June 30, 2025 • 28 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey, everybody, welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. We are
so glad you're joining us today as we kick off
a new inspiring series when You're hoping for a miracle. Now,
in this series, Pastor Rick is going to guide us
right through God's word, showing us how to strengthen our
faith and how.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
To live with greater love, peace.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Patience, and self control even when life feels hopeless. Now,
if you've been longing for a breakthrough, you will not
want to miss this. I can't wait to hear what
Rick will share today, So let's join him right now
for part one of a message called when you're running
out of everything.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
You don't know God is all you need until God
is all you've got. And that's why God often allows
a shortage of deficiency, a lack in your life. If
I would ask you what are you lacking today? You
might say, well, you know, I need more energy, I
need more money, I need more emotional support, I need
(01:04):
more creativity, I need more opportunity, I need a job.
All of those things that happen in your life happened
really for a reason. And today we're going to look
at what I call what do you do when you're
running out of everything. For the next several weeks, we're
going to look at the things that cause people to
feel hopeless. And today we're going to look at three
(01:26):
incidents in the life of a man named Elijah. Elijah
was about nine hundred years before Jesus Christ, and he
went through three experiences. They're all in First Kings, chapter
seventeen that teach us lessons on how God wants to
do miracles when there are things that are happening in
our lives that cause us to lack what we need. Now,
(01:48):
let me give you a little background of the story.
There were three kings in Israel that united the kingdom,
Saul and then David and then Solomon. But after that
the place fell apart and Israel was divided into two kingdoms,
a northern kingdom called Israel and a southern kingdom called Judah.
And in the northern kingdom, for the next sixty years,
(02:12):
they had a string of terrible leaders, nineteen different kings
in Northern Israel, and every one of them was a
rotten apple. They were terrible politically, terrible economically, and most important,
terrible spiritually. And then as you think that everything's falling apart.
(02:32):
You know, the government is now bankrupt and the nation
is in recession. And the Bible tells us that the
current king and queen were the worst of all of
the previous nineteen The worst king and queen in Israel's
history were named Ahab and Jezebel. You've heard of her,
(02:54):
probably Ahab and Jezebel. They were the worst king and
queen in all of israel history. And the reason why
they were so bad is not only were they terrible
leaders politically economically, but spiritually. They got rid of the
worship of God, and they brought in a false god,
a pagan god, an idol called Bail, and they established
(03:16):
Bail as.
Speaker 4 (03:17):
The official religion of Israel, the Jewish nation.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
So God sends Elijah as a spokesman, as a prophet
to go confront King Ahab, and Elijah says, to Ahab
and to Jezebel, because of your wickedness and because you've
led the nation to worship false gods, it's not going
to reign anymore in this country until I, the Prophet
(03:45):
of God, say so. Now, we later find out this
actually ended up being three and a half years, three
and a half years without reign in the nation of Israel,
which meant they were in terrible drought, terrible dryness, terrible famine.
But Elijah says, because of your sin, leader, the nation's
got to suffer for three and a half years. This
(04:07):
message did not sit well with Ahab. In fact, he
and his wife Jessebelt were furious. They were ticked, and
they put a price on Elijah's head. They said, we're
going to kill you, and they authorized bounty hunters and
assassins to find Elijah and kill him. The Bible says
(04:28):
in First Kings, chapter seventeen, they're on your outline. It's
in your program now. Elijah confronted King Ahab, as surely
as God lives, the God of Israel, whom I worship
and serve, there will be no do or reign until
the next few years, unless for the next during the
next few years, unless I give the word now, as
(04:52):
I said, the Bible says, everything in the country dried
up for three and a half years.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
Maybe you feel that way in your life.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
Maybe you feel like the you always ride up in
your life, your savings have dried up during this time
of spiritual and emotional and economic dryness. God did some
miracles for Elijah, and he taught some lessons to Elijah
that you and I need. God wants us to learn
the same things. So my question for you is, are
(05:22):
you ready for a miracle now? During this time of
dry period which maybe you're going through right now, God
took Elijah to three different places, and they represent three
different phases that you go through in your life. You'll
go through them over and over again. For the first
year of the three and a half years of drought,
God took Elijah to a place called car Eth, and
(05:45):
carre Eth was a place and a time of obscurity.
The Bible says this there on your outline, verse two
one King seventeen. Then the Lord said to Elijah, this
is after ay Habit said.
Speaker 4 (05:56):
I'm going to kill you.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Go east and hide in the Kerrieth Ravine, east of
the Jordan River. The Krrieth brook will give you fresh
water to drink, and I've commanded ravens to bring you
food there every day.
Speaker 4 (06:14):
That's unusual. So Elijah obeyed what the Lord said to do.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
He moved to the Kerrrieth ravine and he lived there
and the birds brought him food each morning and evening.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
And he drank from the brook.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
But after a while the brook dried up because there
was no rain. Now the first stop in Elijah's journey
of faith is the ravine, the Krrieth ravine.
Speaker 4 (06:42):
What is a ravine?
Speaker 3 (06:43):
A ravine is a natural rut. It is a narrow,
long gorge. The Grand Canyon started off as a ravine,
but it got bigger and bigger in a wide ravine,
it's called a canyon. Here's what a ravine looks like
here on the screen. It's it's long and it's narrow. Now,
how would you.
