Thursday September 15, 2022

Scripture Passage: 1 Kings 17: ⁷ Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. ⁸ Then the word of the Lord came to him: ⁹ “Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.” ¹⁰ So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, “Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?” ¹¹ As she was going to get it, he called, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.”

Life Lesson: When one provision from the Lord “dries up” look intently for what the Lord will do to meet your need in a fresh new way. 

– We tend to panic when our resources run dry. What we must always keep in mind is how faithfully God provides for those who wait upon Him.  When the brook dried up, Elijah did not fret over it.  We are told that the brook dried up and then the word of the Lord came to Elijah.

– There is an important life lesson for us to grab hold of in this account: The drying up of a precious resource for Elijah was a catalyst for a fresh revelation from God!  It is no different for us today. 

– Until God allows what we are so reliant upon today to dry up, how then can we experience God’s power and provision afresh and anew!?  We can learn here that our crisis today is a means for our personal growth and development in faith. 

– This is the reason James writes so passionately in his first chapter, ² Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³ because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. ⁴ Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” 

– We want to grow in our faith.  We want to become mature and complete in our faith, not lacking anything. We cannot have this unless we go through trials of many kinds.  Unfaltering faith is no accident!  It is forged in the crucible of fire!  It is the blows of the Masters hammer that fashions the metal and makes it fit for its work!

– When we seem to be lacking of this world’s treasures, we can be certain that God has something very special that He intends to do in us and through us!  Like David we will look beyond our needs and testify, that “The Lord is my Shepherd and I lack nothing”, Psalm 23!

– Don’t tell me you have to see it to believe it!  By faith we believe it and in God’s time we will therefore see it!