"Elijah's Brook" Lesson 147

Lesson 147: “ELIJAH’S BROOK”

Chad Walsh wrote; “It is safer, from the devil’s point of view, to vaccinate a man with a mild case of Christianity so as to protect him from the real disease”. Nothing is more disastrous or more of a ‘turn off’ than a phony Christian! The Hebrew Prophet Elijah was no phony! He was convinced God was alive and he became God’s personal representative to proclaim a message to King Ahab. This was a short, simple, to the point message with a power packed preface; “I serve the Lord, the God of Israel. As surely as the Lord lives no rain or dew will fall during the next few years unless I command it” (1 Kings 17:1). James 5:17 states; “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months”. Elijah was convinced of the reality of God. Ahab and all of his cohorts thought they had completely stopped all Jehovah worship but they made one serious miscalculation……….they forgot about one man of God. All it takes in any generation is one man that is totally over whelmed by the Living God, believing that only God can bring about miracles through a mere human.

The next step God takes we may think strange. After He shuts down the heavenly water power plant He sends Elijah to sit by the brook. Put yourself in Elijah’s position for just a moment. Here he sits on the bank of a brook that is slowly but surely drying up. It becomes a trickle, a few muddy puddles and then evaporates completely. How would you respond? Did you misunderstand God? Did you say the prayer backward? Did God really intend you to pray for NO rain for three years and six months? I am not sure I could have just sat there without some doubt about my interpretation of God’s intentions. I truly think I would have started looking for another brook with a little water left in it. But first I would have cried! When in doubt, pity parties always come into the picture. Imagine Elijah’s thoughts. Since God sent him to this particular brook, surely it would be because it was the only brook left with water. God would not let His faithful servant thirst, right? He was not to be punished and die with all the ‘sinners’ was he? What had he done that God did not command? Finally it dawned on him! His prayer had been answered! Are you sitting by a drying brook wondering why? An emotional dryness needing more? A financial drought that has you buried in debt? A physical dehydration that you may not live through? Are you asking; ‘Lord, what happened? He answers; ‘nothing! I am just answering your prayer’!

Have you asked God to make you like Jesus? He took you at your word and began the process and you cried out; “Lord what happened? Why did you allow this incident or this person to come into my life”? God’s answer can be found in Hebrews 5:8. “Even though Jesus was the Son of God, He learned obedience by what He suffered”. Have you prayed; “Lord teach me to pray” and found yourself dissolved in tears unable to speak? Again your answer is in Hebrews 5:7. “He (Jesus) prayed with loud cries and tears to the One who could save Him from death, and His prayers were heard because He trusted God”. Maybe your needs are not met because you never ask! Many passages in the Bible tell us to ask and we will receive but as you read them do not over-look the fact that the promises come with conditions. “IF YOU BELIEVE you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer” (Matt. 21:22). “Anyone who has FAITH in me ………..ask in my name so that the Son may BRING GLORY TO THE FATHER………ask anything in my name and I will do it” (John 14:12-14). James 4:2-3 says that we do not have because we do not ask. However, he explains that we ask with wrong motives. Jesus tells us that the Father will give us whatever we ask in the name of the Son so that our joy might be complete (John 16:23-24). The disciples were afraid of the storm and woke Jesus asking; “don’t you care if we drown”? Jesus answered their question with a couple of questions of His own; “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith” (Mark 4:38-40). 2 Timothy 1:7 tells us that God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power. Still we fail to use this power and I wonder if God is wondering the same about us as He did the disciples; “Do you still have no faith?”

There were times in the Bible when God answered prayers for the good of the people and other times the answers were not so beneficial. However, God always gets His way and the glory. This is not to say that God is self-centered, selfish or vindictive but man WILL NOT alter His over-all plan. A prime example can be found in 1st Samuel 8:4-22. When Samuel retired, Israel rejected his sons as judges and asked for a king in spite of God’s warnings against this. Their request for a king was based on their desire to be like other nations. “The Lord answered; ‘you must listen to them. Give them a king”’. Israel demonstrated that our desire to imitate the world may seem righteous at first, but the final result will be destruction. “So I gave you a king, but only in anger, and I took him away in my great anger. The sins of Israel are on record, stored away, waiting for punishment” (Hosea 13:11-12). The Israelites were disobedient one day and singing praises to God the next while in the wilderness, escaping Egypt. “They quickly forgot what He had done and did not want His advice. They became greedy for food in the desert and they tested God there. So He gave them what they wanted but He also sent a terrible disease among them” (Ps. 106:1-5). When we place our trust in God and relinquish control of our lives to Him, He provides for our needs and takes care of us.

It was neither convenient nor comfortable for Elijah to take a stand for the Lord in his generation. It never is! What is the secret of a Christian communicating with a generation of Chaos? The most convincing thing about Christianity is its power to change people. The world is not impressed by your success story but by how you live within the success. You convince the world that God is alive by giving Him the glory for your success. What is there in your action that is proof positive of the reality of God in your life? In the midst of a generation where the world is screaming for proof of a living God, Christians are ‘timid’. Shame on all of us! Ezekiel was a hard-fisted prophet that spoke the Word of the Lord loud and clear. The Lord spoke His Word through Ezekiel, reminding the people of Elijah’s time; “You are a land that has not had rain or showers when God is angry” (Ezek. 22:24). It was a sad message God spoke in Ezekiel 22:30-31; “I looked for someone to build up the walls and to stand before me where the walls are broken to defend these people so I would not have to destroy them. But I did not find anyone. So I let them see my anger that was like fire because of all the things they have done”, ‘says the Lord God’”.

If Jesus Christ were to speak to you personally or to your church congregation, what would He say? God has commanded! He has promised! He has searched for someone to stand in the gap! You ask yourself what resources are available to ‘stand’ in the midst of this apostasy? Elijah did not have one thing that is not available to everyone today. He had the Word of God! He had the power of prayer! “How is it you have no faith” (Mark 4:40)? Privilege creates responsibility! Revelation demands response! God has done all He has ever promised. The next step is yours! It is the step of obedience but mark it well. The moment you take a significant step of obedience, you are going to be tested. You may find yourself sitting alone beside a drying brook!! We can look at it this way. You need not know how to swim, but to stand (Eph. 6:13). God will do the rest. Oh, what a Savior!