And Elijah would not live long in that climate without water. But according to the actual account in the Old Testament the drought was not even a full three years. Normally we want a road map on life. A dried up brook was a result of Elijah's own prayer. These birds that I once considered pretty ugly, I now delight in the thought of how the Lord takes care of them and of me. I think I know why God takes our brooks away. Ahab went along with her in everything she proposed, even setting up an idol in the house of Baal in Samaria. The context of 1 Kings 17 is during the rule of King Ahab and his wife Jezebel. This was six months after the king was told there would be neither dew nor rain, and from this period the three years in this passage are computed. ). Losing your brook can be frustrating. I see another principle here in scripture - sometimes God tells you ahead of time what is going to happen. Elijah was commanded to depart from Samaria, to . The story of Elijah in narrative style (Quoted in Chabad.org) a. In this instance, should Elijah have taken the bull by the horns and run off and found his own path? But Elijah spent part of that time in the Kerith Ravine and the remainder in Zarephath. Elijah: The Moulding goes on and on and . If you know anything about birds, the raven is not a dependable animal. Elijah 's message and the meaning of his name go together like a fresh glass of milk and warm cookies. It's a place where God actually removes you for a specific purpose and the word means 'a cutting off'. Stack Exchange network consists of 181 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow, the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge, and build their careers. How can we be sure the Old Testament is accurate if Elijah was the only prophet left? (Luke 4:25 NLT). If God has gifted you with finances, a good listening ear, cooking skills, strength, etc. They will neglect their young yet when God pleases they will feed His prophet. It's like that with us. When and how was it discovered that Jupiter and Saturn are made out of gas? . Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown, among others, take a different approach. Elijah didnt get his local hiking map out and go looking for another source of water, waterholes which he may have known about from previous travels in this area. Well Elijah didn't - he stayed put. As such he was not yet right for the Lords service. God then instructed Elijah to hide himself by the brook Cherith. Though the water of the brook failed, God's care was not exhausted. God has always given me what was needed. Yet God proved Himself adequate. The confrontation was off, at least temporarily. Let me leave you with the lyrics of a song I've come to love: We are pressed on every side, but we won't be shaken. CHERITH, THE BROOK. It doesnt come easy. Acceleration without force in rotational motion? We need to be watching what He is doing and attentive to what our Father is asking of us. We need to see the value of it, which lies in it helps keep things in perspective. Elijah had just declared there would be no rain in Israel until he said so, and Ahab wasnt a very forgiving ruler. But it was potentially also a real spiritual crisis, for by faith Elijah had followed Gods directions and enjoyed Gods blessings. However, my Cherith was also equally as significant as my time now as a married woman. God's provision was with Elijah and though hard times came and the provision in that location started to dwindle, God still had other means available for His servant if he would simply wait and be obedient upon the word of God. 1 Kings 17:2-4 Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah: (3) Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. We think we need a GPS system which would tell us the quickest way to get where we want to be but God doesn't actually give that to us. The nation had already had the tap of refreshing moisture turned off, and now having been given a prophet he is immediately removed. Elijah represents any of . You can only live a certain amount of time without water, but he stayed put. But God has commanded the ravens to actually feed him. Let's look at another character study on Elijah. There was a bold and even aggressive determination about him as he desired to serve the Lord. What would have happened to the widow and her son? It is not a declaration that He has forgotten His promise to all His people in Lam 3:22-23 that His loving-kindness will not fail, that they are new every morning. There would be no rain or dew in the land for the next few years. The day will come when he will defeat the assembled hosts of Baal and turn the nation of Israel . But God always has a way! God was having Elijah consider the ravens. How do cessationists interpret James 5:13-18? It is in those places where we gain greater intimacy with the Lord. Such is the scale of the devastation of the drought that even this brook dries up. 9 Christians You Don't Want to Sit Beside on Sunday Morning, 7 Ways Anxiety Dominates the Christian Mind, 7 Tests to See if Your Worship Is Truly Christian or Pagan. Even in the letters to the 7 churches of Revelation this warning is given, a warning we do well to take seriously as a church, Elijah had just had a very heady experience. During his exile, Elijah drank from the brook in the ravine, and the ravens brought him bread and meat every morning and evening. Elijahs means the Lord is God. Elijahs ministry corresponded exactly to his name, for he was sent by God to confront the worship of Baal by Gods people, and to declare to Israel that the Lord was God and there was no other. So with Elijah he had complete dependence upon God here to survive. But there were years and years of isolation in obscurity. And the word of the LORD came to him: "Depart from here and turn eastward and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. See, for example: After many days the word of the Lord came to Elijah, in the third year, saying [ESV], And it came to pass after many days, that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying [KJV], Now it happened after many days that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying [NASB], After a long time, in the third year, the word of the Lord came to Elijah [NIV]. We will continue with that next time and glean from the lessons that can be learnt there. Let us remember that though such times may come upon us unexpectantly, but they are never unexpected to God. Many times, our God does not choose to work in rational ways so that without a shadow of a doubt we can know that it had to be Him. As I was thinking about this, I noticed the simplicity of it. Though Ahab might have at first ridiculed Elijahs announcement, yet when neither of these rains fell in their season, he was incensed against the prophet as the cause of the national judgment, and compelled him, with Gods direction, to consult his safety in flight. See His unsearchable wisdom in that if humans delivered food they may have divulged the hiding place, if dogs, morning and night, someone might have seen this curiosity and followed. 