Broken for use (Part 1 Elijah Series)

1 Kings 17

Let me give you the context of the time period that we are studying.

After the reign of king Solomon, Israel divided in two.

The northern half kept the name Israel, the southern half called itself Judah.

Judah had some good, godly kings along the way, but Israel never had one good king, they were all evil, some worse than others.

Elijah was a prophet in the northern kingdom, Israel, and by the time Elijah came along, the Northern Kingdom had experienced

19 consecutive evil kings, spanning about a 200 year time period.

The evil king during Elijah’s time is named Ahab, And who was Ahab married to? [Jezebel]

Some say Jezebel was most wicked woman who ever lived. The name Jezebel has almost become synonymous for an evil woman…

And under their reign, the Bible says that Ahab did more evil in the eyes of God than any of those before him.

And Ahab was not just personally evil, he led the whole nation into evil, into worship of false gods, like Baal, and Asherah, and Molech,

People would worship Asherah by going to temples and having sex with temple prostitutes.

People would worship Molech by sacrificing their children to him, and burning them to death.

This was a horrible time.

There was corruption in all the courts, there was no justice unless you were rich, and could pay somebody off.

It was an evil time, and getting worse, so finally God said, “Enough is enough!”

But when he says enough is enough, its interesting what God does.

He didn’t raise up an army to take a stand against the evil king, and overthrow him and put a good king in his place.

Instead, God does what God often does, and that is, He raised up one person to take a stand,one man.

God does the same thing today.

In fact, God may want to do something very similar right where you live.

God may raise up one teenage girl to take a stand in her class against all others for sexual purity.

God may raise up a business leader to take a stand for integrity in a business that’s lacking integrity.

God may raise up one person at your school, or at your workplace, or in your neighborhood, to take a stand for that which is true,

so set a godly example and in God’s power, to change the whole place.

God often raises up one person

to make a big difference.

So God raised up Elijah.

The first time we see Elijah in all of scripture,

is in I Kings17:1.

The only thing we know about him at this point,

is where he’s from, Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead,

Gilead is a territory northeast of the dead sea,

in what is now the country of Jordan,

but back then was part of Israel.

1 Kings 17:1 NKJV

1 And Elijah the Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word.”

[Elijah] said to Ahab, "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."

Now at this point, Elijah hasn’t done any miracles,

he’s done nothing significant that we know of,

he hasn’t made a name for himself,

he’s a nobody.

But God gives him this word,

and says, go tell King Ahab this,

that it’s not gonna rain in Israel for years,

because God is punishing you.

What Elijah said was about the most devastating news possible for that whole nation.

Israel was an agricultural society, everyone was farmers, and when there’s no rain, people go broke, and people starve to death.

The equivalent today would be for someone to announce,

there is gonna be a great depression.

That’s what Elijah is telling King Ahab.

when he says, “No more rain.”

Next after giving the King this

You see, God sends him into isolation!

God wants to use him to do some big things, but Elijah’s not there yet,

he needs to grow, he needs some more faith, he needs to trust God more, he needs to depend on God more,

isolation a season of preparation.

God takes Elijah through

3 stages, or seasons of preparation.

Isolation

he has no one else to turn to, he’s hurting,

he doesn’t understand what God is doing, and he’s all alone.

In Verse 1, he says, “No more rain.”

In Verse 2,

Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah: "Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan.

Why hide?

Because Ahab wants to kill him, for this devastating prophecy.

So he goes to hide in the Kerith Ravine.

The word Kerith in Hebrew, means, “cut off,” or “cut down.”

It means to be cut off from the source, cut off from your own strength, or your own source of supply,

Just as if you cut down a tree, and its cut off from its roots, so it can’t supply anything for itself to live on.

It’s as if God is saying to Elijah, “I’m going to take you through a season of breaking.

I’m going to cut you down, and cut you off from any other source but me,

I’m going to teach you to be totally dependent on Me, and I’m going to humble you privately so that later I can use you publicly.

God is saying,

I’m going to do something in you that’s very, very deep, so that later on, you can do more than you ever thought possible.

Let me ask you…

have you ever been isolated by God, or had some things Cut off or out of your life?

I’m talking about going through a time with God,

that is painful, and you’re going,

Where is God?

What is he doing?

We don’t realize it when we’re in the ravine, when we’re going through this season of isolated pain, but the reality is,

God is right there doing a deep work in you.

teaching you something

that you couldn’t learn any other way,

growing you and preparing you,

breaking , in order to strengthen , in order to shape

into something that he could use more fully.

Some of you understand this, because you’ve been there, and seen what God did in you.

Some of you are there right now, and you probably can’t understand it yet, you don’t see yet what God is doing.

You’re in this place of being cut off, in that place that feels like isolated pain,

the same kind of place Elijah was in for months, all alone, nobody to talk to.

But you see, God was breaking Elijah, in order to build him.

I want to encourage you…

The more God breaks you, the more that God is preparing you, the more he’s planning to do in you and through you.

Dependance

A season where Elijah cannot depend on anything at all but God, and God alone.

In Verse 4 God says to Elijah,

You will drink from the brook, and I have directed the ravens to supply you with food there."

So he did what the Lord had told him. He went to the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan, and stayed there. The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.

So, Elijah’s all by himself, and God does this incredible miracle.

In the middle of a drought, with no rain, God keeps this brook flowing so Elijah has water.

