The Needed Stillness
Doug Ellison
Elijah; A Humble Hero • Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 6 viewsThe best way to hear and follow the Lord is to get alone with him.
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Recap Series
Week One - Introduction to Elijah
History of Kings
Elijah enters, we know very little about him
He was from nowhere, so we noted that God uses nobodies from nowhere to be his somebodies
Elijah stood and spoke boldly to the king, and we noted that we must be ready to stand
But that we must realize that ultimately we must realize that we stand before God
Today - The Needed Stillness
The last week in our world has seemed like anything but still
I had a couple people send to me a meme that said, I want to cancel my subscription to 2021. I have experienced the 7 day free trial and I am not interested
everyone has opinions on what needs to be done, what we need to do next
unfortunately I have not heard for a lot of sitting still, getting alone with God
There is a difference between being alone with God and praying
praying, we are often telling God what we want to happen
getting alone involves being quiet before the Lord and allowing him to speak to you
in an unexpected turn of events, Elijah, who was just before the King, is not elevated to greatness, but instead the Lord casts him out for a time isolation
1 Now Elijah the Tishbite, from the Gilead settlers, said to Ahab, “As the Lord God of Israel lives, in whose presence I stand, there will be no dew or rain during these years except by my command!”
2 Then the word of the Lord came to him:
3 “Leave here, turn eastward, and hide at the Wadi Cherith where it enters the Jordan.
4 You are to drink from the wadi. I have commanded the ravens to provide for you there.”
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.
PRAY!
Battle Preparation
Battle Preparation
There are some here that would not be able to follow the directions that the Lord gave to Elijah
not out of desire to serve the Lord, but because you have no idea which way east is
2 Then the word of the Lord came to him:
3 “Leave here, turn eastward, and hide at the Wadi Cherith where it enters the Jordan.
4 You are to drink from the wadi. I have commanded the ravens to provide for you there.”
Why would God tell Elijah to leave
He was in the presence of the King
There is no, “Let my people go!” moment
Wouldn’t this be the perfect time to give it to Ahab and let him know who the true God is
One day we will learn the lesson that God’s ways are so much higher than ours
We believe that we know best on what should happen based on our ignorance and opinions
God orchestrates things for His glory, not ours
I have read a few different reasons on why God would remove Elijah from here
First reason, Protection - Elijah had just told the king that there would be no rain
this could not have gone over well, though we do not get any kind of reaction recorded
in my imagination, I would think that this would go over about as it well then as it would in this room with all these farmers that there would be no water for years…
I am not sold on this theory
Ahab did not believe in the power of the Lord
Ahab believed in and worshipped Baal, the god of the storm
I believe that this statement from Elijah would result in mockery
Second reason, Keep him from praying for rain
the rain was to be cut off until Elijah spoke
some believe that the Lord wanted to get Elijah alone, away from the people that would be effected so that he would not become compassionate and pray for relief for them
Maybe some truth in that… I understand that premise
I believe that the Lord had a plan, and wanted to remove any obstacle that might get in the way of that plan
but I also believe that there was a bigger reason that God removed Elijah at a time when Elijah had just entered the scene
Third reason - Training
Elijah was about to go into a major battle for the Lord, it is very dangerous for a believer to go into battle when they have never been humbled before the Lord
If you haven’t read ahead yet, Elijah is about to do some incredible things
We are going to see miraculous things from Elijah; things like a jar that never empties, a son raised from the dead, wood drenched in water consumed in the fire of God, God speak to him out of a whisper, and him taken up in a chariot of fire!
He is not ready for any of it, until he gets alone with God and learns to trust him
We have more scripture available to us then ever before in history
yet we may just be the most biblically illiterate people
we know that there are battles coming our way and unless we have gotten alone with God, learned to follow his direction, we put ourselves in a very dangerous spot
we feel like we know what is best for ourselves, our church and our nation
the heart is deceitful above all else
This is what we learn from God’s direction to Elijah and from looking at Christ
16 Yet he often withdrew to deserted places and prayed.
Jesus did not simply perform miracles and go into battle
he constantly, often, withdrew by himself and prayed
How can we possibly think that we can jump into a spiritual battle of any kind, without getting alone with our Lord and preparing for battle
Obedient as Ravens
Obedient as Ravens
Elijah was obedient and went the Cherith
this shows some faith, can you imagine being obedient to living beside a creek that you are to drink out of and told that the Ravens would take care of you
My daughter Kaitlynn would be out
she is terrified of birds… she would simply not obey, or starve
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.
