Take your Bibles with me and turn to 1 Kings 17. 1 Kings 17. We are going to read the whole story tonight and learn about one of the coolest characters in the whole Bible: Elijah.
In order for us to understand Elijah, we have to understand who Elijah stood up against.
None of the kings of Israel were good kings. They were all wicked. But the one who kind of stands out for his wickedness is King Ahab.
On the one hand, Ahab was a very talented king and a great leader. Apart from the religious crisis and the judgment God brought on him, Ahab appears to have been a capable ruler - he fortified cities, had military success, and strengthened Israel's position.
But on the other hand, he was a wicked man. His main wickedness was marrying a woman named Jezebel - probably the most infamous woman in the whole Bible.
Jezebel was from Sidon - modern Lebanon and according to Josephus, her father wasn't just the king up there, he was a priest of Baal. So Jezebel came to Israel and she brought a lot of Baal worship with her. She wasn't just a quiet Baal worshiper. She introduced hundreds of prophets to evangelize on behalf of Baal and she got her husband to build a Temple to Baal in Israel's capitol city.
So Ahab and his queen Jezebel are leading Israel much farther into wickedness and idolatry. And God was not going to let that just go.
So our question tonight as we read this chapter is "What is God up to? What is God doing on this earth?"
Look at verse 1:
[!bible] 1 Kings 17:1 - KJV
- 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.
I want you to write down six statements tonight as we work through this passage. And the first one I want you to write down is:
1. God uses unusual people to do his work.
Here we are introduced to Elijah. No doubt, Elijah was one of the greatest men who ever lived. He is so great that he is one of the two people that showed up at Christ's transfiguration. (The other was Moses) When God prophesied about John the Baptist through Malachi, He told them someone was coming in the spirit and power of Elijah.
But who was this guy? We really don't know anything about him. He came from a place called Gilead - which is in the middle of the region where some of the Israeli's lived over on the other side of Jordan. It was a mountainous region. A rough region. A region cut off from much of Israel. Elijah didn't come from the big city, he wasn't from Jerusalem. He wasn't trained in the big cities.
So Elijah was someone who came out of nowhere. He really gets no introduction. We don't learn his backstory. We are just thrust right into the middle of this action. He was this special and unusual person that God had made just for this time.
I remember years ago reading a wonderful book called Made to Stick - about how to make ideas sticky. And they said that for something to stick it had to be Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotional and tell a Story. Elijah just ticks all the boxes. God was really using this unusual man to get attention.
You know, God can use anyone and it seems that often God delights to use people that aren't what everyone is expecting.
- think about D.L. Moody - who turned the world upside down. He was a poor kid with almost no education who was just passionate about bringing kids to Sunday School in Chicago.
- then the guy who took over D.L. Moody's great ministry was R.A. Torrey - and you could not find two people more different than Moody and Torrey. Torrey was educated and had kind of an upper class upbringing. But God used him mightily.
- In the Bible God used all kinds of interesting people to tell His story:
- a little servant girl talking to Naaman.
- a young widow from Middian named Ruth.
- a wild persecutor of Christians named Saul.
- God even spoke through a donkey once. That was unusual, but God normally speaks through people.
And if you let Him, God wants to speak through you too.
So Elijah bursts on the scene and God tells him to go to Ahab and give him one message: There isn't going to be any dew or rain for years, until I say it's going to rain again.
That's it. That was Elijah's whole message. Then God told him to get out of there.
Let's keep reading:
[!bible] 1 Kings 17:2-3 - KJV 2. And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, 3. Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan.
I want you to write down a second statement about what God is up to.
2. God leads His servants step by step.
God had told Elijah to go say something to Ahab. Then God told him 'get out of there and go over to this place called the brook Cherith, over by Jordan.'
Later on, God would tell him to get up and go to Zerephath in modern Lebanon. The point I'm trying to point out is that God didn't lay out for Elijah some grand plan. He didn't get a map.
If you've ever held a copy of Lord of the Rings, there is this big map in the front of it that shows the path the heros would take. Elijah didn't get that, he got step by step instructions, and God waited until he obeyed one instruction to give him another.
Some of you may expect God to clearly tell you what you are going to do 30 or 40 years from now. You want it all mapped out. But that isn't how the Lord leads us, He leads us a step at a time. He gives us enough light for the next step, not the whole journey.
Let's keep reading...
[!bible] 1 Kings 17:4-9 - KJV 4. And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there. 5. 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. 6. And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook. 7. And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land. 8. And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, 9. Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.
