This week, we have been talking about trust and facing tests that challenge our trust. Today, we will look at one more story where a mother is asked to express trust when hope is gone and trust seems impossible.
1 Kings 17
8 Then the Lord said to Elijah,
9 “Go and live in the village of Zarephath, near the city of Sidon. I have instructed a widow there to feed you.”
10 So he went to Zarephath. As he arrived at the gates of the village, he saw a widow gathering sticks, and he asked her, “Would you please bring me a little water in a cup?”
11 As she was going to get it, he called to her, “Bring me a bite of bread, too.”
12 But she said, “I swear by the Lord your God that I don’t have a single piece of bread in the house. And I have only a handful of flour left in the jar and a little cooking oil in the bottom of the jug. I was just gathering a few sticks to cook this last meal, and then my son and I will die.”
13 But Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid! Go ahead and do just what you’ve said, but make a little bread for me first. Then use what’s left to prepare a meal for yourself and your son.
14 For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: There will always be flour and olive oil left in your containers until the time when the Lord sends rain and the crops grow again!”
15 So she did as Elijah said, and she and Elijah and her son continued to eat for many days.
16 There was always enough flour and olive oil left in the containers, just as the Lord had promised through Elijah.
First. When reading stories like this, it is easy for me to blow past the weight of the moment for the individual involved and move right to the conclusion. I hope you won’t do that with this story. Please take a moment and drink in the depth of the story. This woman was preparing to die. She had lost sight of hope. The thing that amazes me is that even in that moment of despair ... God doesn’t give, He asks. God has the audacity to ask this woman that has nothing, for something ... her trust. God was asking her to express her trust by putting His interests before her own. In other words, He was asking her to put Him first. Is there any area of your life where you have placed your interests before God ... in a relationship, with your finances, in your plans for the future, on your job? In other words, is there an area of your life where God isn’t first?
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Did
This week, we are talking about trusting God when it comes to facing a test. Today, we are going to look at some strange instructions God gave to Elijah. Elijah was God’s chosen “press secretary” during the reign of one of the worst kings in the history of Israel ... Ahab (check out 1 Kings 16:29-33). They both lived over 850 years before Jesus’ birth.
1 Kings 17
1 Now Elijah, who was from Tishbe in Gilead, told King Ahab, “As surely as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives - the God I serve - there will be no dew or rain during the next few years until I give the word!”
2 Then the Lord said to Elijah,
3 “Go to the east and hide by Kerith Brook, near where it enters the Jordan River.
4 Drink from the brook and eat what the ravens bring you, for I have commanded them to bring you food.”
5 So Elijah did as the Lord told him and camped beside Kerith Brook, east of the Jordan.
6 The ravens brought him bread and meat each morning and evening, and he drank from the brook.
7 But after a while the brook dried up, for there was no rainfall anywhere in the land.
Did. In reading this short passage, I was challenged by a phrase, “the God I serve”, that led to a word ... “did”. It is easy to say we follow God or we serve God or we love God. It isn’t as easy to follow what God says or give up our time to serve or love others. It is easy to say we follow God when it comes to receiving God’s grace and forgiveness. It isn’t as easy to follow God when it comes to being gracious and extending forgiveness to others (especially the really annoying and hurtful ones). It is even easier to say we follow God when it comes to dealing with difficult people ... compared to following God when he starts messing with our finances and our relationships. The test for Elijah was whether or not he would follow God (trust God) when He asked him to do something “crazy” like be fed by ravens. The test for us is whether or not we will follow God when He asks us to do something “crazy” like forgive someone that has hurt us or love someone that isn’t nice to us or be generous with our resources or maintaining purity in our relationships.
1 Kings 17
1 Now Elijah, who was from Tishbe in Gilead, told King Ahab, “As surely as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives - the God I serve - there will be no dew or rain during the next few years until I give the word!”
2 Then the Lord said to Elijah,
3 “Go to the east and hide by Kerith Brook, near where it enters the Jordan River.
