I please Almighty God to bless
us together this morning as we meditate in his word. Let us
turn to the first book of the Kings, chapter 17, and we'll
read verse 16. The first book of the Kings,
chapter 17, and reading verse 16. And the barrel of meal wasted
not, neither did the cruise of oil fail, according to the word
of the Lord which he spake by Elijah." We have here a very simple account
of a situation which occurred in the life of Elijah. Elijah
was a prophet of the Lord and He suddenly appears upon the
scene as we begin this chapter. He was a Tishbite, and he was
among the inhabitants of Gilead. Apart from that, we don't know
really anything about him. But we do know that he was a
prophet of the Lord. And we do know that he was sent
to Ahab, who of course was a very wicked king. and he lived, he
reigned in a time when Israel were in a very bad situation
and so here was Elijah sent by God to speak unto Ahab and to
tell him that as the Lord God of Israel liveth before whom
I stand there shall not be dew nor rain these years but according
to thy word. Of course we know that came to
pass. There was no rain for a number
of years. And so the Lord's word was fulfilled. Now, the Lord was very mindful
of Elijah. And it's encouraging to think
that Elijah was here singled out and watched over. He'd spoken
words of truth. They were not palatable words
to Ahab. He would not have wanted to have
heard words like that there would be no rain or dew and therefore
no doubt he would have liked to have got hold of Elijah if
he could and dealt with him as he felt he should but the Lord
watched over Elijah. My friends the Lord still today
watches over his people. We may come into situations where
we may perhaps say or do things in accordance with God's will
which we may fear to do because of the opposition that we may
think may ensue. But here we have an example of
God directing Elijah and God blessing Elijah. And so we can
believe today, if God does direct us, and if God is with us, then
God will not leave us. He will provide for us. And he
provided for Elijah in a most remarkable way. We know that
first of all, He was told to go and to hide himself. He wasn't to march around in
a brazen manner. No, the Lord told him to go and
to hide himself by a brook, Cherith. And at that brook, the Lord was
going to provide for him. provide for him all that he needed
naturally to keep himself alive. There was the water and then
amazingly he was going to be fed by ravens which would bring
him meat and bread morning and night. Well as we no doubt are
relatively familiar with this account and yet to think how
wonderful it was that God ordained that these ravens should find
this flesh and find this bread and bring it day after day to
feed Elijah as he was in hiding. And of course he had the water
to drink from the stream. Well this continued, did it not,
until the famine increased, the drought increased, and the brook
dried up. We're not told that Elijah doubted
God, We're not told that Elijah decided to go somewhere else
because there was no possibility of existing here. No, what we
are told is that once again the word of the Lord came to Elijah. And how good it is in our lives
to realise that perhaps we may be in a situation, and it may
not have developed as we might have anticipated, and we may
wonder what to do. Well, the Lord commanded Elijah. My friends, the Lord is still
the same God today. He goes before us, directs us,
commands us in the way that we should go. And so here, the Lord
came and he spoke to Elijah. Now, he said, go to Zarephath,
where there were other rivers, larger rivers, that he could
have been directed to for water. But no, God's purpose was to
bring him to Zarephath to show his power and his wonderful working
to not only Elijah but to the widow woman and to her son at
that place. So we see the Lord was directing
Elijah. And again, there was no doubting
in Elijah's heart We don't see him prevaricating or arguing
or dissenting. We find him arising and going
to Zarathustra. And it's wonderful to read that
he was told that there would be a widow woman to sustain him. He comes to the gates of the
city and there's the woman. There's a woman, of course he
wasn't really sure perhaps at that time whether she was a woman
that would sustain him, but nonetheless he called to her to bring him
a drink, a little water and a vessel. Now, let's not forget this was
a time of drought. There wouldn't have been much
water available. And here was a stranger. And we see this woman
then, not questioning, the stranger's request. And not saying words
to the effect, don't you know that there's a drought on? Don't
you know that water is at a great price? Do you not know that there's
not the availability of water as there should be? But no. He asks the question, he goes,
fetch me a little water in a vessel that I may drink. And the woman
arose and went to get this water for him. we should be encouraged
to realise the Lord has the hearts of all men and women in his hand. And he appeared, wonderfully
really, to make this woman willing to go and to do this. And then
Elijah stopped her and he called to her and he said, bring me,
