What Qualities of Faith Are Needed for Desperate Times?

I want to discuss a matter with you that I know is always of great concern to the people of God. As I made mention, as I was going through the sermon last week in Windsor, the sermon I gave you on Pentecost, on how God can change, God's Holy Spirit can change, which seemingly is impossible to change. I alluded to a section of Scripture, and I want to cover that section of Scripture with all of you today. Let's begin by turning over to 1 Kings 17. You're going to want to put a marker there. We'll be going to other places, but we'll be returning to 1 Kings 17 throughout the course of the sermon today. I'm just going to jump right into the story here. 1 Kings 17 and verse 1. 2 And Elijah, a Tishbite of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, as the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be due nor reign these years except at my word. So this is something that Elijah didn't take lightly. He's basically going after not only the king and queen of Israel, but the king and queen of Israel, Ahab and Jezebel, had made Baal worship the state religion in Israel. Now, one thing to remember, and again this goes to the context, Baal was the God of rain. And so when you have Elijah saying, it's not going to rain for a number of years, that is a direct affront to the king and the queen, but also a direct affront to the state religion, Baal worship. 2 Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, Get away from here, and turn eastward, and hide by the brook, Kyreth, which flows into the Jordan. And it will be that ye shall drink from the brook, as I have commanded you. The ravens will feed you there. So he went and did according to the word of the Lord. For he went and stayed by the brook, Kyreth, which flows into the Jordan. The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening. And he drank from the brook. And it happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land. Now let's pause there for a second. Put yourself in this man's shoes for a moment. He's doing God's will. He's obeying the great God. He's doing everything he's told to do. By his mouth, a prophecy goes out saying there's not going to be any rain, not even any dew. This is going to create a famine where people are dying. People are dying because of this great famine. Now, as he's there by the brook, Kyreth, God is providing for him day by day. They're giving him his daily bread, and he's got something to drink. But then, as he's following God's will, as he's obeying God, as he's doing everything God asks from him, God dries up the brook.

Have you ever been in a situation in your life where you're doing everything God, you think God is asking of you, then God just kind of pulls the wall from under your feet? Well, that's not really what's happening here, but that's probably the way he perceived it. That's the way he perceived it. 1 Kings 17, verse 8. And then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there, so you have commanded a widow to provide for you.

Now again, put yourself in Elijah's shoes.

People are dying all around him because of the famine he prophesied. Things are desperate, very desperate. It's a life and death situation. And so what does God do? God says, well, I want you to go to a land which is over 100 miles away. You're going to have to cross through the land that Ahab and Jezebel rule in Samaria to get to Kyreth, or to get to this other city, Zarephath. They're hunting you down. They want to grab you. They want to nail you. They want to kill you. But we want you to walk through 100 miles of their territory. And then I want you to look for this widow woman. Now, God doesn't tell them here at this point. He's going to find out that the widow woman is just about ready to die herself because of the famine being so severe. She's about to start. She's going to go out to try to find a few twigs to make a fire, to take the last of her foodstuffs, make a meal, and then eat it and die.

Now, that's going from the frying pan into the fire. Have you ever felt that way? Have you ever felt that you hadn't even really gotten through one trial? And as you're going through and getting rid of kind of going through the one trial, then there's another trial right on its heels? Layer upon layer, one after another? Brother, I think we've all been there, haven't we?

At Kyreth at the brook, God broke the prophet's flesh. But God taught Elijah to depend upon God. At Zareth, God broke his pride. He's going to have to go rely upon a widow lady. In that culture, in that time, when you rely upon a widow, I mean, they're the most, normally the most destitute there is. This lady was about, she was in the process of perishing.

But we know something about what got in her mind for Elijah. We're here in chapter 17. God is in the process of molding this man. But before God can mold him, or before God can mold us, God has got to melt us. Before he can mold us, he has to melt us.

Little aside, this morning over in Ann Arbor, I made mention of that, and I saw a mother and her grandmother snickering, smiling, laughing. I thought, they must have a different kind of sense of humor. What are they laughing about? And I didn't know until after services, and the young mother came up to me and said, Mr. D, when you said that God has, before God can mold us, he has to melt us. My little boy, who was on the ground, he was playing with his toys, but those ears are listening. They're getting, you know, they're getting everything. They're out there, they're picking up everything. And the little boy says to him, is God really going to melt us?

