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Forward In Faith
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Pastor Gary Gilpin, Washington State
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RiverOfLifeChristianCenterChur
Our God Is Good All The Time
Text: 1
Kings 17:1-16, Read vv. 13-16
13 And Elijah said to
her, "Do not fear; go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake
from it first, and bring it to me; and afterward make some for yourself and
your son. 14 For thus says the LORD God of Israel: 'The bin of flour shall not
be used up, nor shall the jar of oil run dry, until the day the LORD sends rain
on the earth.'"
15 So she went away
and did according to the word of Elijah; and she and he and her household ate
for many days. 16 The bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run
dry, according to the word of the LORD which He spoke by Elijah.
INTRODUCTION
If
you watch the news at all these days, you see that the news is mostly bad
news. I won't go through the list of problems our world is facing in this
age of political unrest and economic instability. But I want us to notice
something that is a self-evident fact, namely, it is easier to trust God during
the times of plenty than it is during times of want. In fact, studies
have shown an inverse relationship between prayer and trust depending on the
economy. When times are good, people pray less and trust more, but when
times are tough, people pray more, go to church more,
and are generally more religious, but they tend to trust God less and have more anxiety.
When we know that
we've got a good paycheck coming in and the job is secure, it's easy to thank
God for His blessings and then go about our business. But when the brook
dries up, when the ravens no longer deliver our meals, when the company starts
cutting back jobs, that's when our faith is put to the test. Yet in these
times of economic chaos and employment uncertainty, I want to stand before you
today to remind you that our God is more than enough. He's not just
enough, but He's more than enough!
THE GOODNESS OF GOD
That's the way God is. One of the names of God is Yahweh-Yuri, some pronounce it Jehovah-Jirah.
This name for God means, "The Lord Who Provides."
However, God doesn't just provide enough because our God is more than
enough. David said in Psalm 23:4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of
the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou
art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort
me. 5 Thou preparest a table before
me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my
head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Look at that! Our cup runs over, because of the goodness of our God
is more than enough. He doesn't do it half-way or part way. He
doesn't even fill it to the brim, but David said, "My cup runs
over"-more than enough!
In John's Gospel, chapter 1, verse 16, John writes, "And of his fullness
have all we received, and grace for grace." The Greek words
translated "grace for grace" are charis
anti charis, "grace
upon grace." God doesn't just give us grace, but
He has multiplied His grace toward us, grace upon grace upon grace.
The New International Version translates it to say, "From the fullness of
his grace we have all received one blessing after another." The
Apostle Paul said in Romans 5:20, "But where sin abounded, grace did much
more abound."
I want to remind you today that regardless of what is
going on in this world God is still on His throne, and He said that you are in
the palm of His hand. The resources of heaven have not been depleted, there is no deficit in the kingdom of God.
God is not worried or wringing His hands over the economic situation on
earth. He still brings forth His Goodness to His Childre.
He is large and in charge, and His Goodness to us is more than enough!
In Matthew chapter 14
Jesus had been teaching the multitudes (about five thousand men, plus women and
children), and as the day wore on the disciples were concerned about the people
and they told Jesus that He should send the people away so that they could get
something to eat. In verse 16, Jesus said to His disciples, "They do
not need to go away. You give them something to eat."
The disciples said,
"We have here only five loaves and two fish." In other words,
"Jesus, we don't have enough!" Then Jesus said, "Bring Me
what you have." Then he told the people to sit down on the grass
while He took the five loaves and two fish and after blessing them, he broke
them and gave them to the disciples to distribute to the people. After
the people had eaten and were full, there were twelve baskets full of food for
leftovers. What is not enough in our hands is more than enough in God's
hands.
You may not know how
you're going to make it, and you may have to make some changes, but God said to
give your cares to Him, because He cares for you. Don't fret or worry
over the temporal things. Don't let the devil get you down. When
things are at their worst God is at His best, for when we are weak He is still
strong and His strength is made perfect in our weakness. Despite the bad
news we must continue to believe the Good News. We must remember that God
is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently
seek Him (Heb. 11:6). He will never leave us nor forsake us.
I can testify that
God has always provided for me and my family. There were times when I
didn't know how, and I didn't know where it would come from, but God has always
been faithful. Thank God for His Goodness to me!
II)
THE NATURE OF GOD'S JUDGMENT
Look at the text. Most of you know the story. King Ahab had become
king over Israel and he was an evil king, doing more evil than any king before
him. The Bible translation called The Message says that Ahab was "a
new champion of evil." He married Jezebel and began to worship the
false god Baal. He even built a temple and an altar for Baal in
Samaria. Then he built a shrine to the erotic goddess Asherah
(Ash-eer-ah).
Ahab made God angrier
than all the previous kings of Israel put together, so God sent the prophet
Elijah to confront Ahab. Elijah stood before Ahab and said, "As
surely as Yahweh lives, the God of Israel before whom I stand in obedient
service, the next years are going to see a total drought - not a drop of dew or
rain unless I say otherwise."
By all appearances Israel had been living the good life, but things aren't
always what they seem. They were militarily strong and they were
prospering financially, but because of sin, because of idol worship, and
because they had forsaken God, judgment was coming.
