Preparing For Victory (Part II)
Elijah is certainly viewed as a mighty man of God. It is easy to put him into a category that appears as “superhuman.” …But was he? We read in James 5:17&18, Amp., “Elijah was a human being with a nature such as we have [with feelings, affections, and a constitution like ours]: and he prayed earnestly for it not to rain, and no rain fell on the earth for three years and six months. And [then] he prayed again and the heavens supplied rain and the land produced its crops [as usual}." Elijah had a tremendous call upon his life, but he had to be prepared each step of the way in the Presence of the Lord. God didn’t give him an outline with a step 1,2,3,… Each step was presented to him as he sat in prayer before God and obeyed in faith (confidence in the Lord). The Word came to Elijah to approach Ahab, a murderer of those who believed on the God of Israel. As we saw, Elijah’s name means “Yahweh is my God.” He declared to Ahab that there would be no rain, “according to my word.” God’s Word had become his.
Elijah began to prepare at the Brook Cherith for what would be his Mt. Carmel victory. He communed with the Lord in his God-ordained hiding from Ahab. All the faith that he needed here was a belief that the ravens would show up on time with breakfast and dinner. After one or two years of preparation, the brook dries up. Oh no, where is Elijah’s provision? This was not his worry. He knew the Provider, the living God. Who or what would the Lord use to minister to Elijah now. God’s Word comes to him, “Arise, get thee to Zarephath…and dwell here; behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.” What? …a widow woman; the poorest among the people. What will people think of me eating off of a widow lady? …That’s not all. Zarephath was enemy territory; a pagan city; homeland of Jezebel; the home of evil Ahab’s father; and 90 miles away. …And Zarephath meant “refinement; smelting furnace; melt; purge; and tried.” If Elijah was going to be “sustained” (fed and cared for), he had to go “there.” (v.9).
We know the story. Elijah obeyed the Word of the Lord. He finds the widow woman, Jezebel’s race, and asks her for water. She turns to go get it, and he asks “for a morsel of bread.” She responds to him that she has just enough for one meal for herself and her son; she is going to eat it then die. Elijah said to her, “…make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and thy son.” He gave to her the Word that the Lord had given to him. The Word declared, “The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth.” She obeyed the Word and the Provider provided! Elijah ministered to this family between one to two years. He would raise her son from the dead. Elijah is moving from glory to glory.
What was God’s next Word? In I Kings 18:1, He says, “Go shew thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth.” Ahab had wanted to kill Elijah. Nevertheless, Elijah obeys, and his great God-ordained victory over the god Baal took place before Ahab and all the people. Praise the Lord! Elijah spent time with the Lord and heard Him speak. He obeyed every command. Mt. 25:21 says, “…thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things…” “A Carmel triumph always presupposes a Cherith and a Zarephath. A Cherith and a Zarephath leads to a Mt. Carmel.”