So you may think they're down there playing with their blocks, whatever the little ones are doing. But those, like my mother used to say, little pictures have big ears. Maybe your mother used to say that to you when you were a kid.

But, brethren, God, before he can mold us, and he is molding us, he's got to melt us with fiery trials. Here we are in chapter 17. God's got to work with us, man, because in chapter 18, in 1 Kings, we're not going to go there today, but in chapter 18, Elijah is going to take on 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah. One guy against 850, and against the king, and against the queen. It's going to be the greatest trial of his life, and the greatest success in his life. But before he can get to that point, God's got to bring him through this point. And, brethren, there's going to be times in your life where you're going to have great victories. But before you get to those victories, you and I are going to have to, as they say, be dragged through the knothole backwards. We're going to have some tough times. God's going to have to melt us down before he can mold us. And you know what's interesting? If you talk about context, God is telling this man to go to the city of Xerathath. You know what the name of that city means? According to Easton's Bible dictionary, Xerathath means a workshop for the refining and smelting of metals. God's going to refine him. God's going to melt him down and see what kind of metal he has, just like God does with us.

So, as I'm thinking about this section of Scripture, as I was thinking about it just flirting with it last week as I was giving the sermon in Windsor, the thought came to my mind, and I developed the thought as I was going through this, and that is, if you're taking notes, you want to write this across the top of your page. What qualities of faith are needed in desperate times? What qualities of faith are needed in desperate times? Brother, let me tell you something. This nation is going down. Every great empire. We've had an American empire like none other, but every great empire, they follow along similar lines. Hard-working, industrious people, normally religious people. They can have any number of types of religions, but religious people, people who are very fervent in their religion, they work hard, they build something, that something becomes very grand, it stays that way for a number of generations, but then other generations will come up who don't appreciate all the work that's been done. And they start living the life of ease. They take things for granted. They just want things handed to them. And then, of course, all the various troubles come in with morality and lifestyles and problems. And, of course, that's exactly where we're at now. We are on the slippery slope of that sort of situation, us and Canada, on the slippery slope of that situation. But God has something in mind here for Elijah. If you would, in your notes, if you go on to put down, I'll read this for you, Ephesians 4 and verse 13. Ephesians 4, 13, one of my favorite scriptures, where it says, "'Til we all come into the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect man, a mature man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.'" That's what God wants each and every one of us to be. God wants us to be mature. God wants each and every one of us to attain the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. And in order to do that, you and I have to first be melted down by fiery trials, and then God can mold us when we've been put into that position. So, brethren, what qualities of faith are needed in desperate times? In the remainder of the next few verses, we're going to see a great many lessons to be learned. Let's take a look at the first one that we see in verse 8 here.

Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, then the word of the Lord came to him, saying. Now, what happened just prior to that? Verse 8 says, Well, verse 7 shows, and it happened after a while that the brook dried up.

So, there is a spiritual lesson to be learned here. There is a quality of faith for desperate times for us to learn in verses 7 and 8. And the quality we see here is real faith. Faith that can endure desperate times will wait on God. Will wait on God to reveal what needs to be done. Now, so many times you and I, we want to jump and do whatever we think needs to be done right now. We will panic. We will take things into our own hands. Now, there was a number of people who lived many years ago in the Scriptures that should give us some warning about that. Abraham, Sarah, Hagar. They didn't wait on God. They took matters into their own hands. And we have the troubles down to our day today. No, if we want to be there faithfully following God in desperate times, we have to realize that genuine faith will wait for God to reveal what to do. Now, that may mean, as we see here, that God says, well, I want you to go over and do this. Elijah did that. And then the things changed. They went south. They went bad. God allowed that.

And God was wanting him just to wait there until the time came for him to move on. Isn't that, in one sense, brethren, the story of the wanderings of the children of Israel?

You know, they didn't move unless that cloud got up and moved. They didn't go in, they only would go in a direction that cloud moved in. They had to wait on God. Put a marker there in chapter 17. Let's go to Isaiah 40, verse 31. Isaiah 40, verse 31.