1 Kings 17:3 Go away from here and turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan.. This is where we should always strive to be: to be and doing where and what God in His Word calls us to. He said, Lord what will you have me to do? (Acts 9:6). Maybe you are in the middle of your desert, wondering why you are there? This is because they are so relational, and they are obedient well most of the time anyway! Jesus was the same. He had been to the court of this king as the Ambassador of the King of kings, he had done something that was not only courageous, it was spiritually significant. He did not say 'No, I don't really want to do this can I go a different direction?' Even a river would have been regarded as insufficient. I wondered why the Lord would not bring me a husband. His lifetime is chronicled in Kings I and King IIincluding the miracles he performed, the inspiration he caused, and his dramatic ascent to heaven. This caused idolatry to come into the land because the people worshipped these and were led astray. Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah: Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. Though they will look they will not be able to find him. Only in that most unlikely place and nowhere else, not where we would have chosen as a likely haven! Perhaps you had a time in life that appeared to be a dry place, but God provided for you in an amazing way? If we have too much of the world in our lives we will be put into a position where we have to be cut off from things that control us. Here he was to be alone for at least a year without human company. Genesis 8:7 says, And sent out a raven, and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth., Priscilla Shirer says it well in herFaith and Fire Elijah study, Perhaps if God had chosen doves or robins to perform this twice-daily, turn-down service, some kind of brilliant, brainiac ornithologist could come up with a scientific hypothesis, describing how birds of that type might be capable of pinpointing a singular location day after day. Sometimes in our lives God will use an unclean vessel to bring blessing to us in the same way that He did for Elijah. Did his hopes diminish also? But God says Hide! Our natural response to this direction would have been to say. Elijah had been given a message by God to deliver to King Ahab. This is how God trains His young eaglets to fly. Wendy couldn't understand why God would bring her provision in that way and then allow it to be gone. The downward slide - from faith to fear to depression, Blindness, self focus and the replacing of Elijah, Elijah, Ahab and the arrow shot at random. That Elijah learned his lesson well is seen in what he said to the widow in v.13,14. Why Do We Need to Be Crucified with Christ? One step at a time. Elijah's 'cutting away' at brook Cherith Bible Study. There was a brook for water, and at His command even the ravens helped provide for Elijahs needs. It is a spiritual law of thermodynamics: the increase of heat upon faith produces a parallel increase expansion of faith. Had the brook not dried up, he would have stayed there. However, the story of the ravens feeding Elijah gives me a great hope that my God is omniscient, and He is in control. But it was a self-originated zeal. You don't see Elijah debating with God about the direction he should go. Now it is while Elijah is by the Brook Cherith, in a deep ravine in the wild and rugged terrain of Gilead, being cared for by creatures who clearly show more obedience to God than that greedy and self-serving Ahab, that something unexpected happens. Cherith is a place of isolation. God's word came to Elijah with the command, "Get thee hence and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the book Cherith, that is before Jordan" (1 Kings 17:3). I learned my identity was not in a relationship status with anyone but Him. You could be questioning His provision and His ways. The fact that it didnt yet look serious didnt alter the fact. So this is the second lesson. Now Baal was the god of fertility, the god of rain, and the god of the increase of their crops. When we get comfortable, we are no longer growing or having an impact on our environment. They were absolutely evil and disobedient to the ways of the Lord. He would have been high on adrenalin and on grace. OT History: 1 Kings 17:7 It happened after a while that (1Ki iKi i Ki 1 Kg 1kg). Sometimes a Cherith experience is there to get the world out of us. To subscribe to this RSS feed, copy and paste this URL into your RSS reader. OBEDIENCE AND THE WILL OF GOD A) Prompt Obedience B) Perfect Obedience 3. He did absolutely nothing that is recorded. It was here that God had said that 'I have commanded the ravens to feed him.' 17 Now Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, "As the Lord the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word." 2 And the word of the Lord came to him, 3 "Depart from here and turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, that is east of . 1 Kings 17:1 Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, 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.". (No Ratings Yet) It cannot therefore be identified with Wady el-Kelt, to the West of Jericho. Why would the Lord even make him go live in an obscure dry place? How easy it is to make the service which God trusts us with a pedestal on which to display ourselves. The Land of Israel was then divided into two kingdoms: the kingdom of Judah and the kingdom of the Ten Tribes. Then the company got sold and restructured and the job was gone. Is it True for Christians That 'Once Saved, Always Saved'? We ought not be surprised if our Father says, You have had enough of this hurry, publicity and excitement. Being in Gods will always provides us with experiences of the blessings of the Lords presence and love. Elijah, an Old Testament prophet of God, lived a life of faith. Elijah 1:The Brook of CherithSunday, Feb 28, 2016Pastor James WattsGrand View Church The brook dries up! He took it away. Paul, straight after he was saved, spent virtually eleven years in obscurity in the desert. Ask the Lord how you can step into the hardships of someone elses life who needs it. The showdown: Elijah vs the prophets of Baal! Be assured that God will never forsake you nor fail you. Elijah was stunned! See His unmatchable grace in that though He withdraws His Word from a people for a season yet He protects that Word and its servants for future ministry. For Elijah every raven visit was a reminder not only of Gods loving provision but of Gods loving presence with him as well. In verse 7, the brook dried up because there was no rain. I love how Elijah boldly and confidently obeyed the voice of God in an unknown circumstance. This is the key to Elijahs experience and life. Many times, it can be frustrating to have desires to do great things for God that we miss out on the joy of the still moments. As Elijah saw the brook dry up, he now had no water. (James 5:17 NLT), "Certainly there were many needy widows in Israel in Elijah's time, when the heavens were closed for three and a half years, and a severe famine devastated the land. So be careful about pushing something or some person aside because we think they are 'unclean', we need to realise that God can use them in a situation to provide for us. Elijah in narrative style ( Quoted in Chabad.org ) a the Old prophet! 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