How are we to interpret this hiding of Elijah by the brook Cherith? All the glory to the Lord! Onum is a values-driven SEO agency dedicated. He raised a boy from the dead and called down fire from heaven. As we accomplish one thing from the Lord we neither give ourselves to idleness as if there is nothing more to do, nor do we give ourselves over to despair wondering how we will do what comes next for as we step out in faith we know we will find that God has prepared a stepping stone, and another each appearing as we come to it. There was a brook for water, and at His command even the ravens helped provide for Elijahs needs. ). Emma enjoys singing/songwriting, fitness classes, trying new recipes, home makeover shows, and drinking tea! "Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, 'Get away from here and turn eastward, and hide by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. My God sees things that I do not see from my narrow point of view. In verse 7, the brook dried up because there was no rain. 'One step forward in obedience is worth years of study about it.' See His unmatchable grace in that though He withdraws His Word from a people for a season yet He protects that Word and its servants for future ministry. Did his songs of worship grower weaker as the water rolled less noisily across the rocky bed? Maybe you are in the middle of your desert, wondering why you are there? After Solomon's death there was a split in the Kingdom; Jeroboam was the King in the northern kingdom of Israel and he set up alternate places of worship because he was afraid of his people going down to Jerusalem to worship. During his exile, Elijah drank from the brook in the ravine, and the ravens brought him bread and meat every morning and evening. This is the key to Elijahs experience and life. He stayed by the Kerith brook until God moved him on Then, surprise! No doubt in time it would work to his safety as we just noted, but there is no hint that Ahab was immediately seeking to deal with Elijah. (Luke 4:25 NLT) Ahab and Jezebel were the most wicked and evil rulers Israel had ever known. Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown, among others, take a different approach. I wondered why the Lord would not bring me a husband. God knows where Elijah is going. 9 Christians You Don't Want to Sit Beside on Sunday Morning, 7 Ways Anxiety Dominates the Christian Mind, 7 Tests to See if Your Worship Is Truly Christian or Pagan. God values us just the same. The name Cherith belongs to a brook east of Jerusalem and is only mentioned in 1 Kings 17:3-5, as the place where YHWH sent Elijah to camp out, whilst being fed by ravens. When you think about your life as a Christian, has God ever failed to meet your needs? Why would God provide for Elijah in this way? "And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith" (1 Kings 17:2,3). And God loves you far more than these things! He never sent out flyers presenting his needs. 'How Great Thou Art' By Carrie Underwood with Vince Gill, Jesus on Adultery: Its More Controversial Than You Think, 'You Raise Me Up' Duet Earns A Standing Ovation From The Judges, 10 Things Your Husband Wishes You Would Say to Him, 30 Morning Prayers to Start Each Day with God, 3 Bad Church Approaches to Good Money Stewardship, 5 Critical Rules to Teach Your Kids to Help Them Stay Safe, 4 Things You Should Know about Jesus Revolution, This site is a proud member of the Salem Web Network, a subsidiary of, Copyright 2023, Crosswalk.com. He went to the Kerith ravine, east of the Jordan, and stayed there. There would be none here for Elijah to be tempted to parade himself before. Elijah's moral character is just as remarkable as his character as a witness. The Lord provides Elijah with a brook named Cherith, that keeps flowing and sends birds (ravens) that fly down to bring him meat each morning and evening. Those dark shadows on the horizon may well be Gods ravens. In other words he was to return home, but not to the comforts of home for he is told to, The first thing we notice here is that this was not Elijahs idea, it was the Lords doing. Did Jesus know from the outset that He was the Son of God or did Mary tell Him? Gods purpose throughout all of time has been to redeem for Himself a people that are His very own. It will want to be where you are and will desire to be doing what you are doing. As such he was not yet right for the Lords service. His prophecy was that there would be no rain for 3 1/2 years, and there would not be any dew either - unless he said so. So he came and knocked on the door and asked 'do you need any milk because by the time it takes me to get my wheel fixed all the milk that I have is going to go off'. That a word came from God to move on to a more public location to exercise his ministry indicated that he had passed these lessons learnt in the private place. Do you know what the first thing Jesus said to them was? The fact is that God leads His servants one step at a time. Having passed one grade in the school of faith, it was now time for the next. But now without any alteration in his obedience or trust, the blessing of water was gone. Think about that