Then birds go out and find bread and meat, and every morning and every evening, they deliver them straight to Elijah.

Think about that…

There’s a drought, crops are failing, nobodies got bread or meat, but somehow these ravens get bread and meat, twice a day, every day, to bring to Elijah.

What was God doing?

God was showing Elijah very very clearly, No matter what happens, no matter what comes along, I (The Lord) will be faithful, you can count on Me to provide for you.

If you follow me, I’ll be there for you.

Some of you right now, are in a season where there was something you used to trust in for your security, and it’s been taken away.

And now you don’t have anything else to trust in, except for the giver of life and giver of all good things.

And you are having to learn that when everything else that you used to believe in fades away, God will forever and always be faithful to you.

God says,

If you’re following me, I will be your provider.

When you can’t depend on what you used to be able to depend on, God says, I will deliver what you need.”

Now notice something here,

How much food did God provide for Elijah?

Did he give him enough for 3 months ahead?

Did he give him a week at a time?

No.

What did God give him? Enough for the day, enough for the day.

You are in a season where you’re hurting and you’re alone,but guess what?

God delivers enough for the day.

You’re hurting, but God says, “I will be your comfort for today.”

You have more bills than money, but God says, “I will be your provision for today.

You feel weak,but God says, “I will be your strength for today.”

Your friends leave you, but God says, “I will be your friend for the day.

God says, I may not bring more than you need, but I will bring exactly what you need. I will be your daily bread.”

Elijah learned to depend on God for that day.

God is teaching him. He’s breaking him. He’s cutting him down. He’s humbling him.

He’s teaching him total dependence. When Elijah cannot provide for himself,

God teaches him, “I will always be your provider.”

So God takes him through a season of Isolated pain, and Total dependence,

Obedience

Verse 7, the Bible says,

“Some time later, the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. Then the word of the LORD came to him: "Go at once to Zarephath of Sidon and stay there.”

Now, it’s been months that he’s been by this ravine, and it’s a painful lonely place, but at least all his needs are met.

He’s got water, in the middle of the drought.

And he’s got food to eat every day. But then the brook dries up.

You ever had that happen? I thought it was bad before, but now my situation just got worse, the brook dried up. God, did I do something wrong, are you mad at me?

When God takes away his provision, that’s one way God uses to tell you, okay, time to move. So Elijah learns another lesson here.

The same God who gives water can take water away, because often, God may cause the brook to dry up to give us the courage to leave where we are and to go where we are supposed to be.

may cause the brook to dry up to give us the courage to take a step of total obedience.

Some of us would never have the guts to take the next step, unless the brook dried up, and we had no choice.

God doesn’t tell Elijah, hey Elijah, next week the brook is gonna dry up, so maybe you better move now.

No, he waits till its dry, its gone, no water, crisis time, and then when Elijah goes to God to figure out why,

that’s when God tells him, Time to go, go at once, to Zarephath, time to move.

And, because the brook is already dry, it gave Elijah the courage to be obedient, even when it didn’t make sense.

I don’t like this God, its painful, its hard, I don’t see the reason for this,

Why are you making me do it, but then one day it all comes together, now I understand.

And when the story is over,

God has taken you to a new place, where you’ve never been before.

Elijah obeys God, and goes to Zarephath, where he’s never been before, its outside the borders of Israel.

And when he gets there, he sees this widow, who God says is going to provide for him.

And so he humbles himself, and he says, “Maam,

Could you give me some food and drink?

And the widow looks at him and goes,

We’re all starving to death.

And I’m a widow, I’ve got a son back at the hut. I came out here to get some sticks for a fire. because I’ve got just enough flour and oil for one last meal,

for me and my son, We are going to eat it, and then we are going to die.”

Now, a year before this, Elijah might have said, You know, that’s really too bad, and gone somewhere else. But God has take him to a different place.

He’s been to the ravine, the place of complete dependence on God, He’s seen the ravens bring food every day, he knows God’s power,

he has more faith and trust in God, And so Elijah “No, you’re not gonna die.”

And he looks at this impossible situation and speaks faith into it. And he says, “The flour that you have will not run out. And the jar of oil will not run dry.

So go bake me some biscuits.” And she does, and they ate the biscuits, and the flour did not run out and the oil did not run dry.

and they ate for weeks and then months on that same flour and oil.

But Elijah's story just keeps getting better.

Not long after that, the widow’s son dies, and Elijah raises him from the dead.

In fact, from this point on, Elijah’s story is about one miracle after another.

And why did this happen?

Because God broke him and changed him!

Elijah was cut down and humbled, and went through a season of isolation, dependence on God, and obedience.

God used the tough things, to shape him into a true man of God.

He used the hard things, to give him faith that would change a nation.

Some of you right now, you’re in a season of pain, and God may just say, “I’m doing something in you,

because one day, I’m going to do more through you.”

We saw that in Verse 1,

Elijah was described as Elijah the Tishbite.

He’s known by where’s he’s from.

23 verses later, after the ravine, he’s no longer known for where he’s from, but instead, for Whom he’s from.

At the end of the story, the woman says, "Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth."

Some of you here today, that’s gonna happen to you. Maybe the reason God is allowing you to go through that pain, through the difficulty, through the loneliness

In order to make a man or a woman of God

God at some point takes you through the Kirith Ravine, so God can do in you what He wants to do before He does through you what he wants to do.