But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. Do you feel sapped? Do you feel like you got zero spiritual energy? Could it be you and I aren't waiting on the Lord as we should? Are we trying to take matters into our own hands? But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. Why? Because they are taking their concerns to the great God. As it says there in Hebrews chapter 4, I'm not going to turn there. We can take our concerns to Him. We are to come boldly to that throne of grace, to find help in times of trouble, to find help in desperate times. I've said on a number of occasions, talking about the children of Israel, there in Exodus chapter 14 and verse 13, you can write that in your notes if you'd like. I'm not going to turn there. Exodus 14, 13. And Moses said to the people, do not be afraid. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. Stand still. In other words, don't just do something. Stand there. There's a time for us to wait on God. And, brethren, you and I are going to go through some very desperate times. If Jesus Christ indeed is coming in our lifetime, we are going to see the worst times humanity has ever seen on this planet. This planet has seen some really rough times. Really desperate times. Let's go back to 1 Kings chapter 17.

1 Kings chapter 17 verse 9. He says, arise, God says to him, to Elijah, arise, go to Zareth, which belongs to Sidon. So again, he's told to go. He's got problems already. There's no water. People are dying all around him. He's going to have to march 100 miles through the land where the king and the queen want his head. And he's told to go to the city, which means a workshop for the refining and smelting of metals. Again, is that striking very similar to something we saw we've seen earlier in the Bible? When God led Israel out of Egypt, did he lead them by the way of least resistance? No. When God led Israel out of Egypt, he led them on the path of much resistance.

They found themselves at the Red Sea. They found themselves in a place where they thought they were going to die. And there are times in our lives where God will lead us in a path of much resistance. Why? Because he's melting us down so he can mold us. He's melting us down so he can mold us.

So we see another lesson to be learned here. We see another quality of faith for desperate times. And that quality is we must follow God's lead even in difficult paths.

It was easy anybody can do it, right? It was easy anybody can do it. Well, being a Christian is not easy. And the closer we get to the return of Christ, it's going to get harder and harder.

Let's continue to read all of verse 10. So he arose and went to Zarephath, and when he came to the gate of the city indeed, a widow was there gathering sticks, and he called to her and said, Please prepare a little water and a cup that I might drink. Desperate times. And God is calling this person to help them in desperate times. You know, the Bible is full of men and women of God who endured faithfully desperate times. Noah. God was going to wipe out the entire world, with the exception of those who had the faith to get into the ark. As it turned out, it was only eight people. Desperate times. Abraham. Abraham was going to take his son Isaac's life. I think you and I would consider that a pretty desperate situation. David and Goliath. You know, over in the Ann Arbor congregation, I was, as I was giving them the message, it just occurred to me, I was, you know, John Kismalski was sitting in the back of the room, and the hall is owned by the Kismalski family. And I said, John, how tall are the ceilings here? He said about nine and a half feet. I said, well, depending upon which cubit you use when you're looking at the height of Goliath, there were two different cubits were used in ancient times of the royal cubits and the everyday cubit. Depending upon which one you use, Goliath is either 10 feet tall or about 13 feet tall. And I said, can you imagine going up the battle against some very muscular warrior, covered with armor? And I said, in that hall, his head, what you wouldn't see his head, his head is popping up through the roof there. Or if he was 13 feet tall and you're, we think, David was probably 15, 16, 17 years of age. I would dare say that's a desperate time.