Wadi - a stream moving over rocks… it is not a river, but more of a creek - either way, there was moving water
we have to remember, there was a drought coming, but there was plenty of water in the land at the time
and here Elijah lived, alone with nothing but him, the ravens and God
The obedience of Elijah is commendable, we would expect it from a hero of the OT
we may relate to those who do not obey more, but we read of Biblical heroes and expect obedience to the Lord
I am amazed at the simple obedience of the Raven
Our God commands everything
let that truth drive you to praise and awe of God
the ravens day and night would bring bread and meat
a nice sandwich every day
we see this over and over in scripture
the ravens feed Elijah
the big fish swallows Jonah, without hurting him
the worm eats the plant that gives Jonah shade
Jesus speaks and the winds and waves stop!
All of creation is obedient to our Lord… except for us
3 The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s feeding trough, but Israel does not know; my people do not understand.”
4 Oh sinful nation, people weighed down with iniquity, brood of evildoers, depraved children! They have abandoned the Lord; they have despised the Holy One of Israel; they have turned their backs on him.
Our time in preparation is to get us ready for simple obedience to the Lord
this means that we go when he says go, stay when he says to stay
we are to submit to him even when we do not see what the end of the battle looks like
even when we do not understand why he would do or allow certain things to happen
To be prepared for the battles of this life we need to not just be willing to eat food provided by birds, but we must be ready to be obedient as the birds themselves
Live in Today Only
Live in Today Only
This is a hard point for me to preach on
you all know that I am a planner… I have my preaching calendar set for the year
I know what series that we will do for the entire year
I do not have each week exactly, but I get anxious when I do not have a plan
this year has been hard, because it is hard to plan when we do not know what is to come
are we in for another shut down with the new administration… maybe
I have heard that there is a new super strand of Covid in South Africa
what does that mean for us…
I am hearing from others that have just quit planning because of the unknown that is out there
6 The ravens kept bringing him bread and meat in the morning and in the evening, and he would drink from the wadi.
I think that one of the big lessons that Elijah needed to learn and learned at this time, was dependance on the Lord
there was no food there, so God had the ravens take care of him
but when did they bring it… morning and evening
he had to rely daily on God to bring food
but not even for that day, simply for that meal
I do not wish anyone would have to live in faith in a way that we had to have faith that the next meal would come
but at the same time… maybe we would be better off
maybe we would be really thankful for what we had
maybe we would really trust in the Lord for the other things in our life
We get so caught up in what tomorrow will bring that we do not have simple faith in today
13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will travel to such and such a city and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.”
14 Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring—what your life will be! For you are like vapor that appears for a little while, then vanishes.
15 Instead, you should say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
16 But as it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
may we quit boasting in our arrogance and live each day relying on him in simple obedience
A Dry Creek Bed
A Dry Creek Bed
7 After a while, the wadi dried up because there had been no rain in the land.
I do not know how long Elijah was at the wadi. I do not know how fast the wadi was running when he first got there.
How long was it before he started to notice that the lack of rain was having an effect on the water coming to him
Did he question God… we never get any indication
what we know is that at some point, the creek dried up
This verse really kind of hit me… the creek dried up
first… Not every dry creek is punishment
Our arrogance is huge that we think that every thing that happens is about us
why was the creek dry, because God was about to demonstrate that He, above all else, is God
I know the things that have happened this week,
if you faith is diminished because of the things that have happened the last few months in our country then praise God, it is being revealed to you that your faith is in something other than God
This dry creek was not a punishment of Elijah, he spoke the words that there would be no rain
God was about to do something huge, Elijah was not exempt from the drought
I believe that God is doing something much greater than than making America Great again
but we have to live with the dry creek as a result of our prayers
Second - We are not the first to have to do that
Elijah had the dry creek…
Joseph lived in prison for years...
Shadrack Meshack and Abendigo was thrown in the fiery furnace,
Daniel was in the lion’s den
Jesus took the mockings, the beatings, and all the way Golgatha to take the full wrath of God upon himself so that we might live
We should expect a dry creek and rejoice in it if that is how God is about to reveal himself to a nation!
what we need to is to sit still, be with the Lord, rely on him and watch as HE does something great
10 “Stop fighting, and know that I am God, exalted among the nations, exalted on the earth.”