I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand. we see the reaction
of the woman. She doesn't say she can't do
it, but she just plainly states the facts, the truth. What a
good thing, isn't it, if in our lives we just are able to speak
the facts, the truth. We don't have to produce any
arguments as to why we should or why we shouldn't. A very simple
explanation she gave, and she told Elijah the situation, that
she only had a handful of meal and a little oil, and she was
gathering a couple of sticks to bake a little cake for her
and her son before she died. And then we see Elijah speaks
and tells her, fear not. And don't forget, this woman
didn't know who Elijah was. Never met him before. And this
man now comes and says to her, fear not, go and do as thou hast
said, but first, make me a little cake. You might think, well,
what a cheat. This man has to request this
first. But we see the Lord going before. We see the Lord had prepared
the heart of this woman to do that which Elijah requested of
her. And he comes and says, for thus
saith the Lord of Israel, the Lord God of Israel, the barrel
of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruiser oil fail until
the day the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth. And so here he
is speaking the truth of God to this woman. And what does
she do? She went and did according to
the saying of Elijah, And she and he and her house did eat
many days." Well there we have then this little account coming
up to this verse, this 16th verse which tells us, and the barrel
of meal wasted not, neither did the cruise of oil fail according
to the word of the Lord which he spake by Elijah. What does this mean? Surely it
means that you and I today can rely upon the word of the Lord. The Lord spoke through his servant
Elijah and that word which was spoken came to pass. God's words come to pass. However difficult However impossible
the situation may appear, think of those words, have faith
in God. Elijah had faith in his God. Elijah was able to declare clearly
and plainly that it was the Lord that was speaking, the Lord was
directing And we see the willingness given to this woman to obey such
a word. The hearts of all men are in
the hand of God. And we should not forget that
in our natural life. There may be perhaps those difficult
situations. Perhaps there may be those scenes
which almost appear impossible. Here was a time of great drought. The brook chariot had already
dried up and yet we see this woman hearing the words of Elijah
and Elijah speaking the words that God had given him to speak
and the fulfilment of those words coming to pass. blessed with
living faith. And so as you and I today may
find our times of need in a natural way, in a providential way, we
can rely upon the promises of God. If God has spoken, if God
has encouraged us, if God has said, this is the way, walking
in it when you turn to the right hand or when you turn to the
left. There may be many obstacles, many oppositions. We may think,
well, how can this come to pass? Surely it's not possible. Surely
there's too much opposition. Remember the case of Elijah and
this woman. Remember how the Lord appeared,
how the Lord granted Elijah that preservation. And again, let
us not forget that in this situation, the first situation appeared
to fail. It appeared to fail, didn't it? The brook dried up. But it was
all part of God's directing. Now God could of course have
directed Elijah to go straight away to this place, Zarephath. But no, the Lord determined that
first of all Elijah should see the good hand of God being worked
out on his behalf by using ravens to supply his need. And then
when that ceased, when that situation ceased, the Lord then appeared
again and provided another way. The Lord's arm is not shortened,
that it cannot save, nor his ear heavy, that it cannot hear. No, my friends, we have a God
who is in every place and a God that goes about providing for
his people. Now, we should not forget that
Elijah was faithful to God's word. We read this, don't we,
very simply. But you know, Elijah had gone
to Ahab, the king, and he told him unpalatable truth. Sometimes, it may be in our lives,
we are to speak things which may not always be palatable to
people to hear. But nonetheless, if it is the
word of God, and if it is by the command of God, But we should
not be fearful. Why? We should go in the strength
of the Lord God. Not in our strength. Go in God's
strength. And Elijah then did the will
of God, spoke the words that God gave to him. And then we
see how the Lord watched over Elijah and preserved him. for the rest of the years, some
three years or so, or famine which existed, and God provided
for his servant Elijah. And the barrel of meal wasted
not, neither did the cruise of oil fail, according to the word
of the Lord which he spake by Elijah. Now, it may be that you
and I need God to speak, to encourage us, to direct us. The brook had
dried up. What was to happen now? Elijah
needed God to direct him. Did God fail? No. God directed
his servant Elijah and God was with him. God appeared
directly as he came to this place of Zarephath. We're not told
if he'd ever been there before, but nonetheless he went there.
