If you listen to some preachers you would think, "If I obey, EVERYTHING is going to go my way." That is simply not biblical. Pastor has been preaching on Elijah on Wednesday evenings. One Wednesday evening he taught on the brook Cherith and Elijah's obedience. Elijah was doing right. He was a great prophet of God, but his life was certainly not a life of ease. In I Kings 17 we find him next to a brook that is slowly drying up. He is being fed by ravens. He was ALONE. All this because he was doing right. Where was the easy life in this chapter after all the brook was slowly drying up! We see God's daily provision for His child when the Bible tells us the ravens brought him food morning and evening. What amazes me in this chapter is what I find in verse 9 (God is speaking) "Arise, get thee to Zarephath..." In verse 7 it tells us the brook had dried up already and yet the amazing thing isn't in what Elijah did it is what he did NOT do. He stayed put. God told him to "Arise". In other words, Elijah was staying put until he was told to move. Last Thanksgiving we had a few elderly saints come to our house for brunch. Our first guests were just arriving when the fire alarm went off. I want you to imagine a 50 year old woman with a tea towel appearing as if she were having a seizure while standing under the smoke detector - that would have been me :-). I did not even take a moment to pray I just went to seizure mode! Must DO something! I was able to chuckle about it .. once I was able to close windows :-) God wants us to look to Him when the "brooks dry up" in our lives. Be still. I don't have to scheme; I need to trust. Exodus 14:13 "And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever." I would have never been reminded of this had I not gone to our mid-week prayer meeting. I encourage you to not forsake the assembling of yourselves... Obey but obedience doesn't equal ease; however, God will sustain.
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