When the Cherith Dries Up

Now Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.”

And the word of the LORD came to him:  “Depart from here and turn eastward and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan.  You shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.”

So he went and did according to the word of the LORD. He went and lived by the brook Cherith that is east of the Jordan.   And the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.

And after a while the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land. 1 Kings 17:1-7 (ESV)

Elijah, one of the more dramatic biblical figures, appears on the scene of the Old Testament without a recognizable genealogy or a long list of credentials.  He shows up abruptly before the wicked King Ahab, and declares the truth that God had shown him.  “It is not going to rain until I say it’s going to rain.”  Under the kingship of Ahab and his infamous queen Jezebel, the people of Israel had rejected the true God and began worshiping the false god’s of Baal.  The bible tells us that Ahab had done more to anger God than all the kings before him.  Elijah fearlessly and boldly confronted the most powerful man in Israel with this prophetic proclamation from God.

Elijah would go on to fill pages of scripture as a healer, miracle worker, king breaker and, above all as an ardent opponent of Baal worship.  He shows up out of nowhere, leaves this earth when a chariot of fire and horses of fire appear and lift him up in a whirlwind, only to appear again centuries later on the Mount of Transfiguration with Jesus and Moses. To be sure, he is not an insignificant biblical figure.

  

Elijah confronts the king, God brings the promised drought, and along with it comes the wrath of Ahab and Jezebel toward the prophet. 

But God leads Elijah to a brook called Cherith.  As the drought becomes worse, God provides water for Elijah from the stream, and has the ravens bring him bread and meat a couple of times a day.  It’s amazing how even the birds of the air hear the voice of the Creator and respond in obedience.

So, Elijah spends the first part of the drought that he had prophesied alongside of Cherith, with his own personal Perrier bubbling up, and ravens delivering whatever nutrients were required for the day.  He is safe from the fury of the king as well as the people of the land who blamed him for the skies drying up.  Elijah is being refreshed spiritually, emotionally and physically in this little Cherith oasis in the midst of a suffering nation crying out to the fertility god Baal for rain to cover the land.

But, after a while, the Cherith dried up.  We don’t know if it happened quickly, and Elijah woke up one morning to a dried up creek bed, or if he watched the water gradually disappear.  Either way, it must have been disheartening and even devastating to watch the sanctuary God had provided for him to no longer have the ability to support even his most basic needs.

Now, I do not pretend to know what Elijah thought when his Cherith dried up, but I know the kind of thoughts I would have.  I know because God has dried up a few Cherith’s in my life. 

 

I am convinced that the God I serve is rich in grace and mercy and, in that grace and mercy, he provides Cherith’s for all of his children as we journey through the highs and lows of a life that does not always go as smoothly as we would like.  There are struggles.  There are difficult times.  There are loses.  There are times when we feel abandoned and alone. 

 

Being a follower of Christ does not make us immune to the pains that come from walking in a fallen world.  Just read of the things Paul and the other apostles had to endure.  But in the midst of it, God provides Cherith’s.  Places or people…moments or years…where God says to stop and be refreshed.  Times when our Father says, “I know the road is hard at times, but stop here to be refreshed spiritually.  Pull over here for a moment to be rejuvenated emotionally.  Stay here and let your body be strengthened and healed.  I’ve got a nice little brook for you, and some birds I want you to meet.”

There are not many Elijah’s out there, but my Father cares for each of his children as if we were.  And he gives us our own little Cherith’s along the way.  It might be a momentary, chance encounter in a store, or a well-timed phone call.  It could be something more long term like a job or a church.  It could be a person or a group of people.  It could be periods of financial security or physical well-being.  The Cherith’s God places in our lives are as varied as his children, because each of us has our own pilgrimage and our own needs along the path.  The Father deals with each of us specifically, not randomly or generically.

But what happens when the Cherith dries up?  What happens if the job is lost?  Or the friend or family member leaves or dies?  Or the bank account begins to dwindle?  Or when you get concerning medical news?  Or when a virus paralyzes the world?  

What happens when the Cherith dries up?  For Elijah, God provided the Cherith brook to protect him and to revive him.  But the same God who provided the Cherith brook, also allowed the water to dry up.  The bubbling little creek, became a sun baked, barren bed of clay.  

Did I mention that Elijah confronting Ahab, and retreating to the Cherith brook is only the beginning of Elijah’s story? 