God had plans to take care of His servant.
Remember, there is a famine on. The famine ended up lasting for 3 and a half years. People were literally starving to death. But God took care of His servant.
It reminds me of
[!bible] Psalms 37:25 - KJV 25. I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.
God takes care of His children. But I want you to write down a third thing about what God was up to:
3. God shows His power by providing in unusual ways.
Did you catch how God was going to feed Elijah? At first it was by going to this out of the way brook, this little place, where he would have drinking water. Remember, there is a famine on, it isn't raining. There is no water. But God provided Elijah with his own private source of water.
But what about food? God provided food twice a day through His own version of Uber Eats. He had food delivered - and it was delivered by Ravens.
Ravens are scavengers, they are dirty and unclean animals. But God used them to drop both bread and meat to Elijah twice a day!
Now why would God do that? What is God up to? He can provide for us any way He wants to, a famine is no problem for Him. But sometimes God provides for us in unusual ways so we know that it comes from Him and not from us.
I remember one time I was really stressed out from some bad business decisions, and I wasn't really telling everyone about it and someone who doesn't go to church here knocked on my door and said "God told me to give you this" and he handed me some money.
Now I could have got that money any number of ways. I could have got a new client or a loan. But God provided it in such an unexpected way that I couldn't take credit for it or chalk it up to my own efforts. I had to know it was Him.
Speaking of unusual ways of providing - it doesn't get more unusual than where God told Elijah to go next. Eventually, the brook dried up, and God said "Ok, I want you to go to this town called Zarephath up by Zidon, and a widow woman is going to take care of you there."
Now that is an unusual command for all kinds of reasons:
- First, Zidon is where Jezebel came from. God was leading Elijah right into the heart of enemy territory.
- Second, widows in those days were destitute. They were poor. They had no way to provide for themselves. Why would a widow take care of Elijah?
But Elijah obeyed, and he made the journey up to Lebanon to Zarephath and as he was coming into the town he saw a woman (who happened to be this widow woman) and asked her for a drink.
Let's keep reading
[!bible] 1 Kings 17:10-15 - KJV 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: and he called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink. 11. 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. 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. 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. 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. 15. And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days.
Elijah finds this woman and asks her for water. That wasn't a little ask. Water was a hot commodity. And she is going to do it, then Elijah asks her to get him some bread too.
And this woman, this poor woman, I think she breaks down and she says "I don't have any bread, all I have is a little bit of flour, just a handful and a little bit of oil, and my plan was to make me and my son a little cake and eat it and then die."
How sad is that. I don't think she was exaggerating. She really was that destitute.
But notice what Elijah says, he says "Ok, you go and do that, but make me a cake first."
The audacity!
And that leads me to the fourth thing I want you to write down about what God is doing...
4. God wants us to obey Him, even in times of personal distress.
This woman was absolutely in a bad way. She was in great personal distress. Far worse than any of us can ever say we have been in.
And yet God wanted her to take a good portion of her very last meal and give it to this prophet. And amazingly - she obeyed!
Now, here is a question for you - was God being a big meany here? It might seem mean. But what did God do through her obedience?
He fed her and her son through the whole famine! Depending on how long Elijah was in Cherith and how long in Zarephath, it could have been years. That little bit, given in obedience, God multiplied it like Jesus multiplied the loaves and fishes and it lasted through the whole crisis!
Listen, you can always obey God, in every circumstance. And God always blesses our obedience.
God's commands are not burdens, they are the pathway to blessings. Those blessings aren't always immediate, and they are rarely financial - but they are the best blessings we could ever get.
But in this story, just as this woman is experiencing God's blessing, the most senseless, seemingly cruel tragedy strikes.
Let's keep reading...
[!bible] 1 Kings 17:16-18 - KJV 16. 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. 17. And it came to pass after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him. 18. And she said unto Elijah, What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son?
This widow woman is enjoying God's blessings. She makes Elijah a place to stay, an upper room on her roof. And things go one good for awhile, and then suddenly, her son, her only son, dies.
This woman was in a terrible state before, she was destitute before - this is her worst nightmare. She has nothing and no one left.
And as she holds her little boy - her whole world in her arms - she starts to think "God must be out to get me, God must be punishing me for the sins I've committed."
So she goes to Elijah and asks him "Did God send you here to torment me? To remind me of my past sins and kill my son?"
And listen, there wasn't an easy answer. Elijah didn't have an easy answer. He just said "give me your son."