You got Daniel being thrown in the lions den. Now, I don't know when last time you went to a zoo and you saw some lions. Last time I was there, I happened to notice their big old paws. They make my hand look small. And then you look at those claws on those things, you know, just one little swipe and you're gone. You're gone. How pop, I don't know what was the name of that movie? There was a book, The Ghost in the Darkness, I think it was called. A story about a group of people, I think it was someplace in Africa, they were building a railroad. I think this was 1898, something like that. British company building this railroad and all of a sudden, employees started disappearing. And they thought it's a lion on the loose. Then they found out, no, it's not one lion, it's two lions, the ghost in the darkness. Now, if you're in the Chicago area, if you go to their museum, you can see the ghost in the darkness there in a museum there. But those beasts were so powerful, they were building stockades around where the workers were sleeping. Those lions are so powerful, they leapt over the stockades, would grab a person, and then with the person in their mouth, jump back over the stockade and go and eat them. They lost something close to 200 people, I think it was, before they bagged both of those lions. Powerful animal. Danielle being thrown in a lion's den. Desperate. Desperate times. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Desperate times. But they had faith that said, you know, even though the path is difficult, we believe in God. We will stay true to God. What did Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego say? Hey, look, even if God doesn't rescue us, we're not giving up. We believe in the great God. If He wants us to sacrifice our life, so be it. Our life is in His hands. Brethren, if you and I don't have that frame of mind, and we're going through some really desperate times in our life, and we fail, maybe it's because we don't have the faith we need for the desperate times. Now, chances are we've all failed in situations like that. I don't, I'm betting we've all failed when it comes to situations like that, but we don't need to fail in those kinds of situations. Let's go back to the story here, 1 Kings chapter 17 verse, the end of verse 9 here. End of verse 9 says, God says, See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you. Now, we don't know how God did this. Did the widow have a vision? Did she have a dream? Did an angel, did Gabriel come down? And since he was the archangel that brought messages that he, you know, give her a message, we don't know how it took place. But we know that, you know, he was going to be there. And notice something else about verse 9. It says, Go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Dwell there. Live there. Spend time there.

Brother, there are times in our trials, in our desperate trials, that they don't seem to ever go away. They seem to be open-ended. We are dwelling in those times. They don't just come for a day, or a week, or a month. Sometimes they're there for some period of time. And so that's one of the challenges we see here. One of the great challenges we see here. And God says, I'm going to give you help from a very unlikely source. From a widow woman, as you dwell in this trial, as you live through this trial, day after day after day, you're going to look to a woman who's just about ready to die herself with her little boy. You're going to be melted down, and then I'm going to mold you. The lesson to be learned there is that many times trials are open-ended. God wants us to learn something. And if we're not learning, the trial goes on. Now, we can think we're learning. I've been there. You've been there. I think we've all been there. Well, God, what gives? What do I need to do? What do I need to learn? Let me learn it. Tell me what I need to learn. We've done everything, but just write a letter to Him. Take it to the post office. What do we need to learn?

One of the things God wants us to learn is the fact that we should depend upon nothing but Him. Not our checkbook. Not our family. Not our friends. Not the brethren. As good as those things are, and as helpful as those things all could be under the right circumstance, the bottom line is it's us and God. And if we've not come to that place where we understand it's us and God, then God will let us get to that place. And that may mean more fiery trials, more melt, the more of a melting process. Let's turn over to Romans chapter 1 and verse 17. Romans 1, 17.

Romans 1, 17.

For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. Do you and I live by faith?

Not by the hand of our mate, not by the hand of our family, not by the hand of the pastor, not by the hand of whatever, but do we live by the hand of God and have faith in Him? And, you know, brethren, this is a highly personal situation. You can't do it for your maid, or may can't do it for you, as we see there in Ezekiel chapter 14, where we don't get into God's kingdom on anybody's coattails. It's on the relationship we have with God. We go back now to chapter 17 of 1 Kings, verse 10. So he arose and went to Xerathath. Notice an attitude much like Abraham. Didn't argue, just left. So he arose and went to Xerathath. And when he came to the gate of the city in Diddawiddo was there gathering sticks. And he called her and said, please bring me a little water and a cup that I might drink. And as she was going to get it, pause for a moment. The lady's dying. She's trying to get the last little bit to have a fire for her home, for her and her child. She has gone through this drought. She has exhausted her food supply. She's probably, you know, nothing much on her bones anymore. And yet God says, the sky's going to walk into your life. We want you to do something. I want you to help him out. And so he comes into town. He says, I want a drink. And as she was going to get it, so she's honoring that, he called her and said, please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand. Now, there's an interesting, and I hadn't thought about it until I was meditating on this this last week, but there's an interesting concept here. An interesting lesson to be learned. This mainly deals with faithful people and with God. And that is, God many times works on both ends of the line. God works on both ends of the line. Let me explain what I mean by that. Here you've got a situation where God wants Elijah to grow in faith. But he also wants the widow woman to grow in faith. Both ends of the line.

In the scriptures, you have a situation where Jacob and his sons needed food. God wanted Jacob and his sons to develop faith. That's one end of the line. On the other end of the line was Joseph. I've got to have faith to provide for all of Egypt and my family that's coming in.