4 Drink from the brook and eat what the ravens bring you, for I have commanded them to bring you food.”
5 So Elijah did as the Lord told him and camped beside Kerith Brook, east of the Jordan.
6 The ravens brought him bread and meat each morning and evening, and he drank from the brook.
7 But after a while the brook dried up, for there was no rainfall anywhere in the land.
Did. In reading this short passage, I was challenged by a phrase, “the God I serve”, that led to a word ... “did”. It is easy to say we follow God or we serve God or we love God. It isn’t as easy to follow what God says or give up our time to serve or love others. It is easy to say we follow God when it comes to receiving God’s grace and forgiveness. It isn’t as easy to follow God when it comes to being gracious and extending forgiveness to others (especially the really annoying and hurtful ones). It is even easier to say we follow God when it comes to dealing with difficult people ... compared to following God when he starts messing with our finances and our relationships. The test for Elijah was whether or not he would follow God (trust God) when He asked him to do something “crazy” like be fed by ravens. The test for us is whether or not we will follow God when He asks us to do something “crazy” like forgive someone that has hurt us or love someone that isn’t nice to us or be generous with our resources or maintaining purity in our relationships.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Have
This past weekend, we continued our series, “Never Waste A Crisis” by talking about the fact that we all face tests in life. Most of the important ones revolve around a common question ... “Do we trust God or don’t we?” Over the next couple of days, we will revisit three passages (and three tests) that Jonathan discussed in the weekend message. On Friday, we will receive a helpful resource for future tests.
This first passage is a familiar scene in the life of Jesus; but an important test in the life of one of his disciples ... Philip.
John 6
1 After this, Jesus crossed over to the far side of the Sea of Galilee, also known as the Sea of Tiberias.
2 A huge crowd kept following him wherever he went, because they saw his miraculous signs as he healed the sick.
3 Then Jesus climbed a hill and sat down with his disciples around him.
4 (It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover celebration.)
5 Jesus soon saw a huge crowd of people coming to look for him. Turning to Philip, he asked, “Where can we buy bread to feed all these people?”
6 He was testing Philip, for he already knew what he was going to do.
7 Philip replied, “Even if we worked for months, we wouldn’t have enough money to feed them!”
8 Then Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up.
9 “There’s a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that with this huge crowd?”
10 “Tell everyone to sit down,” Jesus said. So they all sat down on the grassy slopes. (The men alone numbered about 5,000.)
11 Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks to God, and distributed them to the people. Afterward he did the same with the fish. And they all ate as much as they wanted.
12 After everyone was full, Jesus told his disciples, “Now gather the leftovers, so that nothing is wasted.”
13 So they picked up the pieces and filled twelve baskets with scraps left by the people who had eaten from the five barley loaves.
Have. It isn’t surprising that Jesus would ask Philip where they could get something to eat, he was from a nearby town (check out John 1:44). It also isn’t surprising that Philip would focus on what they didn’t have and conclude that the situation was impossible, we all have a tendency to do that when we are faced with a crisis. Jesus was trying to teach Philip (and is continually trying to teach me) to focus on what he did have when faced with a crisis ... God.
This first passage is a familiar scene in the life of Jesus; but an important test in the life of one of his disciples ... Philip.
John 6
1 After this, Jesus crossed over to the far side of the Sea of Galilee, also known as the Sea of Tiberias.
2 A huge crowd kept following him wherever he went, because they saw his miraculous signs as he healed the sick.
3 Then Jesus climbed a hill and sat down with his disciples around him.
4 (It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover celebration.)
5 Jesus soon saw a huge crowd of people coming to look for him. Turning to Philip, he asked, “Where can we buy bread to feed all these people?”
6 He was testing Philip, for he already knew what he was going to do.
7 Philip replied, “Even if we worked for months, we wouldn’t have enough money to feed them!”
8 Then Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up.
9 “There’s a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that with this huge crowd?”
10 “Tell everyone to sit down,” Jesus said. So they all sat down on the grassy slopes. (The men alone numbered about 5,000.)
11 Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks to God, and distributed them to the people. Afterward he did the same with the fish. And they all ate as much as they wanted.
12 After everyone was full, Jesus told his disciples, “Now gather the leftovers, so that nothing is wasted.”
13 So they picked up the pieces and filled twelve baskets with scraps left by the people who had eaten from the five barley loaves.
Have. It isn’t surprising that Jesus would ask Philip where they could get something to eat, he was from a nearby town (check out John 1:44). It also isn’t surprising that Philip would focus on what they didn’t have and conclude that the situation was impossible, we all have a tendency to do that when we are faced with a crisis. Jesus was trying to teach Philip (and is continually trying to teach me) to focus on what he did have when faced with a crisis ... God.
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