Let's keep reading:
[!bible] 1 Kings 17:19-20 - KJV 19. And he said unto her, Give me thy son. And he took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into a loft, where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed. 20. And he cried unto the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son?
Elijah has just as many questions. This doesn't match the God he knows. Why?
Write down a fifth thing for me, a fifth thing God is up to in this story...
5. God sometimes allows crises that challenge everything we think we know about Him, so that we can discover depths of His power and goodness we never imagined.
This is a horrible tragedy. It seems like dark chapter in the story. But the chapter isn't over yet, there is another page.
Let's keep reading
[!bible] 1 Kings 17:21-23 - KJV 21. And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, I pray thee, let this child’s soul come into him again. 22. And the LORD heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived. 23. And Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the chamber into the house, and delivered him unto his mother: and Elijah said, See, thy son liveth.
Elijah prayed over this boy three different times. I don't know what the spiritual significance of that is - but I do know this - this is the first time in the whole Bible that there is a miracle of resurrection.
This boy revives! His soul comes back into His body.
Can you imagine that moment? Elijah picks up this child - no longer cold and stiff, but warm and breathing - and carries him downstairs. Picture him walking down those steps with this living, breathing boy in his arms. And then he presents him to his mother: "See, your son lives!"
Imagine how her tears changed! They went from tears of sorrow to tears of joy. She went from doubting God's goodness to a deeper understanding of God's goodness.
Some of you are in the middle of a crisis right now. You obeyed God. You trusted Him. And then everything fell apart. And you're wondering, like this widow: "Is God punishing me? Did I do something wrong?"
Listen carefully: Sometimes God allows our plans to die, our dreams to die, our securities to die - not as punishment, but to show us something greater. He's not done with your story. There's another page. Keep reading.
The widow couldn't see past her son's death. But God was writing a bigger story than she could imagine.
She went from doubting God's goodness to discovering depths of God's power she never dreamed existed. The crisis didn't disprove God's goodness - it became the doorway to experiencing it more fully than ever before.
And that leads me to one final thing for you to write down. The sixth thing in this story and the answer to "what is God up to?"
6. God has the power to resurrect the dead and bring sinners to Himself.
Look at the last verse:
[!bible] 1 Kings 17:24 - KJV 24. And the woman said to Elijah, Now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in thy mouth is truth.
This is what God was after the whole time. This woman became a true believer. Remember what she said back in verse 12? "As the LORD your God lives" - she called Him Elijah's God, not hers. But now? Now she knows. She saw the power of resurrection and she, a woman from Baal's country, a Gentile from enemy territory, became a true believer in the one true God.
Think about everything God orchestrated to get to this moment:
- He sent a drought to challenge Baal, the supposed storm god
- He chose an unlikely prophet from the wilderness
- He led that prophet step by step, providing through ravens and brooks
- He sent Elijah to Zarephath, of all places - Jezebel's homeland
- He asked a starving widow to give her last meal in faith
- He sustained her supernaturally for months
- He allowed her son to die
- He raised him back to life
Why? To bring one widow to faith.
And friends, if you think God orchestrates less in your life to bring you to Himself, you're wrong. God moves heaven and earth to save sinners.
The Greater Resurrection:
But this story is just a preview of God's greatest story - another story of resurrection. Where it wasn't a widow's son, but God's own Son who died.
Only Jesus didn't die from sickness. He died on our behalf. He died for our sins.
This boy came back to life after three prayers from Elijah. Jesus came back to life on the third day by the power of God.
And in coming back to life, Jesus showed that He had conquered death and sin. Because of Jesus, we know that when we die, we too will rise again and be with Him forever.
What is God After?
So what is God up to? What is God after?
God is after sinners. God is after women like this widow of Zarephath - foreigners, outsiders, people far from Him. God is after men like Ahab - wicked, idolatrous, rebellious. God is after people like you and me.
He wants us to know Him. He wants us to worship Him. He wants us to say, like this widow, "Now I know - the word of the LORD is truth."
And He will use unusual people, step-by-step leading, supernatural provision, painful crises, and even resurrection power to get us there.
Maybe you're here tonight and you've never truly trusted Christ. God orchestrated everything to get you to this moment. Jesus died and rose for you - will you believe?
And for those who know Him - remember, God is still at work. He's still using ordinary people to bring others to faith. He used an unlikely prophet and a foreign widow. He can use you too.
God's ultimate goal has never changed: He wants sinners to know Him, trust Him, and worship Him as the one true God who has power over life and death.