Speaker 4 (07:02):
Like to live there for a year? You wouldn't.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
A ravine is dark, it's narrow, it's cold, and it's lonely.
Some of you are in an emotional carrieth right now.
You're going through a time that seems dark and cold
and deep and lonely. Now, Elijah is an extrovert. He's
(07:27):
not used to being alone. And God says, I'm going
to put you in a ravine for a year. I
want you to hide there. Do you know what carreith
means in Hebrew? It means cut off. That's what it
means cut off. And Elijah is cut off from everything,
cut off from all of his friends, cut off from
social interaction, cut off from what's happening in the world.
(07:47):
He's cut off from the limelight, he's cut off from attention.
He is literally all by himself. What is going on here?
God takes an extrovert and makes him a hermit for
a year. What's happening here? God had great plans for Elijah.
This is at the very beginning of his ministry. And
God did incredible miracles through this guy, amazing things through
(08:09):
this guy in the years ahead. But first he said,
you need time alone with me. I need to narrow
your focus. You need to focus on me. You need
to develop your inner life. You need time alone with
me and nobody else. I want your undivided attention for
a year. So I'm going to put you in a ravine.
(08:29):
And what is a ravine. It's a rut, That's what
it is. It's a rut, and it's dark and deep
and it's narrow. And God says, I want you to
have a time out of a year for reflection. God
often uses listen private darkness in your life to prepare
you for public ministry in the light of day later on. Now,
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during this time that He's in this rut, and some
of you are in a rut right now. God supernaturally
provides for him in a very unusual way. He has
ravens birds bring food over the top of the ravine
and drop it. Now, this is not exactly gourmet food, friends,
(09:13):
because where do birds get their food off of other
people's plates.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
And they pick they'd.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
Find a little piece of meat here and a little
piece of bread there, and they'd pick it up and
they'd take it, and then God would have him drop
it down in this ravine. And so for a year,
Elijah's eating leftovers at the best. On the other hand,
he may be eating a dead carcass that they picked
up somewhere. So this is not exactly, you know, a
club med vacation here. But he's in this pit and
(09:44):
his only support is from God. There's no food there
and so the birds have to bring it. And he's
got water that God has provided in this brook. His
only support is from God. Remember, you don't know God's
all you need until God is all you've got. And
then in verse seventeen, Chapter seventeen, verse seven, it says
(10:06):
the brook dried up. Now, this is such an important concept,
an important principle in your life. The brook's going to
dry up in your life many many times. So I
want you to remember this phrase. In fact, I wants
you to remember where it is in the Bible. So
we're gonna memorize it.
Speaker 4 (10:21):
Now.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
The hard part the brook dried up, that's not hard
to remember. But the hard part is remembering the address.
Where is it in the Bible. So whenever you want
to memorize the verse, you say the address before and after,
first King seventeen seven, the brook dried up, first King
seventeen seven. So let's say it together, First King seventeen seven,
the brook dried up, First Kings seventeen seven. Some of
(10:46):
you right now are in a situation where the brook
has dried up in your life. The brook has dried
up in your life. The money's not there, the friend
isn't there, the support isn't there, the energy isn't there,
your health isn't there. Things have dried up in your life.
And the Bible says in where first King seventeen seven,
(11:07):
the brook dried up, First King seventeen seven.
Speaker 4 (11:12):
What does that mean?
Speaker 3 (11:13):
You're gonna need this verse because many times in your life,
the brook's gonna dry up. What's it mean when something
good is all of a sudden gone in your life,
When something that was enjoyable is now empty. What was
refreshing to you is no longer there. Something that delighted you,
a job, a relationship, what brought you delight is now
(11:36):
disappointing you. And the brook dries up in your life.
First King seventeen seven. Now, what do you do when
the brook dries up in your life? Relationally, emotionally, economically,
or whatever?
Speaker 4 (11:50):
You do?
Speaker 3 (11:51):
Three things? You remember three things. There are three reasons
brooks dry up in your life, and you need to
know this because it's gonna happen over and over. Number one,
brooks dry up to keep me from depending on the brook.
That's the first reason brooks dry up.
Speaker 4 (12:07):
In your life.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
To keep me from depending on the brook instead of God.
You see, Elijah was in this ravine, in this rut
for a year, and it would move very easy for
him to just forget God and focus on the birds
and the brook because they are supplying his need. He
doesn't have to work. It's all right there. The birds
bring the food and the brook gives the water. And
(12:30):
pretty soon if you depend on a bird, every day
to drop food.
Speaker 4 (12:34):
Down to you.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
Then week after week, month after month, for the full year.
Pretty soon you're not thinking about God. You're thinking about
is the bird on time?
Speaker 4 (12:45):
Okay? Is the bird on time?
Speaker 3 (12:48):
Some of you, the bird is late in your life
right now, and you've got a pile.
Speaker 4 (12:52):
Of bills at home like this, and you think the
bird's late.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
And if the water's coming down the brook, you might
just start to assume it's always going to be there.
