1 Kings 17 NASB Elijah Predicts Drought
1Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the LORD, the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, surely there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.” 2The word of the LORD came to him, saying, 3“Go away from here and turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. 4“It shall be that you will drink of the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to provide for you there.” 5So he went and did according to the word of the LORD, for he went and lived by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. 6The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he would drink from the brook. 7It happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.
I want to talk to you a little bit about dried up brooks. The lord had instructed Elijah to hide himself by the brook Cherith. There, he could drink from the brook, and God ordered ravens to bring him food at morning and at evening. Elijah evidently stayed there for awhile because it takes time for a flowing brook to totally dry up. I would say that Elijah was pretty comfortable there. God sent him there to be a safe place. But now he has a problem. The brook is dry and he has no water to drink. He is obviously going to have to move.
Now here is the interesting thing. Why did the brook dry up? Because there was no rain in the land. Why was there no rain in the land? Because Elijah prophesied and prayed it wouldn’t rain. Let’s get this straight. The brook dried up as a direct result of Elijah’s prayer? Yep!!!
Have you had any brooks dry up lately? Financial brooks? Relational brooks? Situational brooks? Any kind of brooks? Those things that made you feel safe. Those things that enhanced your comfort zones. Don’t tell me you prayed some crazy prayer like Elijah did. Not his exact prayer, but some crazy prayer like, “Lord, I want to be Christlike,” or “Lord I want to be filled with the fullness of God, or more anointed, or be used by you at a higher level, etc.” If you did, then I think I know what happened to your brook.
You see it was time for Elijah to move to the next place in the Lord. It was time to advance in the anointing and purposes of God. Time for a new God Story in his life. In the next story, God used Elijah to work some miracles including raising the dead. Drying up that brook was necessary. Elijah was too comfortable there. It was time to move. If your brook has dried up, then it’s because God heard you and is answering your prayer. You’ve gotten to comfortable. It’s time to move on spiritually. It’s time to move up. It’s time to advance in faith, anointing, and in the purposes of God. It’s time to change; to move along in your Christlike destiny.
Don’t complain. You asked for it. Dried up brooks are one of God’s ways of working the Cross in our lives. You can’t have a new spiritual resurrection without being propelled there by the Cross. You know how you spell the Cross? C-H-A-N-G-E. The cross is always the bridge we have to move over to come to our new place in the transformation process. Don’t be afraid. It’s Further Up and Further In time.
Have a great day Trusting Him, who according to His kind intention, is working all things after the council of His will.
Oh yeah, by all means, watch what you pray for. 🙂