And he went there and this widow woman appeared. We may think again, well how
strange that a widow woman should be used. Surely another man could
have been used. But no, the Lord determined that
it should be a widow woman and of course a widow woman with
her son because God was again going to appear wonderfully for
Elijah and wonderfully for this woman. You know the Lord had
appeared in this way and provided this food for Elijah and for
this woman and for her house But it's not until we come down
to the end of this chapter, when the Lord had brought life again
to her son, that she was able to say, now, by this, I know
that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in
thy mouth is truth. And yet she'd had really this
amazing miracle already, hadn't she? When the Lord had appeared
and granted There was no failure in this meal or this oil. But
it doesn't seem that wonderful miracle, though it was, had the
blessed effect that the bringing of life to her son did. That
time then she said, and by this I know that thou art a man of
God and that the word of the Lord is in thy mouth is truth. And so perhaps again we may sometimes
think, well surely now the Lord will convince a situation, convince
a person perhaps, of the power and majesty and goodness of God. And yet it doesn't seem to arise. It doesn't seem to occur. What we prove is that the Lord
has a perfect time to bless his people. And sometimes the time
that we may expect the Lord to appear and cause a wonderful
blessing, the Lord may have appeared, but it doesn't appear to have
been that gracious effect that we may have been looking for,
that we may have been expecting. Well, there had to be another
wonderful outpouring of the Spirit of God, another wonderful miracle,
really to declare to this woman very clearly that Elijah was
a servant of the Lord and that the word that he spoke was truth. We have to follow the Word of
God. We have to understand the Lord's
way and the Lord's timing. Well, we have here then this
case of this wonderful occasion, this provision for Elijah. Provision first of all by the
brook Cherith and then the wonderful appearance of this cruise of
oil and this barrel of meal not ceasing. We have then a very
physical situation and it should be encouraging to us today in
our providential lives because we do need God to appear for
us. I'm sure on many occasions to appear for us when there appears
to be the opposite occurring. No provision, as it were no rain,
time of famine. But the Lord appeared and the
Lord provided in this situation. The Lord didn't leave Elijah. And although Elijah is singled
out as an individual, nonetheless the Lord doesn't leave his people.
He does provide for them. And he provided for Elijah in
an amazing way. And I believe still today the
Lord provides for his people in amazing ways. Elijah could
never have anticipated the two times of deliverance, the way
that they were performed. I'm sure if you said to Elijah,
Elijah, how's your food going to be provided? He wouldn't have
anticipated, first of all, by ravens and then by a widow woman. And so we should not limit our
God. And we should not also try and
figure out ways that the Lord will perform and provide for
us. The Lord spoke, the Lord provided. So it is today. The Lord speaks and the Lord provides. And how clear it was, the direction
that Elijah received was direction from Almighty God. And it's important to realize
that he didn't hesitate, he didn't prevaricate, he didn't argue,
he didn't disagree, but in both situations He obeyed and the
Lord was faithful. Well, what a mercy it is to know
that today we still have a God who is so kind and so gracious
and so faithful and does not leave his people, doesn't forsake
them in their time of need. Elijah had been faithful in declaring
God's word And God was faithful to Elijah and God provided for
him in these two remarkable ways. So let us be thankful to know
today that we still have the God of Elijah. The God of Elijah
is still alive. The God of Elijah is still doing
that which he determines. The God of Elijah is still the
same yesterday and today and forever. Well, it's good to realise
that we have such a wonderful God. And then to turn then to
the spiritual side of these things, because as I'm sure we are well
aware, the Word of God does not only have a natural position,
more importantly it has a spiritual position. And so we might consider
it then from a spiritual aspect. Here then, in our lives, we may
need the Lords to provide for us in a spiritual way. It may
seem sometimes that there may not be any easy way, there may
not be any obvious way of the Lords to come and to bless our
souls. This was not obvious, was it,
to Elijah in a natural way, to go to this brook Cherith and
then to this woman at Zarephath? And so very often it is in our
spiritual life the Lord appears and blesses us in a spiritual
way, in not perhaps a way which we might think is obvious to
us. And the reason being is that
our God will be honoured and glorified in those things which
he does for us. So that we won't be able to claim,
well I thought that would be the way that God would bless
me. I thought if I did this or I went there or I heard that,
then God would bless me. You see the Lord is able to do
great things. The Lord is able to do for us
far more exceedingly abundantly. than we can ask or even think. I'm reminded of an occasion once,