And so God says, whatever you're trusting, and then that's
not me, I'm going to turn it off. I've been
trusting in my job for my security. What we'll just
turn that off. I've been trusting in my health. What
will just turn that off? I've been trusting in this
(13:20):
friend of mine. We will just turn that off. God says,
you must trust in me. Anything you put before me
is a false God. It's an idol. Now you see,
it's human nature for us to trust the brook and
the birds. What do you trust? What's the bird in
the brook in your life? It's whatever you're looking for
to give you happiness. Maybe your husband may be your job,
(13:44):
maybe your sports, it may be your health. And you're
looking to something besides God to meet your needs. Now
we have this thought that if God ever gives us
a gift, and by the way, everything in your life
is a gift from God. Your brain, your ability, your freedom,
your life, your next heart beat, your air that you breathe,
it's all a gift from God. That if God gives
(14:05):
something to you, he has no right to take it back. Well,
that's nonsense, because God is God, and he has the
right to give and to take away. He has the
right to give it to you and to take it
away if he wants to. God is sovereign. And sometimes
when God gives us something and then it's taken away
and maybe not even by God, that it just vanishes
(14:27):
like a job. Then we start getting mad at God.
I don't have the job I used to have. What's
wrong with you, God, I don't have the health I
used to have.
Speaker 4 (14:38):
I don't.
Speaker 3 (14:39):
I've lost my husband, I've lost my child that was
a gift to you. And no gift on earth is
eternal except eternal life. No gift is going to last
forever on this planet. It's all just a gift and
God has a right to give it a take it
(15:00):
away if he thinks you're depending on it for your
source of joy instead of him. There's a second reason
the book dries up, and the second reason is to
move me to a better place. God had no intention
of leaving Elijah in the ravine, in that rut for
the rest of his life. It was simply a one
year temporary retreat for reflection. He was protecting Elijah while
(15:24):
there's a bounty on his head and the assassins are
out to get him. But God didn't intend for Elijah
to be born to live in a rut the.
Speaker 4 (15:31):
Rest of his life.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
And God doesn't intend for you to live in the
rut you're in the rest of your life. You see,
we get very complacent about the ruts and routines in
our life.
Speaker 4 (15:42):
Now, let's admit it.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
The rut and routine and ravine that Elijah in wasn't
that good. I mean, he's eating leftover food and drinking
water out of brook, but he's in a little narrow space.
Speaker 4 (15:54):
But it was comfortable. He knew it.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
He had gotten comfortable and complace it with the rut
he was in when there was a whole wide world
out there that God wanted him to see. And as
long as the brook was bubbling and the birds were
bringing food. Elijah wasn't going to move. You See, we
don't change when we see the light. We change when
we feel the heat. When all of a sudden we're
(16:20):
forced to change. And sometimes God drives up stuff in
your life to move you. God wants to move you
to a new place in your life. Often what we
think is bad, the brook dried up, I lost my job.
Speaker 4 (16:37):
Could be the best thing that happened to you.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
How many times has something you thought was bad actually turned.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
Out for the good in your life. You can think
of a lot of times that's happened.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
The things that you thought were going to destroy you
are actually developing you. They're making you the great person
you are. They're building your care, they're developing you. What
you thought was going to destroy you actually develops you.
Sometimes God turns off the water supply, the supply of
(17:12):
whatever we're looking for to trust, because he's saying, I
want to move you a new place. I want you
to focus on a new way. I want you to
try a new thing. You know, nothing gets you in
shape faster than having your health go bad, and all
of a sudden you said, well, maybe I'll start eating right,
maybe I'll start exercising. You know, those kind of things
get your attention. In Alabama, there were a group of
(17:34):
farmers who grew cotton Enterprise, Alabama, and they grew cotton
there year after year, but every year the bull weavil
would destroy the cotton. And it happened two or three
years in a row, and all of the farmers were
actually going bankrupt because the bull weavil kept.
Speaker 4 (17:52):
Destroying the crop.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
So in their bankruptcy, the farmers got together and said,
we got to get another this one isn't reliable, and
so they started planning peanuts.
Speaker 4 (18:06):
Peanuts.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
Well, the peanuts were so much more productive and so
much more profitable that it made all those farmers incredibly wealthy.
And they'd built a statue in Enterprise, Alabama to the
bow evil because if it hadn't been for the bow
weevil destroying two or three years of crops, they never
(18:28):
would have switched to a more profitable one. They never
would have switched to something that was more productive and
profitable in their lives. God often drives up the brook
in your life to keep you from depending on the
brook instead of him to move you to a better place.
And number three to prove that He has not forgotten you.
(18:49):
To prove that God has not forgotten me, God often
dries up the brook. Why see, God could have left
Elijah in that rut. He could have left him there.
If God didn't care, He could have put Elijah in
in that ravine and left him there the rest of
his life. But God did care about Elijah, and but
for that reason, he dried up the brook so that
(19:10):
Elijah had could have something better. It proves, you see,
when things go wrong in our lives, often thank God's
forgotten me. No, it means God is paying attention to you.
He's paying attention to you. He's paying attention because he
wants to move you to a new place. And that
brings us to the second place. First, he's in the ravine,
(19:33):
in the rut. The second place we see Elijah is
in the next verse.
Speaker 4 (19:36):
He's on the road.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
And the second test of Elijah's faith is a dangerous journey.
I call this a time of insecurity. First, King seventeen
eight and nine says, so then the Lord said to Elijah,
now get up.
Speaker 4 (19:51):
Out of that rut.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
You're in that ravine and go to Zarafith and live there.
I've prepared a widow there in Zarapath to take care
of you. So Elijah he obeys, He went to Zarapath.
