1 Kings 17:4 And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there.The word of the Lord came to Elijah and said, go to the brook of Cherith. I will feed you and give you water there.
Elijah heard a fresh word from God because his life was in danger since he prayed and prophesied against the Baal gods of Ahab and Jezebel. God led Elijah away from his familiar place in the Gilead Mountains. I have been in this very place of the home dwellings of Elijah. It had been a very beautiful place and is still to this day.
Elijah must have been overjoyed to know that God will give him water and food in his new secret hiding place. Then the brook dried up! God was offering Elijah not only an extended period of rest from his labors, but a precious opportunity to deepen his closeness to Himself. Now God brought Elijah to a dry place with nobody to lead.
He was a prophet and a preacher with nobody to preach to anymore. Elijah was led into the depths of speechlessness.It becomes a crisis to continue to seek God with great courage when we are led to a place where our future becomes blurred and uncertain. In this valley of impossibilities we find ourselves without a clear goal or purpose. It is a temptation nearly unbearable to be able to abide for considerable periods of time in God’s presence in these places of testing.
Here we find few companions except those who put fears and terrors into us. Amid all the distractions, this place offers many obstacles that can easily turn our heads into directions where God does not lead us. To stay balanced in such a state is extreme and very difficult.
God slowed Elijah’s life to halt. From the lavish court of King Ahab to a dried up brook is quite a contrast. To go from a spiritual pinnacle of being the very mouthpiece of Almighty God to a hiding place in a crevice of the earth can be completely demoralizing— if it’s not understood. Especially so, after God led him here and promised water at Cherith and then it dried up!Many have come to similar places because of sin or disobedience. The stark difference here is that Elijah was led here because of his obedience. It was a place of transcendence in the eyes of God yet seemingly going in the entire opposite direction in the eyes of man.
Here we find the man who “stands before God” standing before everything except that which seemed to be God.
In Job’s story, it is in this same place where Job’s friends came to visit and gave much advice to shine light on the circumstances at hand. It is in this place that God’s men have nothing to say and men of misunderstanding have everything to say.
I also saw the wadi in Jordan where Elijah visited. There is nothing here at all to this very day.
It was thirst that led Elijah to the next place where God wanted him. Thirst of the very thing he prophesied. Thirst of the very thing he believed.
There seems to be a spiritual law that when earthly doors are barred to us, the gates of heaven will swing open. Let’s notice the condition of Israel at this very time. The prophets of Baal were still in full array.
How many times have you experienced this thirst not knowing what it was at the time? It is often God leading you into His purposes. This place of thirst is often proven to be Almighty God.
It is this righteousness in God that the spiritual man thirsts after. Thirst is the path where the hand of Almighty God can hold our hand and lead us to where He wants us to go.
Elijah was led to defeat the Baal prophets on Mt. Carmel. He completely prevailed and silenced the voices and the noises with barrels of water over his own altar before God in a 3-1/2 year drought. It happened on top of a mountain where there was no water to be found! It is only this kind of thirst that finds the water and power to prevail on mountain tops. Hallelujah!!!
Matthew 5:6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
Isaiah 51:1 Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged.