there was a woman who wanted a blessing from God, needed some
spiritual direction, and she went to hear a man preach. And when she got to the place,
the man who was supposed to preach wasn't there. And another person
got up to preach. a person that she really despised,
didn't think much of. But the Lord spoke through that
man into that woman's heart. The Lord had gone before. The Lord had really prepared
this other minister to preach the Gospel into that woman's
heart. And what did she receive? She
received spiritual food. She received that which the Lord
had determined to provide for her. It didn't come in the way
that she expected. You see, God is sovereign in
all these things. And God did provide for her.
And the same situation exists today. The Lord does provide
spiritually for his people. Now, in both of these situations,
in Elijah's case, it was very simple fare, wasn't it? It wasn't
very complicated. But my friends, it was sufficient
to sustain him. And again, we should not forget
in our spiritual life, the Lord provides for us, generally speaking,
simple fare. I suppose you couldn't get much
simpler than meal and oil. We might say today it would be
like bread and butter. But you see, it sustained him
for all the time. My friends, if you and I receive
from the good hand of our God simple fare, which sustains us,
we should be thankful for it. Israel was sustained, weren't
they, for 40 years in the wilderness with simple fare, manna. What was it? God's provision. Sometimes Israel sadly complained. Thankfully we don't hear of Elijah
complaining. We should not complain at that
which the Lord provides for us. What did Israel receive? The same food. What did Elijah
receive? The same food. The same food
day after day. Now then, spiritually, my friends,
you and I need the same food day after day. And the food that
you and I need day after day in a spiritual sense, the Lord
Jesus speaks to us and tells us very simply what it is. And it's not to eat in a physical
way. But it is to meditate upon the
great truths of the Gospel. And those great truths of the
Gospel are of course centred in the Lord Jesus Christ. And they're really centred on
feeding then upon what Christ has done. Spiritual food to rejoice
our soul. and to feed upon that day after
day. Not any wonderful, great, marvellous
revelation. Sometimes people expect these
amazing blessings. Sometimes, rarely, the Lord does
grant it. But it's the exception. Generally
speaking, the Church of God is sustained on a simple diet. And my friends, here was Elijah
sustained upon a simple diet. Sometimes we may become discouraged
because we're expecting some wonderful revelation, some amazing
word from God. We perhaps think that we're going
to be blessed like the Apostle Paul was, or perhaps like Isaiah
was, with wonderful visions. My friends, let's think that
these things are not generally so. It's normally, like it is
here, in this natural way, in a spiritual way, simple fare. And I don't want to give the
wrong impression or underestimate simple fare because, my friends,
in actual fact, feeding upon Christ is the greatest feast
that you and I can ever have. because it is eternal food. It's an eternal blessing. But
nonetheless, to come back to the simple illustration, to meditate
upon the Saviour's life, on his death, on his resurrection, on
his intercession, on his ascension. My friends, they're all there
to meditate upon and to feed our soul. Day by day. Now then, just note that Elijah
didn't just have a meal once a week or once a month. We know that there was that sustaining
on that occasion of 40 days. But generally speaking here,
we read that he was supplied every day. Every day. And what a blessing if you and
I are supplied every day in our spiritual life. As we need natural
food every day, so really you and I need spiritual food every
day. And the barrel of meal wasted
not, neither did the cruise of oil fail according to the word
of the Lord which he spake by Elijah. So the question should
be to us this morning is, our soul being sustained every day? And is our soul sustained every
day by meditating, thinking upon the Saviour? In other words,
the Lord Jesus spoke in the 6th of John when he said, except
ye eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man, there
is no life in you. That really means that if you
and I are to be fed spiritually, we are to feed upon Christ and
to remember more particularly his dying love. Remember on that
Passover night the Lord Jesus came and he instituted the Lord's
Supper, didn't he? Lest we forget. are to remember,
we are to feed upon his broken body, we are to feed and drink
his shed blood, not physically of course, but as we meditate
and realise what a glorious occasion it was when the Saviour died
to redeem his people from all their sins. that occasion which
was ordained by Almighty God, that great and blessed way whereby
our souls shall be redeemed from all our sins and to consider,
as the Apostle says, to consider Him. My friends, let us desire
every day to consider Him. You know, it's a blessing to
be able to come together and to worship and to feed upon Christ
as we worship. But my friends, our worship should
not be limited to just gathering together. It's right to gather
together, it's good to gather together, and it's the way that
the Lord has ordained to gather together. But our religion shouldn't
just be one day a week or just when we come together for services.
