What Do We Do When The River Runs Dry?
Good Morning Friends,
It has been raining in Florida a lot recently and more is projected. In Texas there is flooding and the Seine River in Paris is overflowing its banks. Interestingly the passages we read today are about times of drought in the Bible. Today we explore passages on three Phoenician woman and hopefully gain insights into how they combine to give us a picture of the spread of the Christian faith to the gentiles but also the difficulties during times of spiritual drought. In reverse order, there is a story from the New Testament and it is of Jesus helping a Phoenician woman after she says that even dogs get the scraps from the table. There are two examples from the books of First and Second Kings. One involves Elijah and an evil but strong queen Jezebel, destined to die eaten by dogs. And the focus of today’s devotional which is on a poverty-stricken widow who feeds Elijah. I want you to think for a bit about these three strong women and realize that despite the drama the big story is that God’s involvement with human beings includes all peoples. It is ultimately the story of a wadi that overflows its banks. But this morning we take a step back and request the Holy Spirit to guide the stream of our thoughts as we ask: What Do We Do When The River Runs Dry?
Scripture: Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “Go now to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there; for I have commanded a widow there to feed you.” So he set out and went to Zarephath. When he came to the gate of the town, a widow was there gathering sticks; he called to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a vessel, so that I may drink.” As she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, “Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” But she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jug; I am now gathering a couple of sticks, so that I may go home and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.” Elijah said to her, “Do not be afraid; go and do as you have said; but first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterwards make something for yourself and your son. For thus says the Lord the God of Israel: The jar of meal will not be emptied and the jug of oil will not fail until the day that the Lord sends rain on the earth.” She went and did as Elijah said, so that she as well as he and her household ate for many days. The jar of meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah.
1 Kings 17:8-16 (NRSV)
When Jehu came to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; she painted her eyes, and adorned her head, and looked out of the window. As Jehu entered the gate, she said, “Is it peace, Zimri, murderer of your master?” He looked up to the window and said, “Who is on my side? Who?” Two or three eunuchs looked out at him. He said, “Throw her down.” So they threw her down; some of her blood spattered on the wall and on the horses, which trampled on her. Then he went in and ate and drank; he said, “See to that cursed woman and bury her; for she is a king’s daughter.” But when they went to bury her, they found no more of her than the skull and the feet and the palms of her hands. When they came back and told him, he said, “This is the word of the Lord, which he spoke by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, ‘In the territory of Jezreel the dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel; the corpse of Jezebel shall be like dung on the field in the territory of Jezreel, so that no one can say, This is Jezebel.'”
2 Kings 9:30-37 (NRSV)
From there he set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. He said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” But she answered him, “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” Then he said to her, “For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter.” So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.
Mark 7:24-30 (NRSV)
Message: I have bitten off more that I can chew this morning. It is interesting but more than my mind can put together logically for you to digest. Still I will give it a try as an act of faith as I focus on the story of the poor widow and Elijah in the hope it overflows into the stories of the other two. So here is the setting: Elijah had marched into the palace of Jezebel and King Ahab and declared that there would be no rain in all the land! And what happened? The brook dried up! God had told him that he would drink from the brook, and so for a while he drank from the brook and the LORD sent him food by the ravens. But finally the brook dried up. The effects of the drought were beginning to be felt, even by the prophet who declared there would be no rain. And so with that in mind, God sent the prophet to the home of a widow in Zarepath- in Phoenician country. Here the poor woman believed the word she was given, and did as Elijah said. There was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. The oil and the flour was never used up–as the “word of Yahweh spoken by Elijah” had promised. First, it was the Word of the LORD (Yahweh) that was promising the provisions of life through the drought. That Word could be believed or rejected–especially by a Phoenician woman who had not grown up worshiping Yahweh. But she believed. Many people of Israel did not believe the Word of the LORD, but this Phoenician woman did. And God blessed her faith. One cannot help but recall how several centuries later Jesus visited this same area and met the Syro-Phoenician woman who wanted help. She knew of the tensions between the countries and so addressed him as the Son of David. He tested her faith by saying he was only sent to the Jews. But her response was that even the dogs get the scraps under the table, meaning, she, a Canaanite, would eagerly receive what the Jews did not want. And Jesus marveled at her faith. That Jezebel was eaten by dogs adds another twist to the story. The setting for the stories of these three women is of a land with people who were indifferent and rebellious to the Word of God. At the heart of the message is that no man or nation can neglect God’s truth without dire consequences. It can mean a famine, not just for bread and water, but for hearing the Word. This is not just a matter of what God does to us, but what we do to ourselves, of what happens within mankind that dries us up and hardens us and causes us to ignore and turn away from God. The stories here are about a drought brought by God both physical and spiritual in nature but also of God’s provision.
Pray that one day God’s love will turn the dry wadi’s in the world to flowing streams of righteousness. Pray we realize that God knows where we are and where you’re going too. Pray we have faith that God has prepared a place for us. Pray we lose our pride. Pray that what you have left we lend to God. Pray we believe that obedience brings blessings.
Blessings,
John Lawson
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