Who Controls the Rain?
Trusting God to provide.
CONTEXT:
Elijah was a prophet to Isreal during a very difficult time in the Nations history.
Roughly 870 BC.
They were doing evil against God by erecting idols and worshipping other Gods.
There were 6 bad Kings over Isreal in 1 Kings: Jeroboam, Nadal, Baasha, Elah, Zimri, Omri.
And then there was Ahab
1 Kings 16:30-31
30 And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD, more than all who were before
him. 31 And as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of
Nebat, he took for his wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went and
served Baal and worshiped him.
1 Kings 16:33
And Ahab made an Asherah (wooden poles, images, or trees associated with pagan worship). Ahab did more to provoke the
LORD, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.
Elijah was tasked by God to call the children of Isreal back to him.
Baal Worship practices:
“Child sacrifice, Sexual immorality (both heterosexual and homosexual) and Pantheism
(reverence of creation over the Creator)
When Elijah burst onto the scene he brings judgement.
1 Kings 17:1
17 And Elijah the Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord God of Israel
lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word.”
God then told Elijah to flee and hide.
God tested Elijah
1 Kings 17:2-3
2 Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, 3 “Get away from here and turn eastward,
and hide by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan.
1 Kings 17:4-6
4 And it will be that you shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed
you there.” 5 So he went and did according to the word of the Lord, for he went and stayed by
the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. 6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in
the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the brook.
The Widow provides for Elijah
1 Kings 17:8-15
8 Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, 9 “Arise, go to Zarephath,
which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for
you.” 10 So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, indeed
a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, “Please bring me a little
water in a cup, that I may drink.” 11 And as she was going to get it, he called to her and said,
“Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.”
12 So she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I do not have bread, only a handful of flour in a
bin, and a little oil in a jar; and see, I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and
prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.”
13 And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake
from it first, and bring it to me; and afterward make some for yourself and your son. 14 For thus
says the Lord God of Israel: ‘The bin of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil run dry,
until the day the Lord sends rain on the earth.’ ”
15 So she went away and did according to the word of Elijah; and she and he and her
household ate for many days. 16 The bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry,
according to the word of the Lord which He spoke by Elijah.
Elijah Revives the Widow’s Son
17 Now it happened after these things that the son of the woman who owned the house
became sick. And his sickness was so serious that there was no breath left in him. 18 So she
said to Elijah, “What have I to do with you, O man of God? Have you come to me to bring my
sin to remembrance, and to kill my son?”
19 And he said to her, “Give me your son.” So he took him out of her arms and carried him to
the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his own bed. 20 Then he cried out to
the Lord and said, “O Lord my God, have You also brought tragedy on the widow with whom I
lodge, by killing her son?” 21 And he stretched himself out on the child three times, and cried
out to the Lord and said, “O Lord my God, I pray, let this child’s soul come back to
him.” 22 Then the Lord heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came back to him,
and he revived.
23 And Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper room into the house, and
gave him to his mother. And Elijah said, “See, your son lives!”
24 Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now by this I know that you are a man of God, and that the
word of the Lord in your mouth is the truth.”
Why did God tell this story and why did God take Elijah through all this?
The reason why is because the Israelites were serving Ba’al who they believed controlled the
rain!
In an Agricultural society that = money and prosperity.
1 Kings 18:21
21 And Elijah came near to all the people and said, “How long will you go limping between two
different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal (is god), then follow him.”
1 Kings 18:37-40 (Paraphrased)
Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering the wood the stones the dust,
and licked up the water
They saw it, they fell on their faces and said, “The Lord, he is God; the Lord, he is God.”
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