wasn’t a big strong person, he was no stronger or better than that dried-up brook. God used this experience to humble Elijah. Because of that, Elijah saw that when the water of life, the Word of God, flowed through him that he was blessed and able to be used by God.  After he learned the lesson, God moved him to another place.

1 Kings 17:8-9
Then the word of the LORD came to him:  “Go at once to Zarephath of Sidon and stay there. I have commanded a widow in that place to supply you with food.”

Elijah went where God told him to go, but where God had him go was a territory inhabited by Baal worshipers. This is really ironic because Baal was thought to be the god of the weather and abundant crops. But it was there in the middle of a drought that God provided for him through the widow. This experience helped strengthen Elijah’s confidence in God’s care and guidance.

When Elijah arrived at the widow’s house, 2 miracles happened. The first happened when Elijah asked the widow for some bread. The widow told him that she only had enough flower and oil to make one more loaf for her and her son, and that after they ate it they would have no more food and would die.

1 Kings 17:13-14
Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small cake of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son.  For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD gives rain on the land.’”

God knows the needs and the misery of the widow. Part of the reason God sent Elijah was to encourage her in her faith and to give her blessings in a time where she felt lost without hope. The other reason was for Elijah to see God’s provision and learn that God does provide. There was food everyday after that. Enough for Elijah, the widow, and her son. It was all due to their faith in God and that he would provide for them.

This is where Elijah learned the second lesson, he is an empty flour barrel. There is nothing that Elijah could have offered God. God already owns everything could possibly  be given to him. But take a look at the story where Jesus turns water into wine at the wedding.
What was the most important thing at the wedding? It wasn’t the brides dress, the rings, or the decorations. What the most important thing was, were some empty water barrels. Jesus filled them with water, and was able to turn them into a delicious drink. (No, I’m not encouraging you to drink wine.)

Elijah was nothing until God gave him the bread of life. We could say that the bread of life is the Holy Spirit. It was a gift to Elijah that he had to accept in order to use it. Elijah became more excited about God rather than just doing the religious rituals.

After sometime had gone by (a couple of years or so) the second miracle happened. The widows son had become sick and died. The widow went to Elijah and blamed him and God for letting her son die.

1 Kings 17:19-20
“Give me your son,” Elijah replied. He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed.  Then he cried out to the LORD, “O LORD my God, have you brought tragedy also upon this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?”

Sometimes sickness or tragedy comes to people who live for God. Just like what happened with the widow’s son. It’s not God’s fault and isn’t our fault. Sometimes life just happens. When life happens people get sick, hurt, bad things happen, and people even die. When Elijah asked God if it was Him that made the boy die, he was just asking. Elijah didn’t blame God like the widow did, instead he wanted God to fix the problem. Its in times like that where people need to trust God even more. Because its God who can help and heal in those kind of situations regardless of how bad things get.

We see that Elijah stretched himself out on the boy, and prayed to God for the boy to come back to life. God heard Elijah’s cry and brought the boy back to life. This is the first time in the Bible where it was recorded that someone was raised from the dead. When the widow saw her son come back to life she fully, 100%, trusted in God.

This is the third lesson that Elijah learned, he was a dead body. He realized that without God he had no life, he was dead. Elijah had to make contact with God to be alive.

The 3 miracles here in chapter 17 demonstrate God’s power and love. They showed both the widow and Elijah that even in the midst of Chaos and despair, God is still actively working for the good of those who love him and are serving his purposes.