You've got the Ethiopian eunuch in the book of Acts. He wants salvation. He's been reading the scriptures. He wants to obey God. He wants to be a Christian. He wants to live by faith. On the other end of the line, you've got Philip. He wants to do God's bidding. He wants to be a person of faith. He wants to help the Ethiopian eunuch. Both ends of the line are being met.

Now, brethren, we have here in the United Church of God, in every Church of God I've ever been a part of, which only happens to be this and worldwide. God expects us to be brothers and sisters. God expects us to cry when our brothers and sisters cry, to laugh when our brothers and sisters laugh, to be there for them. He expects us to help bear their burdens.

When we give you these prayer requests, and people are wanting help or wanting aid, where the people who are requesting the prayers, they're living by faith. They're on one end of that line. But then, so are we, because the person asking for the help, the assistants, prayer-wise, they're depending upon your faith on the other end, as you're praying, as you're being the kind of person you need to be, so your prayers will help that other person.

Tremendous principle, I think, the one that we need to be fully aware of. Look at Philippians 4, verse 19. Philippians 4, verse 19. Can God do that? You betcha He can. You betcha He can work on both ends of the line. Philippians 4, verse 19. And my God shall supply all your need, according to His riches and glory by Christ Jesus. And my God shall supply all your need. Not all your want, but all your need. Okay, let's go back now to 1 Kings chapter 17. Learn even more lessons. Here we're going to see the woman... whenever you and I are walking through desperate times, there's a thing called doubt. Satan's going to whisper in our ear. He's going to want us to doubt the situation. He's going to doubt God. He's going to want us to be totally consumed with the situation and not with looking to God. Chapter 17, verse 12. And so she said, As the Lord your God lives, I do not have bread, only a handful of flour and a bin and a little oil and a jar. And see, I'm gathering a couple of sticks that may go in and prepare for myself and my son, that we might eat it and die. That we might eat it and die. Now, she realizes that God was wanting her to work with this man. She understands that. But where is her vision? Her vision is that her eyes are on the circumstances and not on the God who controls the circumstances.

Brother, how often has that been true for you and I? As we've gone through life, do we focus 2020 on the circumstances or do we focus 2020 on the God who can do something about it? A lesson to be learned here, a quality of faith needed in desperate times, is to realize that God is greater than whatever our eye can see. We can see real clearly the issues, we can see real clearly the problems, but can we just as clearly see the God who's going to solve those problems or who's going to help us get through the problem, one way or another? Real faith knows that God can make the impossible possible. Real faith understands that God can change the seemingly unchangeable.

Hebrews 11. Now, faith is a substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Not seen. Not seen. What qualities of faith are needed in desperate times? The quality of realizing that God is greater than the physical things we see. That there's another dimension out there. We are guilty of looking at the problem and not looking at the provider. Brother, are you trapped in doubt in some area of your life right now? There's some area of your life where Satan is whispering in your ear and you're doubting God. Does it appear that your situation is hopeless? Does it appear that you are helpless in the situation that you find yourself in? Is that really the case? Or is it the case that we're focusing on the wrong thing? Hebrews 12, verses 1 and 2.

Therefore, we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, what cloud of witnesses is he referring to? He's referring to the people in Hebrews 11. Since we are surrounded by family members, spiritual family members who lived long ago, who were faithful, they were faithful in desperate times, they are our kinsmen, spiritually speaking, therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that has set before us. Let's lay aside whatever things are hindering our faith. What's hindering our faith?

Could it be a mate that is faithless? Could it be friends in the church who lack faith?

Obviously, it could be us ourselves. What is our hindrance? Notice verse 2. Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising his shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Brethren, verse 2 is so powerful, and there are times where I know I have not looked at that as I should. I'm betting you've been equally guilty. Jesus Christ, who for the joy that was set before Him. Now, He wrote in the Scriptures how He was going to die physically. He wrote about His torture. He wrote about His crucifixion. He wrote about all the people who were going to forsake Him, the heartache that brought, the mental trial, the mental duress, the physical duress. And yet, it says here, for the joy that was set before Him. Now, you and I don't think about going through crucifixion and torture as joy. And certainly those things, in a purer sense, are not. So what does the Scripture mean when it says, for the joy that was set before Him? The joy was the fact that He had a relationship with God. The joy was the fact that He understood that His actions were going to make life eternal possible for each and every one of us. That was the joy He had. And because He realized His mission was so important for your sake, for my sake, because He realized that He endured the cross, despising the shame. He sat down on the right hand of God.

