Then

Elijah. No rain. Drought. Enemies. Goes to the brook Cherith. Water! Life!

But.

“And after a while the brook dried up because there was no rain in the land” (1 Kgs. 17:7).

We just keep reading.

But the prophet was without water. The brook dried up. Now what? No direction. And need. Has he been fretting about what to do when it dries up? Has he been seeing it diminish for days with some little apprehension, “Okay, Lord, now what? I can’t go into the villages or they will kill me. If I leave, will you keep providing food? I’m kind of in a fix, so now what, Lord?”

Was there silence on the divine end?

“Lord, water is kind of crucial here…. Food is kind of crucial. Should I pack up my bags and go? Will the ravens come? Go where? Lord??? Lord, if I can pray for the rain to stop and it stops, um, why aren’t you answering and guiding now?”

Maybe Elijah’s faith was stronger. But I have the same God. And I have the same Spirit supplying faith. Maybe the Lord had given him a promise he would provide, but I have the same promises. Perhaps Elijah did doubt. Perhaps he didn’t. But I do. Lord, strength is small. Needs are big. Lord, the time seems imminent. Lord? Wisdom please? Energy? For others—finances? A breakthrough? A relationship reconciliation? Court battles?

“…the brook dried up….”

Lord. Gone. Where are you? Did he glance at the hot sun, beads of sweat on his forehead already? Did he lick his lips, cracked from having eked out yesterday’s water?

“Then…..” “Then the word of the LORD came to him, ‘Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed you’” (1 Kings 17:8-9).

Then! Blessed word! “The word” blessed word, spoken, guidance, answer! “Of the LORD,” YHWH, faithful covenant God!

Then.

In the moment when it seemed too late, the brook gone, resources gone, strength gone, time stretched beyond thin, last straw already on the camel’s already broken back. Then.

Our faithful God. “I have commanded…” He already had made provision. Elijah couldn’t see. The reader peeking into that little desert canyon/wadi didn’t see. But God had been working already. (And another story, but “Sidon” and “widow” would have raised plenty of questions!!! “God, did I hear you right??? Is THAT your provision???”)

Father, Spirit, help me WAIT. Help me have bold faith in the waiting. Help me see you by faith, and trust when I cannot see. Trust even when the brook is drying up, trust when the brook has dried up. Let me recount your faithfulness instead of counting the drops of water left—whatever the brook be in my life season or your life season.

We have the same God. The same providing God, YHWH Jireh. Nor has God necessarily changed his timing. But he is the one who was, and who is, and who is to come, the one and the same. If we have any doubt of his provision, his faithfulness, the cross pours out confidence. He who did not spare his Son, how will he not graciously give us all things? (Rom. 8:31-32). So I praise even with parched lips. I sing even as I sip out of the last. And more—may I not just eke out as if my God was little to provide! But sip, gulp, and trust in Great Gracious God! May I live by your word alone in confidence!