"When the Brook Dries Up, Watch Out for God's Plan B"

Sunday October 24, 2021

1 Kings 17:1-9

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. 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. 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.

Many times, in life people believe that once God says a thing or gives an instruction, the path to the realization of that must always be hitch free. I am here to debunk that notion today and get you to understand that in-between God's promise and manifestation, there may be some hitches. In Exodus 3, God promised Moses that He would take the people of Israel to a land flowing with milk and honey. The Israelites did not know that there was wilderness along the way. They did not know that they will encounter a Red Sea. They did not know that sometime along the way, they will need meat or water. However, they survived the wilderness and eventually made it to the Promised Land as God promised. You may be along the wilderness today on the path to God's Promised Land for your life; you may be encountering several challenges even though you have kept God's commandments in humility and obedience, beloved God says to tell you today that that wilderness journey will soon terminate at the Promised Land.

The scenario that brought Elijah into the scene of the text we read, is in

1 King 16:32-33 - And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. ³³ And Ahab made a grove; and Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him.

So from the above scripture, it is clear that what brought Elijah to the scene was the sin of idolatry as practiced by Israel. Ahab the king has started worshipping baal. He brought the whole of Israel into the worship of baal with him and also worshipped baal's female counterpart, Ashtoreth. The people of Israel were meant to look at these idols to bring fertility to Israel. God hates idolatry so He inspired Elijah to go speak to Ahab the king. Elijah came to Ahab and declared that there would be no rain or dew in Israel for some years. In other words, heaven shall be shut against Israel such that there would be no rain or dew for several years. That is to say that famine will cover the land. Then the Lord commanded Elijah to go to the brook Cherith near Jordan and he shall drink of the brook and the ravens shall supernaturally feed him. What is God saying here?

· I will provide for you no matter the situation in the land.

· Even if there is a downturn in the economy, I have you covered.

· The job situation is going to be bad but I will take care of your needs.

· People shall lose their jobs and businesses shall close down but I got your back.

So Elijah has to go where God commanded him to go which is the will of God so that the ravens shall feed him and the brook shall supply him water. God must have been saying to him - "Elijah when others are shouting...there's a casting down, you will be singing...there is a lifting up". But you must obey me and be in my will.

Child of God you need to be in the will of God because when you are outside His will you miss the ravens!

Then verse 7 said that because there was no rain in the land, the brook dried up.

And the brook dried up!

Just because God has provided you a job today does not mean you cannot lose your job tomorrow. Sometimes, things dry up...

What brook has dried up in your life today even after God's promises and instructions. You see it does not mean that the promise of God must come to pass without hitches. Most times we are bound to pass through a wilderness before the Promised Land.

And the brook dried up..!

Don't ever allow anybody to deceive you and say...

· Serve the Lord and things won't dry up

· Serve the Lord and your bank account won't get overdrawn

· Serve the Lord and you won't have issues with your spouse

Don't allow anyone to deceive you by saying that if you're in God's will that things will never dry up. However, in the midst of the dried up brook, verse 8 says that the word of the Lord came to Elijah telling him where to go to the second time. Child of God, when the brook dries up watch out for God's plan B! Elijah would have doubted and struggled with God saying "...Lord were you not the person that asked me to come here in the first place with all promises of divine and supernatural provisions; how come the brook has to dry up?". But I can feel in my spirit that Elijah must have perceived that God was up to something. You need the power of perception. You need to trust God, perceive, and see in your spirit the positive thing that God plans to do when you hear His voice. The power of perception is very important in believing and carrying out God's instructions.

Let me talk a bit about perception. Perception and faith always work together. If you can perceive anything, you can conceive it and if you can conceive it, you can receive it. You cannot conceive what you do not perceive and this is the reason people do not receive what they ought to receive because they do not perceive it. Remember the Shunammite woman in 2 Kings 4:9, she told her husband '...I perceive that this is an holy man of God, which passeth by us continually'. Her perception led to her sowing into the life of the man of God and she eventually conceived and had a son.

Elijah had an important destiny matter ahead of him without his knowledge but I'm sure he perceived that God was up to something. He never knew that destiny was calling. He was about to experience the miracle of multiplication and raising the death in his ministry. All he needed was to take a decision in obedience to God's instruction THE BRIDGE BETWEEN YOUR DESTINY AND DISAPPOINTMENT IS IN YOUR NEXT DECISION. Always be ready and prepared for God's next move at the drying of any brook. You don't have to sit at a place brooding over what has gone wrong; brooding over the fact that the brook has dried even after God's promises. Even if you had made a mistake and the brook dried, get over it because God will give you another direction to fulfill all His promises. You must turn away from those things which are behind. Remember you can decide to stay back and mourn or even argue with God and yourself over what is not working, what did not work or what should have been working.

When God allows things to dry up in your life it is because He's moving you to another provision to fulfill His promise in your life. Child of God, learn to obey God rather than question Him because He is your source. When He lets the brook dry up, it is because He has another plan for you.

You must be sensitive enough to hear God's direction and leading. You got to be in God's will. Elijah was in God's will even though in a dried up situation. The Bible says he heard the word of the Lord. He had every reason to doubt God because to me this second instruction appears to be more unconvincing that the first one.

· First of all Zarephath was an idolatry community; the baal belt at that time. Just as Dallas is the Bible belt, Zarepheth was the baal belt.

· Secondly Elijah was commanded to go to a widow. Widows were the poorest class of people in Israel at that time.

But he obeyed God and the rest is story. He experienced the miracle of multiplication and even raised the dead son of the widow.

What has dried up in your life today after God's promises. Remain calm and sensitive to His voice because God still has a plan for you.