June 06 2010    Reading:  1 Kings 17.1-16

 Theme: Elijah in drought..........

I enjoy watching those survival programmes on the television, every now and then. You know, the ones where they tell you how to survive in the wilderness ....... in the outback in Australia, the bush in Southern Africa, or in the forests of Northern Norway........ experts on survival will tell you the secrets of finding food, water, making fire, making shelter for yourself.

There was one programme in which a helicopter dropped Bear Grylls, the survival expert, right on top of a mountain in the Rockies in America.

He was dropped, with a small cooking pot, and some matches but with - no food, no water, no tent, wearing only a jacket, trousers and boots on the summit of a mountain in snow about four feet deep. He then showed us how

to survive. First, he got off the summit very quickly. Walking, running, sliding down the great snow slopes he reached a forest below.

At the edge of the forest, he began looking for any place where there had been an avalanche....... because there, he told us, there would be wood broken by the avalanche which could be used for a fire, and there would be a clear path made by the avalanche down through the thick forest for a long way, making it easier to get down the mountainside. Sure enough, he found such a place, lit a fire, put some snow in the little pot he had with him, and made tea from fresh green pine needles. Surviving in the wild to make a TV programme.

In 1 King 17 however, we have, not a TV programme, of course, but the real thing. When we read of the great prophet Elijah surviving in the drought this is not for outdoor sport, or for a survival challenge, - this is the real thing - no rain has fallen. Instead there is drought. Instead of green pastures, just brown, baked earth, and when the wind blows the soil will blow away with it. Instead of shade, the leaves have long gone from the trees, and the trees themselves are dried and dead. Instead of cloud drifting by, pouring down refreshing rain...... there is just a pitiless, sun filled sky, and terrible heat from morning till evening. This is the reality of the situation. But what the book of Kings tells us is that in this situation, Elijah was given resources to live, to endure, to survive.

What resources is Elijah given to live, to endure, to survive ?

We see it here in 1 Kings: it is the word of the Lord........ guiding Him, providing all he needs:

we read it here in verse 2 ‘The word of the Lord came to Elijah............’

saying ‘Leave here, turn eastward, hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan,

drink from the stream there, and ravens will feed you’.......

Elijah ate the food brought to him,

drank from the stream........ in the drought, the Lord has given Elijah all he needs to live, to endure, to survive.

Even when the situation worsens: even when the stream at Kerith dries up !

we read in verse 8 that once again: ‘The word of the Lord came to Elijah’ ‘Go west to Zarephath in Sidon and stay there............ I have commanded a widow there to supply you with food’

Elijah goes to Zarephath, and finds there water.........

but the widow he goes to tells him, there is no food - only a handful of flour, and a little oil........’

After the flour and the oil is finished, so the widow tells him, is life itself. There will be nothing left and nowhere to turn !

But read verse 14: once again the word of the Lord comes:

’This is what the Lord the God of Israel says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up, the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord gives rain on the the land’

in the drought and famine there is life, for Elijah, for the widow and her son,

and it is the Lord who gives it..............

Famine. The Bible often speaks about famine, famine in Israel,

famine in the lands round about.......

And the Lord Jesus does too..............

The Lord Jesus says, and it is recorded in Matthew 24, that famines would take place before He comes again. The Book of Revelation, tells us that when the third seal on the great scroll was opened a voice cried out warning of famine.

What might this mean for us ?

Is there a message here today ?

I think there is.................

There is a word here for the Church, I mean particularly ourselves

in Western Europe........here in Scotland

it seems, we have had many good years far more than seven, but now the time of famine is upon us.................

You see - there are some voices raised, beginning to speak of drought and famine in Scotland, and within Western Europe. O yes, we have enough to eat,

but there is drought, and famine all the same, of a different kind

drought and famine of the knowledge of the living God........

Such a drought that fewer and fewer people know of the living God and His purposes, the life He gives.

Few ask about the meaning of life,

So many people think that if they have daily work, warm houses,

and an abundance of material things then they have everything they need in life , then nothing else matters.

There is a kind of drought........... famine among us............. is there not,

Let us turn one last time to 1 Kings 17, and see what final word is there for us:

And when we look again at 1 Kings 17 and the story of Elijah during the time of drought and famine, we find that this is actually a story of salvation

in the midst of famine and drought God saves Elijah, the widow and her son from death,

in the midst of famine and drought God provides Elijah, the widow and her son rich food to eat, that is never exhausted............He gives them life............

God gives salvation, and life.............

Is this not the gospel itself........... ?

Is this not a word for our situation here in Scotland ?

On a stormy winter’s night in the 1920s one of the largest shipwrecks on the coast of Fife occurred. The SS Wearbridge, a large steamship was being towed in towards the Firth of Forth in a severe storm. Such was the strength of the storm that the cables towing it snapped. The ship was now blown north towards the West Bay of St. Monans and, during the night, hit the rocks off the coast. The Coast Guard arrived at the scene and began firing rockets carrying lines over the ship. The first fell short, the next was blown wide by the storm, but eventually after several desperate attempts one rocket went straight over the centre of the vessel, and the line was put aboard. From this first thin line a heavy rope was hauled out to the ship. This rope was, quite literally a lifeline for the ship and one by one the crew were taken off. By this line, running out through the storm, out from shore to ship, from ship to shore, they were rescued.

In the midst of our famine and drought,

God still offers salvation, and gives life............... He has sent us a lifeline,

a strong, enduring, lifeline that will never be broken.........

the lifeline of salvation and life.........

The apostle Paul, once wrote to his friend Timothy ‘Timothy, here are words you can trust - Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners - of whom I am the worst but ........... I was shown mercy..... as an example for those who would believe.........

The worst of sinners, saved. How does this come about ? How does this rescue come about ? Paul tells us, ‘we human beings were far away, like those men on board the ship, we were far from God. All of us have sinned and we were far away from God’s presence.... But God has acted decisively to do something about this situation. Paul explains: at the Cross, our sin and the condemnation that should have been ours was laid on Jesus Christ. At the Cross, Christ Jesus has taken the sin of the all the world upon His shoulders, including our own - and there the sin and guilt that burdens our hearts was dealt with once and for all for. This is God’s loving purpose, so that we might come into God’s presence. At the Cross, He has given us a lifeline in Jesus Christ

And as John’s gospel makes clear !

God has given us a lifeline in the living Jesus Christ

not only for our own drought and famine, here, now,

but for ever:

Our lifeline is in the life that Jesus gives,

so that in this desert, we are fed, sustained, by Him......

fed, nourished in the life that He gives,

for Jesus said "the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. I tell you the truth, who believes has everlasting life. I am the bread of life.....the bread that comes down from heaven, If anyone eats of this bread, they will live for ever."

In the “Parable of the Prodigal Son,” in Luke 15:11-32, Jesus has a very rich promise for us............ in our situation, Jesus tells us that it was during a famine that the young man, the young son, far from home came to his senses. During the famine, he was brought to his senses, made up his mind to go home, and there, on the road near home

the Father was waiting for him, to embrace him welcome him home.

There are many, many round us, for whom the Father waits.

Our prayer is this: that they will, in these dry times, come to know

the wonderful salvation that there is in God

the wonderful life there is in Jesus Christ,

in these times of drought and famine..............He, He, has the living waters for us,

He is the Bread of Life for us, for all,

AMEN.