Expectations and trusting God    I Kings 17

Do we trust God to receive glory through working out His plan in our lives? Or –

Would we rather that God receive glory through working out our plans?

As His children, we know that God’s ultimate purpose is that He receive glory in all things.  I believe most of us will agree that we would want to be used of God to accomplish His purpose – bring glory to Him through our lives.  I also believe that most of us would want to bring Him glory in the most comfortable circumstances possible and with the least interruption of the plans we have made for our lives.

Tonight, I want to share the account given of two people whose lives glorified God in a magnificent way, even though His plan caused them some fear, some disappointment, some putting away of pride, and especially causing them to submit and trust Him with their lives.

This well known account would encourage and help those who came after to better understand the words spoken to Isaiah as recorded in chapter 55 –

Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: ……….For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

God understands what He is doing, and His will pleases Him. If we will trust and submit, His will shall please us also!

The account is given in 1 Kings chapter 17

1. The background.

1. The problem.

The nation of Israel had turned from the LORD God – they were worshipping the false gods/idols of their pagan neighbors. And each king that came to the throne of Israel seemed to lead the people deeper and deeper into sin and rebellion against the LORD.

The worst was King Ahab – he reigned from 919-896 BC – the Bible says in …

1 Kings 16:30 “And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him.”

1 Kings 16:33 “… Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him.”

Therefore, the LORD God called a prophet to come before that wicked king and to issue a statement of impending judgment – so we find in …

I Kings 17:1 “And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my  word.”

In other words, Israel, because of their sin in which Ahab led them, were going to experience a drought which would lead to a famine! But then we see –

• The provision.

God ALWAYS provides for those who obey His Word – and it was certainly true for Elijah. God instructed him –

1 Kings 17:2-6  And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there. So he went and did according unto the word of the LORD: for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook.

• The predicament.  It seems that something always happens!

Verse 7 “… it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.”  (Nice going, Elijah!)

Now please understand that the LORD God had …

    1. NOT forgotten His promise to Elijah.

    2. NOT forgotten His servant’s needs.

Here is a GREAT truth – sometimes God allows our brook to go dry so that He might protect us, that He may move us in a new direction, that He may give us a new place of service.  So we see –

II. The commands.

1.  Concerning the prophet.

Verse 9 “Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there …”

• Concerning the widow.

Verse 9 “… behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain

thee.”

Certainly Elijah did not understand the reason for God’s command. After all, Zidon was the land of Jezebel – the wicked wife of King Ahab.

What would we had said to the Lord?  “I am safe, have food morning and evening – if you could only put some more water in the brook, I do not mind staying here.”  However, Elijah, with complete confidence in the LORD God –   I Kings 17:10 “….arose and went to Zarephath …”

III. The difficulty.

When the prophet Elijah heard that a widow woman was going to be used of God to supply his needs, I’m sure he was concerned about how he would remain unknown in this enemy land.  Elijah was easy to identify, even if he were unknown in this region, his appearance was unusual, as we find in the discourse between Ahaziah and his servants –

2 Kings 1:7-8  And he said unto them, What manner of man was he which came up to meet you, and told you these words? And they answered him, He was an hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins. And he said, It is Elijah the Tishbite.

And – The widow would be well known in the village, and even strangers passing through would recognize her as a widow because of her widow’s garments.  This odd pair would stand out, but God protected and provided.  Do you believe Elijah may have been concerned, standing out in the crowd, right in the middle of his greatest enemy’s home town?

James 5:17 “Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are …”

I believe that every day of peace brought glory to God from the heart’s of the Prophet and the Widow!

Their meeting brought about some difficult decisions that had to be made –

I Kings 17:10 “So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering of sticks …”

1.  Of the widow.

    1. The request.

I Kings 17:10-11 “… [Elijah] called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray

thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink. And as she was going

to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel

of bread in thine hand.”

    2. The reply.

I Kings 17:12 “And she said, As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a

cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse:

and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it

for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.”

Did you notice it? This woman was in the greatest of difficulties because she had lost all hope!  We also notice the difficult decision –

•  Of the prophet.

I Kings 17:13 “And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son.”

For a false prophet, priest, or Pharisee, this would be normal because …

    . Their god is their belly, They make merchandise of people,

      They are only in it for the money. cf

But, for a true prophet – after seeing the condition of this woman and hearing her tragic story – it would be a most difficult thing to make such a demand. So how could Elijah ask such a thing of this woman?

    1. Because of God’s command.

1 Kings 17:9 “… behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to

sustain thee.”

    2. Because of God’s promise.

I Kings 17:14 “For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, The barrel of meal

shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the

Lord sendeth rain upon the earth (i.e. until the famine was ended).”

    3.  Because of God’s faithfulness.

        The difficulty –

•  Of the choice.

Now this woman was faced with a most difficult choice – there was …

1. The choice of natural reason.

Human reason said that this was foolish –

      a. She should not take the last bite of food from her starving son and give it this man – to do such a thing would be the height of foolishness.

      b. She should try to stretch what she had as far as it would go – and

then she could at least die with the dignity of knowing that she had done her best.

• The choice of faith.

      a. She could give her last meal to this prophet – and IF it turned out that he was a false prophet, then the suffering of her son and her

own self would only come a bit sooner than originally expected.

      b. But IF this was a true prophet from God – and something in her heart was certainly telling her that he was – THEN her supply of food would be guaranteed and her son would certainly live.

After weighing the pros and cons, this desperate widow made the most difficult decision –

I Kings 17:15 “And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah”

No one said that living by faith would be easy!!  This is why the blessing is so great when we trust God!

IV. The provision.

I Kings 17:15-16 “… she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days. And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Elijah.”

In other words, every time she went to prepare a meal, there was always enough oil and flour to do the job! But we need to notice a great point here:

    1. The LORD did not need this woman to take care of His prophet – He had already proven at the brook Cherith that He could provide for Elijah’s needs all by Himself. The Lord did need to get Elijah back among the people.  Isolation makes people timid!

    2. The Lord used the prophet to take care of this woman, this woman most certainly needed the help of the LORD God!

The key for this woman to obtain the help of the LORD God was when she, by faith, made it her business to supply the needs of God’s prophet.

Her faith was pleasing to the LORD God.  She looked to Him beyond her own self, bring glory to Him through His blessings on her!

He allowed her – and all of her house – to be a partaker in His bountiful supply!

Do we see how much more glory God received by working according to His will than He would have received if He had worked according to man’s will?

Conclusion

We need to make a decision now so that we have correct expectations in the future.

1.  God’s will and His glory are to be our priority.

Matthew 6:33  But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

•  God’s will is revealed to us in His Word, the Bible.

2 Timothy 2:15  Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

•  God’s will is to be submitted to.

1 Peter 1:14-16  As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

   4. God’s will is to be our life.

Hebrews 10:23-25  Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

     We may not know how God is going to work all out all that He will have us to do, but He is going to work out to His glory.

Tonight, will we decide to look beyond ourselves and look unto the Lord.  He is our Shepherd, whether His leadership be into the green pastures, beside the still waters, or through the shadow of the valley of death.

Lord, tonight, I give my life, my expectations, to you.  Lead me and I will follow!