When Elijah’s Cherith dried up, scripture doesn’t tell us his thoughts, and we are left to speculate.  Perhaps he was mad at God.  He may have questioned God or felt abandoned by God.  It’s possible that he felt like he had displeased God or sinned against God or not prayed the right way or not done the right things.  Again, I am replacing my experience with dried up Cherith’s with how Elijah may have felt.  And, my guess is, unless Christ returns before I go home, my departure will not be quite as dramatic as Elijah’s.  Perhaps his response would have been more trusting, more spiritual, and less questioning of God. 

I don’t know.  But what I do know that even as the Cherith was becoming as dry as the rest of Israel, there was a widow about eighty miles north of him who was rationing the last of her food for her and her son.  Her plan was for the two of them to eat as long as the food lasted and then to curl up and submit to the seemingly inevitable.

The Cherith dried up, Elijah turned to God and asked what he was supposed to do next. He was told to head north because there was a widow who would provide for him.  As far as we can tell, he wasn’t told that the woman was making one final meal for her son before they died.  But Elijah was obedient, traveled north, and found the woman with a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug.  We’re told that Elijah, the woman and her son ate from the tidbit of flour and the dregs of the oil for many days. 

 

Notice this. The Cherith was never meant to be the destination.  It served a purpose for a season in Elijah’s life to revive him spiritually, emotionally and physically.  It protected him as God prepared him for what was to come.  Had the water kept bubbling up, and the ravens kept bring food, Elijah could have made it his permanent dwelling place.  Elijah could have immersed himself in the luxury of the Cherith while the woman made one tiny, final meal for her and her son.  Elijah could have been washing down ribeye’s with cold water as the woman went through the agony of starving to death and, even worse, watching her son slowly waste away to nothing and die.

The Cherith was never meant to be the destination.  While, through Elijah, God was feeding the three of them for many days by miraculously multiplying food that would not have been sufficient for even a small meal, the son of the woman dies.  But Elijah was there, and he was there because his Cherith had dried up.  Elijah prayed and, as he prayed, death bowed it’s knee to the heavenly appeal of this Spirit filled servant of God, and the child was brought back to life. 

Let me say it again.  The Cherith was never meant to be the destination.  In the next chapter of 1 Kings (1 Kings 18), Elijah confronts King Ahab and 850 prophets of the Baal gods.  It’s one of my favorite stories in the bible.  In the end, Elijah challenges them to a contest.  Eight hundred fifty prophets of Baal against one man of God.  Elijah would build an altar, and they would build an altar.  Elijah would pray to his God, and they would pray to their God.  The rules were pretty simple.  Whichever God answered by fire, that God is the true God.  Nothing happened when the eight hundred and fifty Baal prophets spent the day jumping around and shouting out to their god.  Toward evening, Elijah had them pour twelve barrels of water on his alter, and when he prayed, the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the offering and the wood and the stones of the altar.  The fire also licked up the water and annihilated the dust around the altar.  That’s a hot fire that will burn up stone and dust.  And, for a moment anyway, the people of Israel declared that God was the true God.

Be patient with me as I say it again.  As great as the Cherith was.  As refreshing and welcome and rejuvenating as it was.  The Cherith was never meant to be the destination.  There was a widow and her son who needed to be fed.  The son needed to be raised from the dead.  And Baal, the false god that had infiltrated the people of God, needed to be defeated.  Elijah would never have done any of these things if the Cherith brook had not dried up.

When the Cherith dried up, Elijah was not being punished. God had not abandoned him or forsaken him.  Elijah had not sinned or displeased God.  The Cherith dried up because it was never meant to be the end of the story.  The Cherith was only there to rejuvenate Elijah so that he might be to write part of God’s story.

So, my friend, when our Father provides Cherith’s in your life, recognize them for what they are and use them.  Refresh yourself in them.  Revive yourself in them.  Revitalize yourself in them. And, as you soak up what God is providing for you, praise him for his kindness, and worship him for his provision.

But when the Cherith dries up, hold your head high. It might be disappointing, and it might hurt, but  God has not forsaken you.  He has not left you alone, and he is not mad at you.  You have not displeased him.  Your Cherith has dried up because the Cherith was never meant to be the destination.  They are merely moments…or a seasons… where God, in his goodness, brings restoration to our lives.  When it dries up, move toward the people he has for you to minister to, and into the victories he has for you in the battles with the false god’s of this generation.  Use the rejuvenation of the Cherith to propel you, and allow the Father to draw on the canvas of your life those things which most glorify him.