Cherith the Hard Times! 1 Kings 17, Part 1

We all know how the story of Elijah ends. The image of a man riding to heaven in a chariot of fire, his protege watching from below. We also remember the battle on Mt. Caramel between Elijah and the prophets of Baal. But do we remember how this story begins, and more importantly what we can learn from it? 1 Kings 17 is where we first hear about Elijah. As I walk through the story of Elijah, I want you to pay attention to the names of each place that Elijah resides.

Elijah was a settler from Gilead. Gilead means "place of blessing and opportunity". He came from this land of plenty into Israel to proclaim a coming drought. God tells Elijah to go and live by the brook Cherith. Cherith means "place of want, destruction or failure". What?!?! THAT'S where God wants him to go? Yet, Cherith is where God promised to provide for Elijah. 1 Kings 17:4-"It shall be that you shall drink of the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to provide for you there." I have two observations here. 1. God has absolute authority over nature. He can tell birds where to fly and when to fly there. 2. God's provision for Elijah was waiting at the place where God had commanded him to go. When God commands us to go somewhere-even it is a place of want, destruction and failure-He has given us all we need to do it.

Well, of course, the brook Cherith dries up. So now where would God have Elijah go? Zarephath, which means "trail by fire". Even better!! 1 Kings 17:9-"Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there; I have commanded a widow there to provide for you." I have two observations here as well. 1. Same as before, God provision is waiting for Elijah where God has sent him. 2. I have to wonder if this widow knew she was being used by God to provide for Elijah. It says that God "commanded" her to provide, but did she know that she was being directed and willed by sovereign Yahweh to be the salvation of this man, Elijah? I believe she did not. I believe she was just going about her life, assuming that she was making some choices from her own will. Why do I think this?

In verse 12, the widow protests Elijah's request for bread and water. She and her son were resigned to starvation and death. They fully expected to soon be dead and Elijah showing up was a surprise to them. A few verses later, when the widow's son dies, she believed it was a result of her sin. She had no idea of the plan she was a part of or that everything she was doing was for the glory of God, but she most certainly was. And here in Zeraphath, God provided a unending supply of flour and oil for them to live on and brought her son back from the dead!

So God led Elijah from a place of blessing and opportunity to a place of want, destruction and failure. From there, Elijah was sent into a trial by fire. But in each of these difficult places, Elijah was provided for. Even more amazing, in each of these places Elijah was able to experience the miraculous had of God! At Cherith, God provided birds for food. At Zeraphath, God first provided the flour and oil needed to make bread, then He raised the widow's son from the dead through Elijah. I believe all of this was preparation for Elijah's upcoming confrontation with the prophets of Baal. I also believe that this is a story that we can apply to our lives as well.

When God leads us somewhere, he WILL provide for us. Yet it is important to realize, that as with Elijah, often God promises to provide for us when we get to where we are going. Moreover, where God is leading us doesn't always seem pleasant. But in all of it, God is preparing us for something; He is making us into something. Every part of our Christian life is meant to make us more like Jesus, especially the struggles. Everything we face is also preparing us...preparing us for battle with Satan and preparing us for the glorification of Jesus.

Part 2 coming soon, we will look at how well Elijah responded to adversity after receiving all of this preparation. Hint: he didn't do very well...

"We are the World"- Theology, Charity and Michael Jackson

I knew that the star-filled 1985 classic "We are the World" was being remade this year to help raise funds for Haiti, but I didn't have much interest in watching it. But then I began to see many of my friends express disappointment in this new version. I decided to check it out. I must say, I definitely agree with my friends, this was a poor remake at best.
But more than the quality of the singers, more than the overwhelming self-servingness of it all, I found myself pondering the theological aspects of this song. Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie wrote "We are the World" over the course of a few hours and were able to put the group of celebrities together within days. The purpose of the song was to raise money for Africa. One line stuck out to me. "As God has shown us by turing stone to bread so we all must lend a helping hand."
There is a fundamental problem with this, God didn't turn the stone into bread! The reference comes from Matthew 4, just after Jesus was baptized. Not only did Jesus not give in to this temptation from Satan, He rebuked humanity's reliance on bread for our sustenance. We are to depend on God's word more than we depend on food.
This all made me start thinking about Haiti. Recently, a Haitian witch doctor complained that American missionaries were sharing Jesus with the people instead of just giving food and shelter. This man showed the same misunderstanding of scripture as Michael Jackson did while writing "We are the World". God is not only about taking care of His creation's physical needs. We see an example of this in John 5:1-15.
Jesus had just healed a lame man and then left. Jesus later found the man in the Temple and said, "Behold, you have become well; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse happens to you." What did he mean by that? What could be worse than being lame for 38 years? Was it possible that this man could lose the healing that Jesus had given him? I believe Jesus is talking about the man's spiritual condition, not his physical ailment. Hell is worse than being lame for 38 years.
So how does this apply to Christian charity? Are we to give to the poor? Are we to go to places like Haiti and serve the suffering? YES!!! But we cannot ignore the spiritual needs of the people we serve. I believe that being charitable without being evangelistic is worse than not being charitable in the first place. If we tend to someone's physical needs, but ignore the spiritual, we make Christianity nothing more than another secular aid organization. Yes we must meet physical needs, James tells us that in James 1:27, but we must also seek to meet spiritual needs. Instead of just giving people bread to keep them alive, let's also give them the Bread of Life.

My first post!

Well, I'm giving in a starting a blog. This won't be anything groundbreaking, but if you care to know what I think about things, this will be the place to find out. I will comment on some current events, on theological issues and on other things that just pop into my head. I hope not to bore you, but to encourage, challenge and entertain. Please comment when you have something to say, as that will keep me honest with any claims I make, and will help me know how to improve my blogging abilites. I look forward to what we all will learn as I share my thoughts with the world!