for a moment. This view merits the preference as the simplest and most natural one, and is shown to be the oldest by Luke 4:25 and James 5:17, where Christ and James both say, that in the time of Ahab it did not rain for three years and six months. Elijah, having prophesied against Ahab, 3. is sent to Cherith where the ravens feed him. This brook was not far from where he lived. If Elijah had yielded to such things his faith wouldve also dried up, and his confidence wouldve disappeared like the brook. Its OK to be sad, but the sooner we get up and get moving, the sooner He can show us our next assignment. We think we need a GPS system which would tell us the quickest way to get where we want to be but God doesn't actually give that to us. It is a declaration that he is working our His eternal purposes, who does all things according to the counsel of His will (Eph 1:11) and who works all things together for good to those who love God, who are called according to His purpose (Rom 8:28). But birds carrying food wouldve aroused no interest. In 1 Kings 17, Elijah told King Ahab that the Lord was sending a drought. COMPASSION, COMPASSION INTERNATIONAL, COMPASSION EXPLORER and the Compassion logo (and elements thereof) are registered trademarks of Compassion International, Inc. 5 Reasons Why Children Are the Heart of Compassion, Watch: A Compassion Storytellers 4 Favorite Videos, Sponsors Share Their Best Letter Writing Tips, Before and After Safe Water: 20 Powerful Photos, How to Get to Know Your Sponsored Childs Family, Thank you, Samantha. When we are living in Gods revealed will remember secondly that this, 2. By clicking Accept all cookies, you agree Stack Exchange can store cookies on your device and disclose information in accordance with our Cookie Policy. So when God sent Elijah to Cherith, it was as though God sent him through a time machine, back to an era filled with these stories, and the saints of old such as Miriam, Aaron, Moses, Caleb and . But God says Hide! Our natural response to this direction would have been to say. Even in the letters to the 7 churches of Revelation this warning is given, a warning we do well to take seriously as a church (cf 2:5)! Additionally, the root word of Cherith is a verb and it means to cut off and eliminate. God's faithfulness and human . How did Peter recognize Elijah and Moses? We can. This caused idolatry to come into the land because the people worshipped these and were led astray. Though the water of the brook failed, God's care was not exhausted. The knot in his stomach tightened even more. He just watches me intently and I cannot get into the car without his beady eyes on me! So many times, I find myself anxious about the unknowns of this earth. Elijah had to have known that in order for him to survive, the ravens also had to survive. The Brook that Dried Up. How do we build on it. It doesnt do much good to complain when God dries up our brook. Elijah was a Prophet. He realised that there was actually too much of self in what they had just been doing. How many stalls for horses and chariots did Solomon have? The Lord values the ravens, but how much more did He value Elijah? However, before long Jezebel tried to wipe out Yahweh's name from the land. Jesus was the same. That which had driven him to hunt Christians, now drove him to serve Christ. God had his reasons for isolating David and for isolating Moses and Joseph. Elijah is kept safe by the brook Cherith, until it dries up. All rights reserved. Wendy couldn't understand why God would bring her provision in that way and then allow it to be gone. These are the testings of life that purify and build as they teach us to trust in the Lord and . Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. Take heart. Like Elijah, Abraham "stood yet before the Lord" ( Gen. 18:22 ). That is what a 'Cherith' is. He would have been high on adrenalin and on grace. do koalas have poisonous claws. (ii) the right perspective he waited, which evidences a deep sense of humility and dependence upon God. Did his hopes diminish also? As we leave this passage are we not lifted up in our vision to see the glory of the God we are called to trust? The first one is in verse 5 - it is actually obedience to three simple words. Scripture does not tell us how long Elijah and the ravens remained at the Kerith brook. Now Elijah, who was from Tishbe in Gilead, told King Ahab, As surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, livesthe God I servethere will be no dew or rain during the next few years until I give the word! (1 Kings 17:1 NLT), Later on, IN THE THIRD YEAR of the drought, the LORD said to Elijah, Go and present yourself to King Ahab. We ought not be surprised if our Father says, You have had enough of this hurry, publicity and excitement. Elijah could have thought that perhaps he should try to find a better place but this would have been a case of him trying to help God out in his own wisdom. What we see in Elijah is that even though he didnt know what was going to happen next. Remember that being in the centre of Gods will is not always made known by the flow of circumstances, that sometimes He removes blessings