God Provides

Joe Costephens

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Introduction

Most people respond in fear and anger to difficulty. When things don’t go the way you expect, what is your response? When uncertainty lies ahead what emotion controls you moving forward? Why is it that we respond with these two main emotions? Is it because we want control? Is it because we are about to be discovered for who we really are? Are we in this twist of emotions because the situation could have been prevented?

There is story after story a seemingly inconsequential sin snowballing into a disastrous situation. Last week we looked at David, and how he seemingly did nothing sinful by not being out to war when he should have been, but it led to lust, then adultery, then murder, and it ended in the consequence of losing his child.

It is when we don’t grasp the depth of sin that we ask questions like,

this doesn’t seem fair,

why would God allow this to happen

Sin requires retribution be made, to God first, then to the person or people we sinned against second.

Let me ask a simple question: In a perfect world how would you address the sin of your child and how would your child respond? Did you just envision The Andy Griffith Show and how Ope and Andy seemed to civilly and perfectly address wrong doing, apologize, and change behavior?

This morning God is going to show us how He provides in the midst of the consequences of sin. The reaction God is desiring is repentance from his people. And repentance means obedience. The heart of the matter we are dealing with is the compromise God’s people had made in worshipping Baal alongside God the Father. And like a good father, God desires what is best for His people and to jolt them out of their disobedience something drastic takes place.

1 Kings 17 ESV

1 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, which is east of the Jordan. 4 You shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.” 5 So he went and did according to the word of the Lord. He went and lived by the brook Cherith that is east of the Jordan. 6 And the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook. 7 And after a while the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land. 8 Then the word of the Lord came to him, 9 “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed you.” 10 So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.” 11 And as she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, “Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” 12 And she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. And now I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die.” 13 And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said. But first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterward make something for yourself and your son. 14 For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘The jar of flour shall not be spent, and the jug of oil shall not be empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain upon the earth.’ ” 15 And she went and did as Elijah said. And she and he and her household ate for many days. 16 The jar of flour was not spent, neither did the jug of oil become empty, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah. 17 After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill. And his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. 18 And she said to Elijah, “What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance and to cause the death of my son!” 19 And he said to her, “Give me your son.” And he took him from her arms and carried him up into the upper chamber where he lodged, and laid him on his own bed. 20 And he cried to the Lord, “O Lord my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by killing her son?” 21 Then he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried to the Lord, “O Lord my God, let this child’s life come into him again.” 22 And the Lord listened to the voice of Elijah. And the life of the child came into him again, and he revived. 23 And Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper chamber into the house and delivered him to his mother. And Elijah said, “See, your son lives.” 24 And the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.”

God Brings Judgment on Sin

God uses the prophet Elijah to bring judgement on Israel for their sin.

The name Elijah means My God is Yahweh. Elijah through his name is declaring to all those who were adding to the worship of God, that their is one God. During this time in Israel’s history the worship of Baal had been intermixed through the leadership of King Ahab. King Ahab had married Jezebel, who lead Ahab to worship and serve Baal.

To understand some of the irony of this text it is important to know something of who Baal is. Baal is a name used to describe several different deities of the OT, but most scholars agree, in this passage we are dealing with the God of Fertility who was seen in the thunderstorms. He was the deity that conquered all others according to mythology. What is ironic is what Baal does in mythology is what God actually does in human history. It is not that Israel wanted to stop the worship of God, but they were okay with also worshipping Baal. Baal was the supreme deity in this mythological religion. Altars were built throughout Israel so that Israel could worship both God and Baal. My sexual worship practices were introduced into Israel because of the worship of Baal. More than that human sacrifice was seen in worship of Baal.

Then sin of Israel was not abandoning God, but adding to the worship of God. And for this lack of obedience, judgment came. And that judgment came in rain being taken away, which was a direct assault against the primary power of Baal.

A lake of rain was a sign to all that sin had come among the people.

1 Kings 8:35 ESV

35 “When heaven is shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, if they pray toward this place and acknowledge your name and turn from their sin, when you afflict them,

Deuteronomy 11:17 ESV

17 then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and he will shut up the heavens, so that there will be no rain, and the land will yield no fruit, and you will perish quickly off the good land that the Lord is giving you.

