Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. Then the word of the LORD came to him: "Go at once to Zarephath of Sidon and stay there. I have commanded a widow in that place to supply you with food."
To trust God completely almost always involves testing and trials in the life of any servant of God. There has been for too long the false teaching that when one becomes a Christian everything goes well. That is not Biblical.
For those of faith there is peace that the world cannot offer. There is joy in serving Jesus. There is victory and happiness because life now has meaning and purpose and we are purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ for all eternity, but don’t confuse that with the circumstances of this world. There will be difficult periods, depression, and frustrating times when you almost want to say you’ve had enough. God sometimes doesn’t seem fair and you want to quit.
Elijah was having a long crash course in trusting God. I believe that this was in preparation for the tremendous contest that he would perform at Mount Carmel. Too many Christians want to reach the top of Mount Carmel and call down the fire from heaven, but are not wiling to take the steps required of faith.
Notice that the brook dried up. That certainly can be a mind boggling after being fully convinced that God led him there and is sustaining him there. Now his resources dry up.
I was talking recently with friends who were growing in their faith. The door of opportunity in missions opened up for them which they interpreted as God’s leading. Then that door closed right in their face. There was confusion. There was questioning God. They did some soul searching and was forced to look at other areas of service. Would they trust God in the dark as much as they trusted Him in the daylight of their lives? It wasn’t until that door was shut that they were even interested in looking at another opportunities. There was testing in their lives.
Why do brooks dry up? -To teach us to move on to be alert to new instruction, to test our faith, to keep us from being content in our surroundings. That brook didn’t mean a thing. God did. He was the provider. It wasn’t the ravens or the trickle of the stream.
I do not like the testing times in my life. I want answers that I cannot come up with clearly. I have feelings I want to get rid of quickly. I want situations to change immediately, but God puts me through experiences to test me and try my faith. I find there is no one else to turn to. The things I trust sometimes become more important than the Person I am to trust. Circumstances can become more important than the most important relationship. We need to be barren at times to trust God alone and bury our self-centeredness. We need experiences beyond us so that we learn to learn.
Application: Has your brook dried up? Ask God what He has for you to do.
Prayer: In Eleanor Roosevelt’s Bible there is a prayer “Lord may our opportunities always exceed our abilities that we may ever trust thee for strength.”