Now I want you to circle, Get up and go
and circle the word prepared. God had prepared in advance
a widow where he was going to take him next.
(20:15):
Now what's happening here? God says, I want you to move,
Get ready to go on a journey, Elijah. But who
and where Elijah is being sent to does not give
Elijah a lot of confidence for a number of reasons. First,
look up here on the screen. Here is a map
of Israel. Now, notice at the bottom of Israel, down
(20:36):
by the Red Sea, in this northern kingdom is Karif,
that brook where he was in that gorge in that rut.
Zarapath is at the very top. It's not even in Israel.
It's in modern day Lebanon. It is a city, small
town on the coast of the Mediterranean. It wasn't even
a Jewish city, it was a pagan city. Now for
(20:58):
Elijah to get from Kith to Zarafath, he's going to
have to go through dangerous territory. There's a number of
problems with this journey. Number one, it's over one hundred miles.
It's going to take him days to walk. And remember
he's a marked man. There are wanted signs for Elijah
all over Israel. He's going to have to walk right
(21:18):
through the heartland of bail worship, where everybody there wants
to kill him. It's in the middle of a drought,
so there's no water, and he's going to walk for
days without water. Zarafath is not even a Jewish town.
It's a pagan town, a false worship. In fact, Zarafath,
just so happens, was the hometown of Jezebel. Hey, God,
(21:45):
and Elijah says, you're sending me to a light, to
Jezebel's hometown. You gotta be kidding, Lord, all of her
friends are there. I'll be a sitting duck. And then
he says, oh, and when you get to Zarafath, I'm
going to have a very poor widow take care of you,
the least likely person to take care of Elijah.
Speaker 4 (22:04):
A poor widow.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
She could couldn't defend him or protect him, much less
even feed him.
Speaker 4 (22:09):
Likely, she's a poor widow.
Speaker 3 (22:10):
Of all the people, He says, I'm sending you to
Jezebel's hometown, to a poor widow.
Speaker 4 (22:15):
Now he's going from bad to worse? Are you there?
Speaker 3 (22:19):
Some of you are in the journey phase right now
of life. You're on the road from Careth to Zarafath,
and it seems like things are going from bad to worse.
And as I said, you've got a pile of bills
sitting at home, stacked up, unpaid, and you don't know
where the money is going to come from bad to
worse when you're on the road, when you're on the
(22:42):
journey phase of the test of faith, what do you
need to remember when you're scared to death and God's
got you on a journey and you don't know where
you're going, you don't know how long it's going to take,
and you don't know what's going to happen when you
get there, and you're kind of a marked person, and
anybody could attack you from any side because you're out
in the o but you're very vulnerable. What do you
(23:02):
do when you're on a journey in life and you're
scared to death? You do the three things and remember
the three things that Elijah did. You need to write
these down. Three things to remember when you're on the road.
Number one, the path to a miracle is always through
uncomfortable territory.
Speaker 4 (23:24):
The path to a.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
Miracle is always through uncomfortable territory. Miracles never happen in
your comfort zone. When everything's going great, when everything's copasetic,
when everything's comfortable, when everything's convenient, you don't need a
miracle and everything's settled in your life.
Speaker 4 (23:44):
You only need a miracle when you're on the.
Speaker 3 (23:45):
Edge, when you're scared to death, when you're insecure, when
you're out there and you could get hit at any angle.
The path to a miracle is always through uncomfortable territory.
Elijah's going to have to walk through right through through
the area of Samaria and Medigo, which where we get
the word armageddon from Medigo, the valley there, and he's
(24:07):
going to have to go all through all that people
wanting to kill him in order to get to where
God wants him to go. When Moses led the Israelites
out of Egyptian bondage and slavery to the Promised Land,
they had to go through the Red Sea first. That
was scary for David to slave Goliath. He had to
walk out onto the battlefield before the victory could happen.
(24:31):
You may have to go into battle first. When God
wanted Jojosah fact and win a victory.
Speaker 4 (24:36):
He had to put the choir before the army. These
were scary things.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
Are you at a place right now in your life
where things are a little uncomfortable financially, sexually, emotionally, relationally, physically,
You just a little little nervous, a little on the edge,
a little little insecure. Congratulations, you're on the path miracle.
Miracles don't happen when things are comfortable. Miracles happen when
(25:05):
things are uncomfortable. You see, Elijah didn't say to God, God,
this is a great plan. There's only three things wrong
with it. One you're sending me in the wrong direction.
You're sending me right through my enemy's territory, wrong direction.
Two you're sending me to the wrong location Jezebel's hometown.
As I said, I'll be a sitting duck there. And
(25:27):
three you're sending me to the wrong protection. A poor
widow can't take care of me. No, he just obeyed.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
Hey, thanks so much for being with us today and
listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, and I hope you
were as blessed as I was From today's show. And
now here's Rick to tell you about today's offer.
Speaker 3 (25:51):
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(26:11):
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(26:34):
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(27:11):
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Speaker 2 (27:48):
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(28:09):
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be sure to join us next time when we look
into God's Word for our daily hope. This program is
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Speaker 1 (28:22):
By Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and your generous financial support.
Hey, everybody, welcome to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. We are
so glad you're joining us today as we kick off
a new inspiring series when You're hoping for a miracle. Now,
in this series, Pastor Rick is going to guide us
right through God's word, showing us how to strengthen our
faith and how.
