Sermon Study Guides

WALK THROUGH THE BIBLE

PART 12: ELIJAH: In Whom Do You Trust?

The first 11 chapters of 1 Kings describe the amazing heights, wealth and prestige of Israel under the leadership of Solomon. He started well, but sadly, he did not finish well. After Solomon’s reign, Israel divided into two territories – Israel in the north and Judah in the south.

Ahab, king of Israel, did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of the kings before him. He married a pagan wife named Jezebel, a Baal worshiper, who used her influence to destroy the worship of the God of Israel by systematically killing the prophets of the true God and replacing them with the prophets of Baal. During Ahab’s reign Israel became a very dark place. In the middle of this darkness, God sent the prophet Elijah to bring some light into Israel.

Elijah informed King Ahab and Jezebel that God was about to judge them and their people by sending a drought. God would show them that Baal had no power over rain or anything else they were trusting him for.

After Elijah delivered this message, God told him to hide. While hiding, Elijah had to learn to trust in God and God alone. As instructed by the Lord, Elijah went into the Jordan desert to the Brook Cherith. There the brook provided him with water and ravens brought him food every morning and evening. Eventually, the brook dried up. Now what would he do?

When the stream dried up, Elijah needed to learn a second trust lesson. God told Elijah to go to Zarephath where a widow would feed him. She was more desperate for food than Elijah was, so this became a test of faith for both of them.

God often uses the weak and the most unlikely people to meet the needs of others. God focuses on our humility and availability rather than on our ability.

Elijah told the widow, “Don’t be afraid. Feed me first, then God will take care of you.” God wanted to grow the faith of both Elijah and the widow. Amazingly, she took what little she had and made a meal for Elijah, knowing that if this strange man’s God didn’t act, she and her son would eventually die of starvation. While Elijah was eating, the widow discovered a fresh supply of flour and oil, enough for a meal for her and her son. Each day God provided just enough to meet their needs that day. The supply continued until the rain fell again and the famine was over.

Whatever God allows to come into our lives is motivated by a passionate desire on His part for us to know Him better and to trust Him more.

So how do we build our trust in God?

1. By spending time with God, listening to His voice through the written Word and through the leading of the Holy Spirit.

2. By totally surrendering to God regardless of the cost.

3. By stepping out and responding to God’s call. Just trust God and make yourself available. If you do, God will supply and will bless you with a deep sense of joy and fulfillment.

On Mt. Carmel Elijah challenged the people, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal is God, follow him.” The people didn’t think they had rejected the true God of Israel. They still prayed to Him. But when nothing else was working, they added Baal.

God will not accept our hopping from one god to another.

Study Questions

IN - PURSUE RELATIONSHIP

1. Which one would you like to witness more: the widow's jar never running dry or the showdown at Mount Carmel?

2. Which one is easier to do: put trust in someone or lose trust in someone? Why do think so? Where have you applied this criteria to God?

UP - PURSUE GOD

1. Read 1 Kings 16:29-17:16. What faith lessons needed to be learned through this passage. Which strikes you the most. Why?

2. Read 1 Kings 18:17-21. What does Elijah mean when he asks, “How long will you waver between two opinions?” How does that describe Israel’s spiritual condition? Or today’s? What did God require of Elijah? Why is this important?

OUT - PURSUE MISSION

1. Israel followed Baal because he was the one, to them, who brought prosperity, power and pleasure. Which modern day prophets of Baals do you see? Are you listening to or trusting in any of them? Where do you waver in your trust between God and Baal?

2. How has God brought you to a higher level of trust in Him? Do struggles compel you to press on closer to God, or to put your trust somewhere else? Explain.

Personal Reflection

Who do you know who is experiencing a crisis of trust in people, institutions, or God? Pray about and step out and initiate a spiritual conversation with that person about Jesus and how He can be trusted.

The Word (NIV)

1 Kings 16:29–17:16 (NIV)

Ahab Becomes King of Israel

29 In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab son of Omri became king of Israel, and he reigned in Samaria over Israel twenty-two years. 30 Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the LORD than any of those before him. 31 He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him. 32 He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he built in Samaria. 33 Ahab also made an Asherah pole and did more to arouse the anger of the LORD, the God of Israel, than did all the kings of Israel before him.

34 In Ahab’s time, Hiel of Bethel rebuilt Jericho. He laid its foundations at the cost of his firstborn son Abiram, and he set up its gates at the cost of his youngest son Segub, in accordance with the word of the LORD spoken by Joshua son of Nun.

Elijah Announces a Great Drought

17 Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.”

Elijah Fed by Ravens

2 Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah: 3 “Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. 4 You will drink from the brook, and I have directed the ravens to supply you with food there.”

5 So he did what the LORD had told him. He went to the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan, and stayed there. 6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.

Elijah and the Widow at Zarephath

7 Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. 8 Then the word of the LORD came to him: 9 “Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.” 10 So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, “Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?” 11 As she was going to get it, he called, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.”

12 “As surely as the LORD your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.”

13 Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. 14 For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD sends rain on the land.’ ”

15 She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. 16 For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the LORD spoken by Elijah.

1 Kings 18:17–21 (NIV)

17 When he saw Elijah, he said to him, “Is that you, you troubler of Israel?”

18 “I have not made trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied. “But you and your father’s family have. You have abandoned the LORD’s commands and have followed the Baals. 19 Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. And bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.”

20 So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. 21 Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.”

But the people said nothing.

This Week's Writers: Elsa Henderson, Jorel Quemuel, Dave McMillin, Gene Gibbs