What is already being set up is the power and control of the living God in contrast with the ineffectiveness of Baal.

Perhaps we do not have altars set up to Baal, maybe we don’t worship a mythological deity. But you and I have all been in the same spot Israel is in. We have all elevated people, possessions, life circumstances, and the like to the same level as God. It typically comes out in the form of fear or anger.

When we don’t have control and don’t know what the future holds we see fear and anger come alive. We forget that God is in control and become fearful because we are finally seeing how little control in life we actually have. Or we become angry because that’s not how I would have done it.

God Blesses Elijah through Obedience

One of the hard things about this life and growing up in the era of grace is we fail to see obedience as a necessary behavior. God will forgive, God will forget, that is why Jesus died. It tends to lead us all down a path of not taking sin seriously. It isn’t until we read a passage like this and see that God takes sin so seriously that He took away rain. In our scientific age we forget who controls the weather. We forget who has the world in His hands. We forget that obedience is rewarded and disobedience leads to discipline for the Christian and judgment for the non Christian.

Elijah receives word from the Lord to God and hide by the brook of Cherith, east of the Jordan. There he shall drink and there the ravens will provide for him.

His obedience was seen in moving out to the brook, drinking its water and in the Lord bringing bread and meat to Elijah through the ravens.

God protected Elijah from the wrath of the King and provided for Elijah in the midst of the consequences of sin, the lack of rain.

My next question is hermeneutically appalling. It is trying to read into a passage something that is not there. But let me ask this question as a hypothetical.

What would have happened to Elijah had he not obeyed?

We don’t know the answer outside of one word, discipline. But what we need to learn from this section of scripture is that obedience is an essential aspect of God’s protecting grace. The obedient adult child is always easier to lend a helping hand to than the one who only calls for money or because they are in trouble.

How is your obedience coming along? Are you kids and grandkids learning how to obey the word of the Lord? Where has disobedience crept in?

God Provides in the Midst of Drought

The significance of the coming two stories is seen in Elijah going to foreign territory which was known to be controlled by the worship of Baal. Elijah in this hostile environment would show that a prophet can be accepted outside his country, his comfort zone. He is showing that God is gracious in the midst of harsh judgment due to sin.

Elijah travels to the widow, who is preparing a last meal for her and her son because of the drought. The word of the Lord was spoken by Elijah saying that the flour and the oil would not run out until the drought was over. This is not the blessing of Elijah, but it is the gift of God to Elijah, the widow and her son.

IN the middle of a land who adored Baal, God reigned supreme, not in a show of grandeur for all to see, but in a personal way to this woman and her son. Elijah was the instrument of God to provide relief to the least of these in the midst of pain and suffering.

Notice the widow did not win the lottery. Notice she didn’t get a new home, or a fancy car. She was blessed with bread. God’s provision is not always spectacular as we define spectacular. But nonetheless, his provision is always life sustaining.

IN the midst of the consequences of sin, how has God continued to provide for you? I know I take for granted the breath, life, and time the Lord continues to give me so that I might repent of my sin and turn from my wicked ways. Sometimes the greatest gift God gives us in the gift of today to turn from disobedience and back onto the path of obedience.

God Brings life in the Midst of Death

Then things get serious, even though bread is provided the son of this widow dies. He is breathing no more. This is a harsh reality of life, that it doesn’t last. And her first reaction is to ask what sin have I committed to cause this death to occur.

There was and still persists in our day the belief that wrong doing leads to extreme consequences. In particular in Elijah’s day death like this was thought to occur as punishment for some hidden sin that is now brought to light.

Elijah not knowing what God would do, took the boy away from everyone. What is about to happen is not for show. Elijah in a private prayer session begged, pleaded, a soul bearing prayer that God would restore the life of the boy.

You see there is very little that you and I can control in this life. But there is one God was is able to not only provide bread, but also grant life.

God provides so that His name is made great. God blesses when it leads people to worship Him. God intervenes when it means He gets the glory. God steps in when nothing else works to prove He alone can rescue.

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