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To live with greater love, peace.
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Patience, and self control even when life feels hopeless. Now,
if you've been longing for a breakthrough, you will not
want to miss this. I can't wait to hear what
Rick will share today, So let's join him right now
for part one of a message called when you're running
out of everything.
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You don't know God is all you need until God
is all you've got. And that's why God often allows
a shortage of deficiency, a lack in your life. If
I would ask you what are you lacking today? You
might say, well, you know, I need more energy, I
need more money, I need more emotional support, I need
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more creativity, I need more opportunity, I need a job.
All of those things that happen in your life happened
really for a reason. And today we're going to look
at what I call what do you do when you're
running out of everything. For the next several weeks, we're
going to look at the things that cause people to
feel hopeless. And today we're going to look at three
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incidents in the life of a man named Elijah. Elijah
was about nine hundred years before Jesus Christ, and he
went through three experiences. They're all in First Kings, chapter
seventeen that teach us lessons on how God wants to
do miracles when there are things that are happening in
our lives that cause us to lack what we need. Now,
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let me give you a little background of the story.
There were three kings in Israel that united the kingdom,
Saul and then David and then Solomon. But after that
the place fell apart and Israel was divided into two kingdoms,
a northern kingdom called Israel and a southern kingdom called Judah.
And in the northern kingdom, for the next sixty years,
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they had a string of terrible leaders, nineteen different kings
in Northern Israel, and every one of them was a
rotten apple. They were terrible politically, terrible economically, and most important,
terrible spiritually. And then as you think that everything's falling apart.
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You know, the government is now bankrupt and the nation
is in recession. And the Bible tells us that the
current king and queen were the worst of all of
the previous nineteen The worst king and queen in Israel's
history were named Ahab and Jezebel. You've heard of her,
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probably Ahab and Jezebel. They were the worst king and
queen in all of israel history. And the reason why
they were so bad is not only were they terrible
leaders politically economically, but spiritually. They got rid of the
worship of God, and they brought in a false god,
a pagan god, an idol called Bail, and they established
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Bail as.
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The official religion of Israel, the Jewish nation.
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So God sends Elijah as a spokesman, as a prophet
to go confront King Ahab, and Elijah says, to Ahab
and to Jezebel, because of your wickedness and because you've
led the nation to worship false gods, it's not going
to reign anymore in this country until I, the Prophet
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of God, say so. Now, we later find out this
actually ended up being three and a half years, three
and a half years without reign in the nation of Israel,
which meant they were in terrible drought, terrible dryness, terrible famine.
But Elijah says, because of your sin, leader, the nation's
got to suffer for three and a half years. This
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message did not sit well with Ahab. In fact, he
and his wife Jessebelt were furious. They were ticked, and
they put a price on Elijah's head. They said, we're
going to kill you, and they authorized bounty hunters and
assassins to find Elijah and kill him. The Bible says
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in First Kings, chapter seventeen, they're on your outline. It's
in your program now. Elijah confronted King Ahab, as surely
as God lives, the God of Israel, whom I worship
and serve, there will be no do or reign until
the next few years, unless for the next during the
next few years, unless I give the word now, as
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I said, the Bible says, everything in the country dried
up for three and a half years.
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Maybe you feel that way in your life.
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Maybe you feel like the you always ride up in
your life, your savings have dried up during this time
of spiritual and emotional and economic dryness. God did some
miracles for Elijah, and he taught some lessons to Elijah
that you and I need. God wants us to learn
the same things. So my question for you is, are
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you ready for a miracle now? During this time of
dry period which maybe you're going through right now, God
took Elijah to three different places, and they represent three
different phases that you go through in your life. You'll
go through them over and over again. For the first
year of the three and a half years of drought,
God took Elijah to a place called car Eth, and
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carre Eth was a place and a time of obscurity.
The Bible says this there on your outline, verse two
one King seventeen. Then the Lord said to Elijah, this
is after ay Habit said.
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I'm going to kill you.
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Go east and hide in the Kerrieth Ravine, east of
the Jordan River. The Krrieth brook will give you fresh
water to drink, and I've commanded ravens to bring you
food there every day.
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That's unusual. So Elijah obeyed what the Lord said to do.
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He moved to the Kerrrieth ravine and he lived there
and the birds brought him food each morning and evening.
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And he drank from the brook.
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But after a while the brook dried up because there
was no rain. Now the first stop in Elijah's journey
of faith is the ravine, the Krrieth ravine.
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What is a ravine?
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A ravine is a natural rut. It is a narrow,
long gorge. The Grand Canyon started off as a ravine,
but it got bigger and bigger in a wide ravine,
it's called a canyon. Here's what a ravine looks like
here on the screen. It's it's long and it's narrow. Now,
how would you.
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Like to live there for a year? You wouldn't.
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A ravine is dark, it's narrow, it's cold, and it's lonely.
Some of you are in an emotional carrieth right now.
You're going through a time that seems dark and cold
and deep and lonely. Now, Elijah is an extrovert. He's
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not used to being alone. And God says, I'm going
to put you in a ravine for a year. I
want you to hide there. Do you know what carreith
means in Hebrew? It means cut off. That's what it
means cut off. And Elijah is cut off from everything,
cut off from all of his friends, cut off from
social interaction, cut off from what's happening in the world.
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He's cut off from the limelight, he's cut off from attention.
