Trust in God to Provide 1 Kings 17:1-6
1) He Promises So 2) He Does So
How likely are you to trust someone? If you’re a young child, you’ll likely trust everything your parents say. That’s what most kids do, at least until they learn how their parents are no different than regular people. If you’re a customer shopping for a used car, you probably won’t trust anything the salesperson tells you. After all, if they can make a lemon sound like a steal, how can you be sure about anything they say? Maybe you’re already getting wrapped up in potential presidential candidates. Depending on your party affiliation and personal opinions, you can have a polar opposite level of trust than someone else who is like you in many ways. Because when we trust someone, we usually look to their dependability or how realistic their promises are. If either is in question, then so is our trust in them.
How would you describe your trust in God? It is a child’s 100% trust in their parent to do anything they say? It is a voter’s changing trust in a candidate’s particular promises? It is a customer’s lack of trust in a stereotypical used car salesperson? As we look at our verses this morning from 1 Kings chapter 17, we’ll see how the prophet Elijah had complete trust in God despite the impossible nature of his promises. As Elijah trusted in God, so can we Christians today because we have the same God as Elijah did so long ago. As sch, the Christian trusts in God to provide for he promises and he does so.
1) He Promises So
Our verses begin with Elijah, the prophet of God, speaking to Ahab, the unfaithful king of the northern kingdom of Israel. Ahab was one of many evil kings, yet he reached a new low in comparison to his predecessors. Not only did Ahab force the idolatrous worship of Baal upon his people, he systematically sought out and killed hundreds of preachers and teachers of the one true God. As Ahab’s heart strayed far away from the Lord, so did his people’s heart. By and large, the northern kingdom of Israel had abandoned the Lord for idols like Baal.
So the Lord had Elijah declare the following message: a drought is coming. For three and a half years, no rain would fall from the sky and no dew would form on the ground until Elijah said the word. This drought was a slap in Baal’s lifeless face. As the supposed “god” of fertility and rain, the Lord would show everyone just how powerless and pointless Baal was. This drought was also a call to repentance. As the nation had fallen away from God, so the Lord got all their attention in one fell swoop. Prayerfully, they would realize the error of their ways, turn to God in repentance, and trust in his ready promise of forgiveness.
After delivering this message to Ahab, Elijah then got new instructions from the Lord: go the Kerith Ravine where I’ll take care of you. Ahab would soon be calling for Elijah’s head. In Ahab’s eyes, Elijah was to blame for everything to do with the drought! And if it wasn’t going to end until Elijah said so, you better believe that Ahab would make Elijah Public Enemy Number One. But no one would be looking for Elijah by the Kerith Ravine. It was across the Jordan River and outside of Ahab’s reign. It was in a remote area known for its rugged landscape and dense forests. No one lives out there and no one is going to stumble across Elijah and give his position away. It’s also here that the Lord would provide for Elijah’s daily needs. Elijah could drink from the stream’s clear water whenever he wanted. He would even have his own version of food delivery services like Grubhub or DoorDash: ravens who would act against their nature by bringing Elijah his breakfast and dinner each day.
Suppose you were Elijah and you just heard how the Lord will provide your food, water, and safety by the Kerith Ravine. Would you trust in God? Just because it’s off the beaten path doesn’t mean you’ll be safe from Ahab’s rage. This stream you’ll drink from is fed by the seasonal rains and morning dew. If there is going to be an extreme drought, wouldn’t this stream also dry up? When it inevitably does, what will you drink then? Also, ravens are going to bring you your food? No raven does that! They’re scavengers, searching around for food that is for themselves, not for others. It’s also not like the ravens are bringing you a Costco-sized meal with leftovers for tomorrow. It’s your daily bread, what you need for the morning and the evening. What if these ravens take a day off? What will you eat then?
We don’t have to pretend that we’re Elijah to wonder if God will provide for us. We hear his promise to do so in Matthew chapter 6(:31,33 EHV), “So do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’….But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” When inflation eats away at your purchasing power, when health problems knock you down and insurance doesn’t cooperate, when the struggles of life make it impossible for you to simply crack an honest smile, will you then trust in God to provide? Or will doubt our God?
2) He Does So
We can trust in God to provide for us, even when doubts attack us. For not only has the Lord promised so, he will do so. Just look at how he did so for Elijah by the Kerith Ravine: safety from Ahab, clean water to drink, and ravens bringing him breakfast and dinner every day. Though our verses stop here, we see how the Lord continued to provide for Elijah afterwards. That stream did eventually dry up. When it did, the Lord provided for Elijah in a widow’s home in faraway Zarephath. He remained off Ahab’s radar and the whole household ate from the widow’s bottomless jar of flour and jug of oil. When Elijah finally saw Ahab three and a half years later and faced off against him and 850 false prophets at Mt. Carmel, again the Lord kept him safe and provided for everyone’s food and water with the return of rain and dew.
As the Lord provided for Elijah, so will he provide for us, even when we doubt God to do as promised. Listen again to what Jesus says in Matthew chapter 6(:31,33 EHV), “So do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’….But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Our Lord daily does this through natural, regular ways: our paycheck when we check out at the store; our government to help those who cannot help themselves with at least the bare necessities of life; for many of us, our friends and family to lean on when we’re in need. While we don’t expect God to operate outside of these natural, regular ways, he certainly can provide for our needs through miraculous ways. We saw two examples this morning: 1) when Jesus fed more than 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish or 2) when the Lord had ravens bring Elijah his breakfast and dinner. One way or another, God will do as he has promised.
That’s because our Lord has a perfect track in keeping all his promises, not just the one we’ve talked about so far of providing for our bodily needs. He also perfectly provides for our spiritual needs. In our Second Reading, we not only heard how God lovingly chose us to be his adopted children, but how “in [Jesus] we also have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in keeping with the riches of his grace, which he lavished on us in all wisdom and insight.”
(Ephesians 1:7-8 EHV) God has provided for our greatest need of all: how to get right with God and live forever in heaven. That comes through the redemption and forgiveness that is ours through faith in Jesus who died on the cross to be our Savior. As the Lord has provided these things, so he will for all the time to come through our faith in Jesus.
Having heard God promise to provide for your bodily and spiritual needs and seen him do so, trust in God to provide! He has a perfect track record, can do anything, and has given this promise to you. If you need encouragement trust in God to do as promised, just look at Elijah by the Kerith Ravine and how the Lord did as promised there. Look at the cross and Jesus’ blood shed for you to take away your every sin. And then conclude with the Apostle Paul as he says in Romans chapter 8(:31-32,38-39 EHV), “What then will we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? Indeed, he who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all how will he not also graciously give us all things along with him?....For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor rulers, neither things present nor things to come, nor powerful forces, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” So trust in God to provide. He’s promised so and he does so. Amen.