So again, we realize the fact that there are times when we just simply don't use what the eye can see.

God is greater than what the eye can see. We need to walk in faith. Go back now to 1 Kings 17. There are yet more lessons here. We've only got a few more verses to go. 1 Kings 17. 13. And Elijah said to her, Do not fear. Go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake from it first, and bring it to me, and after it makes them small some for yourself and your son. Verse 14. For thus is the Lord God of Israel, the bin of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil run dry, till the day the Lord sends rain on the earth.

Put yourself in this lady's shoes. You're dying. Your son or daughter at your knee is dying.

The pastor shows up, says, You know what? I'm hungry and thirsty. Give me some food.

How are you going to respond to that? You know, at first glance, that seems to be one of the coldest comments you can read in the scriptures. One of the coldest comments you can read in the scriptures. But is that really where God was wanting Elijah to come from? What's really happening there? Remember, God is working with not just Elijah, but the widow as well. God is working on both ends of the line. God told the widow woman that a man of God was coming, and that she needed to be at his disposal. Elijah here is not even the point. The point is that he had an office from God. And God wanted her to look at that office, and to her, Elijah represented God. And when Elijah said, I want to be fed first, it was put God first. Put God first. Again, Elijah is not the issue. Put God first. If you want to have the faith that's needed in desperate times, put God first, and then blessings will come. Notice what he said to her. He said in verse 13, do not fear. Do not fear. Elijah is comforting her. He's not trying to be cold. Don't fear. We've got the great God of the universe who's going to be there for us.

Don't fear. Verse 14, he says, For thus is the Lord God of Israel. I've got it on the greatest authority there is, he says. The great God of Israel. Have faith in him. Don't fear. Have faith in him. Then it says there, you know, that little bit of flower you've got, that little bit of oil you've got, that's never going to go, that's never going to stop. You know, there's going to be no end to that. No end to that.

What kind of faith do we need in desperate times? What's another quality? Another quality of faith we need is a faith that demands that are difficult to understand. Faith that demands that are difficult to understand. I'm not talking about a demand from a man. A man can give all sorts of weird and ridiculous things. No, when you see something in the scriptures, and it's hard to understand, but it's clearly in the scriptures, it's clearly in the Bible.

It may be hard to understand, but God says, do that. Do that. Respond in faith, and I will provide. Didn't Abraham find that to be true? When Abraham was about ready to kill his son Isaac, God stopped the whole process and God said, you know, there's an animal, I think it was a ram, they were caught in a thicket or something.

And we see it in Genesis 22 and verse 14 that we even learned a new name of God at that point. We found out that God has the name Jehovah Jira, our God who will provide. Our God, Jehovah who will provide. What is your situation in life? What is desperate in your life right now? God will provide for you in that desperate situation. Verse 15. So she went away and did according to the word of Elijah, and she and her husband household ate for many days.

They ate for many days. Notice, you know, she had had a little bit of rebellion there. She had a little bit of faithlessness there, but she came to her spiritual senses. She began to listen to the things of God. She began to respond in a positive way, and she was blessed. She was blessed.

She ate for many days. Verse 16. The bin of flour was not used up, nor the jar of oil run dry, according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke by Elijah. Brethren, when you picture this story, how do you picture it? I'm sure probably all of us have gone through this story and times gone by. Do you picture that when God performed a miracle here, that when she went and opened up the barrel there that had the flour, do you think that the barrel was completely full of flour? Do you think when she went to that oil jar, the oil jar was so heavy with oil, she couldn't lift it?

I don't think that was the case. Throughout the course of the scriptures, what does God tell us? Give us this day our daily bread. I personally believe, and I don't know if I can prove it from scripture in this particular setting, but I really believe that probably the case was that there was always just a little bit of flour in that flour barrel. Probably just a little bit of oil in that oil jar. And every day, every meal, she had to go and she had to scrape the bottom of that barrel and pour out the last of that, or what she thought was the last of that oil, to make a meal.