He is literally all by himself. What is going on here?
God takes an extrovert and makes him a hermit for
a year. What's happening here? God had great plans for Elijah.
This is at the very beginning of his ministry. And
God did incredible miracles through this guy, amazing things through
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this guy in the years ahead. But first he said,
you need time alone with me. I need to narrow
your focus. You need to focus on me. You need
to develop your inner life. You need time alone with
me and nobody else. I want your undivided attention for
a year. So I'm going to put you in a ravine.
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And what is a ravine. It's a rut, That's what
it is. It's a rut, and it's dark and deep
and it's narrow. And God says, I want you to
have a time out of a year for reflection. God
often uses listen private darkness in your life to prepare
you for public ministry in the light of day later on. Now,
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during this time that He's in this rut, and some
of you are in a rut right now. God supernaturally
provides for him in a very unusual way. He has
ravens birds bring food over the top of the ravine
and drop it. Now, this is not exactly gourmet food, friends,
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because where do birds get their food off of other
people's plates.
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And they pick they'd.
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Find a little piece of meat here and a little
piece of bread there, and they'd pick it up and
they'd take it, and then God would have him drop
it down in this ravine. And so for a year,
Elijah's eating leftovers at the best. On the other hand,
he may be eating a dead carcass that they picked
up somewhere. So this is not exactly, you know, a
club med vacation here. But he's in this pit and
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his only support is from God. There's no food there
and so the birds have to bring it. And he's
got water that God has provided in this brook. His
only support is from God. Remember, you don't know God's
all you need until God is all you've got. And
then in verse seventeen, Chapter seventeen, verse seven, it says
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the brook dried up. Now, this is such an important concept,
an important principle in your life. The brook's going to
dry up in your life many many times. So I
want you to remember this phrase. In fact, I wants
you to remember where it is in the Bible. So
we're gonna memorize it.
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Now.
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The hard part the brook dried up, that's not hard
to remember. But the hard part is remembering the address.
Where is it in the Bible. So whenever you want
to memorize the verse, you say the address before and after,
first King seventeen seven, the brook dried up, first King
seventeen seven. So let's say it together, First King seventeen seven,
the brook dried up, First Kings seventeen seven. Some of
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you right now are in a situation where the brook
has dried up in your life. The brook has dried
up in your life. The money's not there, the friend
isn't there, the support isn't there, the energy isn't there,
your health isn't there. Things have dried up in your life.
And the Bible says in where first King seventeen seven,
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the brook dried up, First King seventeen seven.
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What does that mean?
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You're gonna need this verse because many times in your life,
the brook's gonna dry up. What's it mean when something
good is all of a sudden gone in your life,
When something that was enjoyable is now empty. What was
refreshing to you is no longer there. Something that delighted you,
a job, a relationship, what brought you delight is now
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disappointing you. And the brook dries up in your life.
First King seventeen seven. Now, what do you do when
the brook dries up in your life? Relationally, emotionally, economically,
or whatever?
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You do?
Speaker 3 (11:51):
Three things? You remember three things. There are three reasons
brooks dry up in your life, and you need to
know this because it's gonna happen over and over. Number one,
brooks dry up to keep me from depending on the brook.
That's the first reason brooks dry up.
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In your life.
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To keep me from depending on the brook instead of God.
You see, Elijah was in this ravine, in this rut
for a year, and it would move very easy for
him to just forget God and focus on the birds
and the brook because they are supplying his need. He
doesn't have to work. It's all right there. The birds
bring the food and the brook gives the water. And
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pretty soon if you depend on a bird, every day
to drop food.
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Down to you.
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Then week after week, month after month, for the full year.
Pretty soon you're not thinking about God. You're thinking about
is the bird on time?
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Okay? Is the bird on time?
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Some of you, the bird is late in your life
right now, and you've got a pile.
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Of bills at home like this, and you think the
bird's late.
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And if the water's coming down the brook, you might
just start to assume it's always going to be there.
And so God says, whatever you're trusting, and then that's
not me, I'm going to turn it off. I've been
trusting in my job for my security. What we'll just
turn that off. I've been trusting in my health. What
will just turn that off? I've been trusting in this
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friend of mine. We will just turn that off. God says,
you must trust in me. Anything you put before me
is a false God. It's an idol. Now you see,
it's human nature for us to trust the brook and
the birds. What do you trust? What's the bird in
the brook in your life? It's whatever you're looking for
to give you happiness. Maybe your husband may be your job,
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maybe your sports, it may be your health. And you're
looking to something besides God to meet your needs. Now
we have this thought that if God ever gives us
a gift, and by the way, everything in your life
is a gift from God. Your brain, your ability, your freedom,
your life, your next heart beat, your air that you breathe,
it's all a gift from God. That if God gives
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something to you, he has no right to take it back. Well,
that's nonsense, because God is God, and he has the
right to give and to take away. He has the
right to give it to you and to take it
away if he wants to. God is sovereign. And sometimes
when God gives us something and then it's taken away
and maybe not even by God, that it just vanishes
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like a job. Then we start getting mad at God.
I don't have the job I used to have. What's
wrong with you, God, I don't have the health I
used to have.
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I don't.