Our religion should be every day of the week. We should get
up in the morning desiring to partake of spiritual food. So we may have something to meditate
upon during the day. And our souls may be fed every
day. Now the Lord has promised, you
see, that these things, they won't fade away. This sparrow
meal wasted not in the cruiser world didn't fail. And my friends,
the things of God don't fail. There is a fullness resides in
Jesus our Head, which ever abides to answer our need. Do you and
I know something of that fullness which there is in Christ? I believe
the psalmist David knew something of it when he said, My cup runneth
over. Runneth over as he meditated
upon the goodness of the Lord. So might be so in our spiritual
life, as we meditate upon the goodness of the Lord in giving
His life, that we might have life. Such unworthy sinners of
the earth, sinners who don't deserve anything, to think that
Almighty God condescended to stretch out His arm, stretch
out His hand, and to pluck us as a brand from the burning,
give us the great and glorious gift of eternal life, to direct
us to a suffering saviour and to see how we received our salvation
through his death. Well, we have then an illustration
here, don't we, in a physical way. But my friends, may we turn
it into a spiritual application and recognise the importance
of it But as we need food naturally, so we need food spiritually. And in one sense, our spiritual
food is more important than our natural food. Because our spiritual
food, you see, will do good to our eternal soul. It's not something
which will fade away. And the barrel of meal wasted
not. Neither did the cruiser fail
according to the word of the Lord which he spake by Elijah. And God is faithful and God has
spoken and God has said he will supply all our need according
to his riches which are in Christ Jesus. All our need, all our
spiritual need will be supplied. My friends, that is the promise
of God. Elijah, was resting on the promise
of God, the word of God. And my friends, may we today
rely upon the promise of God naturally and the promise of
God spiritually and to go in the strength of that indeed day
by day, blessed with these wonderful promises. According to the word
of the Lord, which he spoke by Elijah, well, perhaps The Lord
has given us a promise and we have to revert to it very often.
We have to come and say, Lord, thou hast said. And you see,
we can come to our God, we can remind him of those words which
he has spoken. Those words which he has spoken
perhaps in our providential life and also, more importantly, with
our spiritual life. To be able to come and rely upon
the Word of the Lord. Elijah was relying upon the Word
of the Lord. And so may you and I be found
today relying upon the Word of the Lord, that Word which will
never perish, will never vanish away. No, the Word of the Lord
standeth forever. It doesn't fade. The Word of the Lord is established. The Word of the Lord is forever. fail away, everything else might
be burnt up. But the Word of the Lord, my
friends, it does remain forever. Remember the words that were
spoken by the Apostle Peter in his epistle when he tells us,
For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower
of the grass. The grass withereth, And the
flower thereof falleth away, but the word of the Lord endureth
for ever. And this is the word which by
the gospel is preached unto you." My friends, it's a word which
you and I can rely upon for everything naturally and for all our spiritual
life. And the barrel of meal wasted
not, neither did the cruise of oil fail. according to the word
of the Lord which is spake by Elijah. Amen.