TPC Connections

Sermon Notes

“The Amazing Provision of God!”
7/12/26

1 Kings 17:1-9 “And Elijah the Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word.” 2 Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, 3 “Get away from here and turn eastward, and hide by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. 4 And it will be that you shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.” 5 So he went and did according to the word of the Lord, for he went and stayed by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. 6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the brook. 7 And it happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land. 8 Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ‘Arise, go to Zarephath…and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.'”
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The context here is that, after boldly announcing to Ahab that judgment was coming in the form of a drought, Elijah is commanded by God to flee to the brook Cherith, about 10 miles away.

Interestingly, Cherith means, “cut off” or “a cutting place,” and this describes Elijah’s life in Cherith to a tee.

He was cut off from all human contact and had to depend solely on God to keep him alive!
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Now once there, God sent him front-door, UBER delivery of food by way of a Raven!

Twice a day the Raven would come with bread and meat–and this went on for a full year!

That means ravens “home delivered” Elijah’s daily meals over 700 times!
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So at the Brook Cherith, the Prophet Elijah personally witnessed the repeated faithfulness of God to provide.

But God’s graduate level course in Provision 101 didn’t stop there.

Next God taught Elijah Provision 102 when one day the brook he drank from dried up!

Vs. 7 “And it happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.”

Elijah’s source of life-giving water disappeared.

Now, a person can live up to 3 weeks without food, but only 3-5 days without water.

So the brook drying up was, in the natural, a 911 emergency!
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Let me bring this HOME to us today:

Figuratively speaking—sometimes a BROOK in our own life dries up.

Something you’ve been drawing strength from,

Or something you’ve depended on that is a necessity to you as a person is gradually or suddenly removed!

—You lose a job and the brook of your income dries up.

—Or you lose a friendship or a spouse, and your stream of life-giving companionship dries up.

—Or you lose a place of fellowship that has spiritually fed you for years—and your stream of life-giving connection dries up.

What do you do when your brook dries up?!
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Well, Elijah DID NOT PANIC.

He KNEW that God KNEW his brook had dried up!
So Elijah’s FIRST response was to PRAY about it and WAIT for the direction and guidance of God.

And soon the faithful GOD OF PROVISION spoke,

“Arise, go to Zarephath…and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.”—vs. 17:9

So after one full year at the Brook Cherith, Elijah is moved to his next destination.
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Now remember, he was tested at Cherith which means a “cutting place,”
and now he is moving to Zarephath which means a “melting or smelting place.”

It is a place that is associated with a REFINERS FIRE in a furnace where gold is purified.

In this case, the prophet’s faith is about to be PURIFIED!

And it just so happened that geographically, Zarephath was right in Baals’ backyard!

You see, Zarephath was the domain of Ethbaal, wicked queen Jezebel’s daddy!

So God called Elijah to live just down the road from the evil FATHER of the evil WOMAN, Jezebel!
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But when he got to Zarephath, what he encountered is not what he expected!

Remember, God had told him, “…I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.”

But rather than seeing a widow woman of means who would provide for him—he encountered a sad, broken down mother gathering sticks for her and her son’s last meal.

She said to him, “I’ve got a tiny bit of flour and a smidgeon of oil, and am gathering a couple of sticks to prepare me and my sons last meal, that we may eat it and die.”–vs 12

Though God had told Elijah, “in Zarephath…I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.”

The widow didn’t have a penny to her name, and is on her last meal!
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But Elijah was not moved by circumstances that were contrary to God’s word!

Watch carefully how God met her need.

First, Elijah instructs her to:

Put God first

He says, “Make me a small cake FIRST…”

Her response was, “I’ve got a tiny bit of flour and a smidgeon of oil…”

Look at those words–TINY, SMIDGEON.

Yet Elijah still said, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake FIRST, and bring it to me; and afterward make some for yourself and your son.”

This may at first sound selfish and even cruel.

The mother and son were down to their last meal and Elijah tells her to give it to him instead??

But Elijah was a type of OT Christ.

To give to him FIRST out of the little you have was essentially to put God FIRST.

And this spiritual principle is all throughout Scripture!

Give to God out of the LITTLE you have!

Prioritize God FIRST!
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Then next, he instructed her to:

II. Give what she had

We remember that when Elijah’s future protege’, Elisha, was asked to help another widow who’s two sons were about to be sold into slavery to pay off her debt, the Prophet asked her:

“What do you have in the house?” And she replied, “nothing but a jar of oil.”–2 Kings 4:2

Elisha said, “go get empty jars and pour what you have into them.”
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And jumping into the NT, when Jesus wanted to feed the crowd of five thousand, he asked the disciples,

“How many loaves do you have?”

Their reply echoes the report the two widows in Elijah’s day gave:

“We have here ONLY five loaves and two fish.”

Notice the word ONLY.

Jesus said, “Bring them to me.”-Matt 14:17-18

So the two widows and Jesus’s disciples used the words TINY, SMIDGEON, NOTHING, and ONLY to describe what they had for God to work with.

–Their stories teach us to Give to God FIRST from the LITTLE that you have, and see what He does with it!

Jesus said, “Whoever can be trusted with very LITTLE can also be trusted with much…” (Luke 16:10 NIV).

And, “You are a good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over this SMALL amount, so now I will give you much more.”–Matt 25:23

–There’s a great TAKEAWAY here!

TINY, SMIDGEON, NOTHING, and ONLY seem inconsequential until you give them to the Lord!
Even our FAITH starts out SMALL, like a TINY mustard seed, and grows into a great tree!
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Then, Elijah gave her:

III. A promise to hang her faith on

“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.”—Vs. 13-14

This widow had a choice–She could have said, “Well you selfish man! You want me to give our last meal to you?”

Or she could believe God’s promise of supernatural provision and do what he said.

And she chose to stand on the PROMISE!

God gave her the faith she needed to believe for a miracle of provision!
So making her last meal, she gave it to Elijah.
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And Right there in Baal’s backyard in a dark and trying hour, God took care of his own!

It says the flour and the oil kept on multiplying every time she used it!

“…and she and he and her household ate for many days.”–17:15
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The bible says the drought lasted for 3.5 years,

Elijah was at the brook Cherith for 1 of those years,

So for 2.5 years–912 days–God multiplied the flour and the oil!

Now, you may say, “But Jeff, I just don’t have much to give to God. I’m in a very desperate place!”

But let me tell you about the greatest multiplication miracle of all:

When you give him YOURSELF, And watch what God does with YOU!

In Jesus you will go further, do more, reach higher, produce greater character, and achieve greater things than you ever would have without Him!

The great evangelist D.L. Moody once said, “The world has yet to see what God can do with a man fully consecrated to Him!”

Give YOURSELF to Jesus and see what he does with it!