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I've lost my husband, I've lost my child that was
a gift to you. And no gift on earth is
eternal except eternal life. No gift is going to last
forever on this planet. It's all just a gift and
God has a right to give it a take it
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away if he thinks you're depending on it for your
source of joy instead of him. There's a second reason
the book dries up, and the second reason is to
move me to a better place. God had no intention
of leaving Elijah in the ravine, in that rut for
the rest of his life. It was simply a one
year temporary retreat for reflection. He was protecting Elijah while
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there's a bounty on his head and the assassins are
out to get him. But God didn't intend for Elijah
to be born to live in a rut the.
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Rest of his life.
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And God doesn't intend for you to live in the
rut you're in the rest of your life. You see,
we get very complacent about the ruts and routines in
our life.
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Now, let's admit it.
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The rut and routine and ravine that Elijah in wasn't
that good. I mean, he's eating leftover food and drinking
water out of brook, but he's in a little narrow space.
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But it was comfortable. He knew it.
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He had gotten comfortable and complace it with the rut
he was in when there was a whole wide world
out there that God wanted him to see. And as
long as the brook was bubbling and the birds were
bringing food. Elijah wasn't going to move. You See, we
don't change when we see the light. We change when
we feel the heat. When all of a sudden we're
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forced to change. And sometimes God drives up stuff in
your life to move you. God wants to move you
to a new place in your life. Often what we
think is bad, the brook dried up, I lost my job.
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Could be the best thing that happened to you.
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How many times has something you thought was bad actually turned.
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Out for the good in your life. You can think
of a lot of times that's happened.
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The things that you thought were going to destroy you
are actually developing you. They're making you the great person
you are. They're building your care, they're developing you. What
you thought was going to destroy you actually develops you.
Sometimes God turns off the water supply, the supply of
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whatever we're looking for to trust, because he's saying, I
want to move you a new place. I want you
to focus on a new way. I want you to
try a new thing. You know, nothing gets you in
shape faster than having your health go bad, and all
of a sudden you said, well, maybe I'll start eating right,
maybe I'll start exercising. You know, those kind of things
get your attention. In Alabama, there were a group of
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farmers who grew cotton Enterprise, Alabama, and they grew cotton
there year after year, but every year the bull weavil
would destroy the cotton. And it happened two or three
years in a row, and all of the farmers were
actually going bankrupt because the bull weavil kept.
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Destroying the crop.
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So in their bankruptcy, the farmers got together and said,
we got to get another this one isn't reliable, and
so they started planning peanuts.
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Peanuts.
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Well, the peanuts were so much more productive and so
much more profitable that it made all those farmers incredibly wealthy.
And they'd built a statue in Enterprise, Alabama to the
bow evil because if it hadn't been for the bow
weevil destroying two or three years of crops, they never
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would have switched to a more profitable one. They never
would have switched to something that was more productive and
profitable in their lives. God often drives up the brook
in your life to keep you from depending on the
brook instead of him to move you to a better place.
And number three to prove that He has not forgotten you.
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To prove that God has not forgotten me, God often
dries up the brook. Why see, God could have left
Elijah in that rut. He could have left him there.
If God didn't care, He could have put Elijah in
in that ravine and left him there the rest of
his life. But God did care about Elijah, and but
for that reason, he dried up the brook so that
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Elijah had could have something better. It proves, you see,
when things go wrong in our lives, often thank God's
forgotten me. No, it means God is paying attention to you.
He's paying attention to you. He's paying attention because he
wants to move you to a new place. And that
brings us to the second place. First, he's in the ravine,
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in the rut. The second place we see Elijah is
in the next verse.
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He's on the road.
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And the second test of Elijah's faith is a dangerous journey.
I call this a time of insecurity. First, King seventeen
eight and nine says, so then the Lord said to Elijah,
now get up.
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Out of that rut.
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You're in that ravine and go to Zarafith and live there.
I've prepared a widow there in Zarapath to take care
of you. So Elijah he obeys, He went to Zarapath.
Now I want you to circle, Get up and go
and circle the word prepared. God had prepared in advance
a widow where he was going to take him next.
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Now what's happening here? God says, I want you to move,
Get ready to go on a journey, Elijah. But who
and where Elijah is being sent to does not give
Elijah a lot of confidence for a number of reasons. First,
look up here on the screen. Here is a map
of Israel. Now, notice at the bottom of Israel, down
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by the Red Sea, in this northern kingdom is Karif,
that brook where he was in that gorge in that rut.
Zarapath is at the very top. It's not even in Israel.
It's in modern day Lebanon. It is a city, small
town on the coast of the Mediterranean. It wasn't even
a Jewish city, it was a pagan city. Now for
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Elijah to get from Kith to Zarafath, he's going to
have to go through dangerous territory. There's a number of
problems with this journey. Number one, it's over one hundred miles.
It's going to take him days to walk. And remember
he's a marked man. There are wanted signs for Elijah
all over Israel. He's going to have to walk right
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through the heartland of bail worship, where everybody there wants
to kill him. It's in the middle of a drought,
so there's no water, and he's going to walk for
days without water. Zarafath is not even a Jewish town.
It's a pagan town, a false worship. In fact, Zarafath,
just so happens, was the hometown of Jezebel. Hey, God,
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and Elijah says, you're sending me to a light, to
Jezebel's hometown. You gotta be kidding, Lord, all of her
friends are there. I'll be a sitting duck. And then
he says, oh, and when you get to Zarafath, I'm
going to have a very poor widow take care of you,
the least likely person to take care of Elijah.