As you can imagine, the king didn't want to hear that his plan wasn't going to
work. He didn't want to hear that worshipping false gods was going to
bring judgment. So after this prophet stood up and spoke the word of the
Lord, the king and Jezebel intended to do harm to Elijah. However, God
had already made provision for Elijah's protection.
God knows how to judge the nations, while at the same time showing His
goodness and preserving His people who have been faithful to Him.
Even in judgment, God always preserves a remnant of true believers who have not
bowed their knee to Baal.
God told Elijah,
"Get out of here fast. Head east and hide out at the Kerith Ravine on the other side of the Jordan River.
You can drink fresh water from the brook and I've ordered the ravens to
feed you." God had a hiding place for Elijah. It wasn't in a
five star hotel, it wasn't the Ritz-Carlton, but it was more than enough.
"Elijah obeyed
GOD. He camped in the Kerith canyon on the
other side of the Jordan and just as God had promised ravens brought him his
meals, both breakfast and supper, and he drank from the brook." Not
a bad life: Time to pray; time to relax; time to contemplate the plans of God,
and God provided food and drink. It was a sabbatical for Elijah, a time
of rest and rejuvenation.
Even though God was taking care of Elijah, eventually the effects of God's
judgment on Israel began to impact Elijah's life. The brook dried
up. Elijah was sitting pretty, but then the book dried up. Life was
good, everything he needed was supplied, but then the brook dried up.
That may be where some of you are today. Not long ago, things seemed to
be fine, money was no problem, you had no job insecurities, but then the brook
dried up. God could have allowed the brook to keep running, but He
didn't. God had other plans for Elijah. God was going to used
Elijah's need to become an opportunity to bless a little widow woman who was
trying to feed herself and her son.
Look at verses 8 and
9:
8 Then GOD spoke to
him: 9 "Get up and go to Zarephath in Sidon and
live there. I've instructed a woman who lives there, a widow, to feed
you."
THE NATURE OF GOD'S GOODNESS AND PROVISION
Look at that
again. God said, "I have instructed (some translations say
"commanded") a widow there to provide for you." Notice
that God speaks as though He has already instructed the widow. He said,
"I have instructed,"
past tense, but when Elijah approaches her, she doesn't seem to be aware of God's
commands.
Verse 10 says that
Elijah arose and went to Zarephath, and just as God
said, there was a widow there. One might have imagined that God would
have had wealthy benefactor in mind, or at least a middle class man, but
instead Elijah finds a widow woman on the brink of starvation, trying to get
enough together for one last meal for her and her son before they die.
Elijah saw the widow
and said, "Please bring me a little water in a cup that I may drink."
And as she was going to get it, he called to her and said, "Please
bring me a morsel of bread in your hand." Doesn't that sound like a
man? Honey, could you get me a Diet Coke? Oh yea, and while you're
up, could you fix me a sam'itch?"
God said that He had
commanded her, but look at her response to Elijah in verse 12:
12 So she said,
"As the LORD your God lives, I do not have bread, only a handful of flour
in a bin, and a little oil in a jar; and see, I am gathering a couple of sticks
that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and
die."
God had indeed commanded her; she just didn't know it yet. God may have a
job ready for you that your future employer doesn't know that he's going to
give you yet. God may have a pay raise already approved, only the boss
don't know he's approved it yet. Do see what I'm seeing here? Our
God is more than enough, even if we don't see it yet, and even if the people
who are about to bless us, don't know it yet.
Now it if had been me, at this point I would have probably said something like,
"Well, I'm sorry. Let me give you what money I have in my wallet and
I'll be on my way. I'm sorry to have bothered you." But that's
not what Elijah said or did. If he had said that he would have robbed
this woman of her blessing and his meal. Instead, Elijah obeyed the Lord
and said:
13 Do not fear; go
and do as you have said, but make me a small cake from it first, and bring it
to me; and afterward make some for yourself and your son. 14 For thus says the
LORD God of Israel: 'The bin of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar
of oil run dry, until the day the LORD sends rain on the earth.'
This woman's faith
was about to be tested. Elijah told her to first fix him a meal, and then
after she did that, she would have enough to fix for herself and her son.
Not only that, but he promised her that she would have more than enough until
the Lord's judgment had passed and the blessing of rain was returned to the
land.
There's a message
here for us. Do not fear. Do not hold back. Do not withhold
your gift, because until we release to God what we have we will never have
enough. But when we give it to God, like the little boy with the fishes
and loaves, God always returns more than we give because He shows His goodness
and He IS God of more than enough!
What did the little
widow woman do? Verse 15 says, "So she went away and did according
to the word of Elijah; and she and he and her household ate for many
days." She thought she only had one more meal, but when she obeyed
the Lord, she had more than enough. Verse 16 says, "The bin of flour
was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry, according to the word of the
LORD which He spoke by Elijah."
God ALWAYS shows His
Goodness
28
"So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how
they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and
yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of
these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is,
and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
31 "Therefore do
not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What
shall we wear?' 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your
heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and
all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about
tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day
is its own trouble.
This message is for those of you who have become anxious, even
fearful, during these times of economic uncertainty. God wants to
remind you of His GOODNESS and wants to remind you that He is more than
enough. He said to cast all your care upon Him, because He cares for you.
So
as we approach the Thanksgiving Holiday, remember that the Goodness of God will
always be with you if you will Trust and Obey!