or changes circumstances even though we are being obedient to His revealed will. Such is the scale of the devastation of the drought that even this brook dries up. One of her greatest joys is to journey with the Lord in His Scriptures. We respond to God out of relationship. As long as I am still breathing. Dont throw in the towel but wait on the Lord. Remember Saul as he talked with the Lord Jesus on the road to Damascus? Etiam porttitor finibus. It also teaches us that life is not meaningless, there is always more to do. We need to capitalise on this great start! He had an amazing man of the Lord for me at His perfect timing. God, however, chose a bunch of ravens for the job, thereby dispelling rational theories.. You were comfortable. is proficient good on indeed assessment is proficient good on indeed assessment. What was God doing? Now Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, "As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word." And the w How did John the Baptist have the "spirit and power of Elijah"? He leads staff development training primarily in Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines. Michael lives in Chiang Mai, Thailand and is our Learning & Support Director for Southeast Asia. God always speaks when it is needed, not beforehand. Menu. (Our) Present Help, and Redeemer. So we see Elijah secreting himself away in territory familiar to him, but clearly one in which he would be hard to find. Cherith, Kerith (Hebrew: Naal Kr), or sometimes Chorath (/ k r /; from the Septuagint's Greek: cheimrrhous Chorrhth), is the name of a wadi, or intermittent seasonal stream mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. Thus, if he lived at Cherith for some months, and this time is added to the 2+ years he lived in Zarephath, the time mentioned by Jesus and James (3 years, 6 months) is not necessarily contradictory to the 1 Kings account. I had been faithful to Him and loved Him, but I was in a Cherith. In this God was teaching Elijah to trust Him contrary to sight. By this method God makes us dependent upon Him rather than upon ourselves. Is email scraping still a thing for spammers. There! If we have too much of the world in our lives we will be put into a position where we have to be cut off from things that control us. When our brook seems to dry and we are tempted to cry out Lord what happened? let us understand that God is developing us through trials; and let us understand that God is able to meet our needs even when we lose the current means He has been using and blessing us with. He was faithful though the circumstance was not ideal from a human perspective. Instantly the word of the Lord came to him and he was told to flee to Cherith and hide there. What is the best way to deprotonate a methyl group? A dried up brook was a result of Elijah's own prayer. See His unsearchable wisdom in that if humans delivered food they may have divulged the hiding place, if dogs, morning and night, someone might have seen this curiosity and followed. (iii) trust God contrary to sight he waited. Acceptable comments policy for Christianity Stack Exchange. It is the same for you though hard times will come. He is sent to the widow of Zarephath 17. Introducing Your Children to Poverty: When Should You Start? So God's provision came in two ways to Elijah; there was the natural provision in that there was a brook from which he obtained the water he needed to survive. But you also see this other principle here of a brook that is drying up and he doesn't move because it is part of what God is doing with his character. He was living in the centre of Gods revealed will. Elijah was sent to the Brook of Separation and was called to live as one cut off from all he knew. CHERITH, THE BROOK. He then got converted and felt God's leading to start orphanages in England during the 1800's. Because this is a short lesson, there is time for reviewing all of the books of the Old Testament that the students are learning so far. These birds that I once considered pretty ugly, I now delight in the thought of how the Lord takes care of them and of me. But it's not acting out of fear. III. There is hope in Jesus. I see another principle here in scripture - sometimes God tells you ahead of time what is going to happen. Elijah represents any of . How easy in such times our joy quickly turns to sadness! It is not a declaration that He has forgotten His promise to all His people in Lam 3:22-23 that His loving-kindness will not fail, that they are new every morning. He just committed everything to God. I read about George Mueller during the week and I thought this man is unbelievable. Though they will look they will not be able to find him. God has prepared a place for Elijah. from your pastor, priest, or other trustworthy counselor, We've added a "Necessary cookies only" option to the cookie consent popup. Orphanages in England during the week and I thought this man is unbelievable boy from the and... And evil rulers Israel had ever known, having prophesied against Ahab, 3. is to. And stayed there will not be able to find him for water, Brown! 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