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A poor widow.
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She could couldn't defend him or protect him, much less
even feed him.
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Likely, she's a poor widow.
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Of all the people, He says, I'm sending you to
Jezebel's hometown, to a poor widow.
Speaker 4 (22:15):
Now he's going from bad to worse? Are you there?
Speaker 3 (22:19):
Some of you are in the journey phase right now
of life. You're on the road from Careth to Zarafath,
and it seems like things are going from bad to worse.
And as I said, you've got a pile of bills
sitting at home, stacked up, unpaid, and you don't know
where the money is going to come from bad to
worse when you're on the road, when you're on the
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journey phase of the test of faith, what do you
need to remember when you're scared to death and God's
got you on a journey and you don't know where
you're going, you don't know how long it's going to take,
and you don't know what's going to happen when you
get there, and you're kind of a marked person, and
anybody could attack you from any side because you're out
in the o but you're very vulnerable. What do you
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do when you're on a journey in life and you're
scared to death? You do the three things and remember
the three things that Elijah did. You need to write
these down. Three things to remember when you're on the road.
Number one, the path to a miracle is always through
uncomfortable territory.
Speaker 4 (23:24):
The path to a.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
Miracle is always through uncomfortable territory. Miracles never happen in
your comfort zone. When everything's going great, when everything's copasetic,
when everything's comfortable, when everything's convenient, you don't need a
miracle and everything's settled in your life.
Speaker 4 (23:44):
You only need a miracle when you're on the.
Speaker 3 (23:45):
Edge, when you're scared to death, when you're insecure, when
you're out there and you could get hit at any angle.
The path to a miracle is always through uncomfortable territory.
Elijah's going to have to walk through right through through
the area of Samaria and Medigo, which where we get
the word armageddon from Medigo, the valley there, and he's
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going to have to go all through all that people
wanting to kill him in order to get to where
God wants him to go. When Moses led the Israelites
out of Egyptian bondage and slavery to the Promised Land,
they had to go through the Red Sea first. That
was scary for David to slave Goliath. He had to
walk out onto the battlefield before the victory could happen.
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You may have to go into battle first. When God
wanted Jojosah fact and win a victory.
Speaker 4 (24:36):
He had to put the choir before the army. These
were scary things.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
Are you at a place right now in your life
where things are a little uncomfortable financially, sexually, emotionally, relationally, physically,
You just a little little nervous, a little on the edge,
a little little insecure. Congratulations, you're on the path miracle.
Miracles don't happen when things are comfortable. Miracles happen when
(25:05):
things are uncomfortable. You see, Elijah didn't say to God, God,
this is a great plan. There's only three things wrong
with it. One you're sending me in the wrong direction.
You're sending me right through my enemy's territory, wrong direction.
Two you're sending me to the wrong location Jezebel's hometown.
As I said, I'll be a sitting duck there. And
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three you're sending me to the wrong protection. A poor
widow can't take care of me. No, he just obeyed.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
Hey, thanks so much for being with us today and
listening to Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, and I hope you
were as blessed as I was From today's show. And
now here's Rick to tell you about today's offer.
Speaker 3 (25:51):
Would you like to live an extraordinary life, one where
you make a lasting contribution that serves God and bless
us others, a life where you use all your ills
and abilities and talents to pursue your dreams. Well, guess
what God wants you to live that life. In fact,
He created you to live a life of significance as
(26:11):
you pursue the dream that God is placed in your heart.
But you know a lot of people get bogged down
and discouraged before they ever reach their dream. They can't
understand why there are delays and difficulties, and so they
doubt their dream, and they even doubt God. That's why
I've written a new book called Created a Dream, The
six Phases God uses to grow your Faith. It explains
(26:34):
the process that God uses to deepen your faith as
he moves you step by step closer to the dream
He's given you.
Speaker 4 (26:43):
And when you.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
Understand these six phases of faith, you'll be able to
see what God is doing.
Speaker 4 (26:48):
You go, I get it.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
I understand what He's doing. You'll be able to say,
right now, I'm in phase four or Phase six or
Phase two, of God's process. This is going to keep
you encouraged and hopeful when you hit ops and suffer
setbacks that are inevitable in moving towards your dream. And
it'll help you cooperate with God's plan to grow your faith.
As you fulfill your dream, You're going to begin to
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live an extraordinary life. You know, the truth is, we're
all just ordinary people. But when ordinary people pursue the
dream God has for their life, they become extraordinary. God's
inviting you to pursue the dream He's put in your heart.
Let me help you do that. Let me help you
(27:31):
learn more about that. I'd like to send you a
copy of Created to Dream, the six phases God uses
to grow your faith when you give a gift today
to help daily hope share the hope of Jesus with
people around the world. Thank you for your partnership in
this worldwide ministry.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
To get this great resource, it's really easy. You just
go to Pastorick dot com to get your copy. That's
pastorick dot com. Or just text the word hope to
seven zero three to oho nine again the word hope
to seven oh three oh nine. And thanks so much
for your support, your gift to Daily Hope means so
(28:09):
much to us because it helps us share the hope
of Jesus Christ to people all around the world. Hey
be sure to join us next time when we look
into God's Word for our daily hope. This program is
sponsored
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By Pastor Rick's Daily Hope and your generous financial support.
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Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.