Living by our daily bread. But the thing that was miraculous was every time there was a meal, every time she opened up and looked in that barrel, there was more down there. Every time she looked and picked up that oil jar, there was more in there. It was never ending. Living by our daily bread. You know, brethren, there's an aspect of this that relates to you and I. How many times do you and I view ourselves as just an empty barrel?

Who am I? I'm nothing. Well, that's true. You and I are nothing. You know, 1 Corinthians chapter 1 tells us that. But God doesn't want us to stay there, does He? God has given us His Holy Spirit. God wants us to grow and to thrive and to achieve the abundant life through Him. The abundant life doesn't mean that we're going to be rich. The abundant life is talking about spiritual abundance. If God gives us some physical things, fine, but that's not what we need to put our heart on.

When you and I come to the end of our days, have we amassed a lot of toys? So what? We can't take those with us, right?

So here you've got the lady who is allowing and the man, you've got Elijah and the widow woman, and she's not even named here. Here you've got the two individuals on both ends of the line, and God is teaching them a powerful lesson, a very powerful lesson. They traded the certain for the uncertain. The certain was, well, I've got so much flour, so much oil. Forget that. They traded the certain for the uncertain, and they received the impossible in return. There was always more flour, there was always more oil. We see there the grace of God. We see the fact that, Jesus, you and I may think we're empty barrels. No, we're not. God will put oil in us on a daily basis. You know, I've discussed with you in times gone by and other sermons that we need to be asking God for our daily spiritual bread, our daily grace to meet our daily issues. What is your issue right now? When you got up this morning, there was something that maybe was troubling you. There was something that was bothering you. There was something in your life that was an impediment in your life. What is it? God will give you what you need today to meet that challenge.

I'm certain of that. I think if you think about it, you're certain of that. And what are we looking at there? We're looking at God's grace. It is through God's grace that that flour and oil kept on appearing. And the same thing is true for us. God's grace will give us His Holy Spirit to take care of whatever challenge that we need to face today.

Grace is a part of the situation. It was a great situation. We have another president in the Scriptures. We saw where God gave the Israelites manna on a daily basis for 40 years. You talk about a trial. I'm not going to ask for showing offense. How many? Right now we're in a trial 40 years. Now you might say, well, I've been poor for 40 years. I've been fat for 40 years. I've been too skinny for 40 years. Whatever we're going to say, I've not had enough hair for 40 years. I've not had enough teeth for 40 years. But for 40 years, God gave them the manna. For however long, you know, three years roughly, Elijah was at that brook. Ravens of all things. So we're going to bring these big strong brutes from all over the countryside. And they're going to bring in this beef and lamb and all these wonderful things.

The birds brought it in. How did that work? I have no idea how that worked. But God did it. God gave them the Israelites. God gave Elijah. God gave the widow lady their daily bread. Their daily bread. And of course, the great glory of it was the fact that it was a daily situation. So, brethren, today I've asked the question, what qualities of faith are needed in desperate times? We've taken a look at just a few verses, and there's another powerful story here I didn't even get into, where this widow lady's son does die. He does die. And then you see Elijah, God using Elijah to raise him from the dead. The first such instance in all of the Bible.

But we're not going to get into that part of the story today. Don't have the time for that. So let me just recap just a few of the things we've learned today. I've asked the question, what qualities of faith are needed in desperate times? Here are some of the qualities we've talked about today. The quality of waiting on God to reveal his plans. Are you willing? Am I willing to wait on God to reveal his plans? Or are we going to take matters into our own hands?

Another quality is to have the faith needed to walk through difficult ways with God. So we're going to walk through that valley of the shadow of death, hand in hand with God. Another quality is to depend on nothing but Him. And, brethren, I would have to admit, the many times in my spiritual failings, that's been one of the cornerstones. I've wanted to depend on other things.

But the Christians I've known over the years who God has dragged through, you know, not holds backwards, they've gone through all sorts of difficulties. The one unifying thing they've all told me is, you know, Mr. D, what I went through was very painful, but I wouldn't give it up for anything. I said, in unison, say, I learned to trust in God and only God.

I really believe, brethren, until you and I get to that point, God's going to keep on giving us those trials.

We learned, another aspect, another quality of faith for desperate times, is that God works on both ends of the line. We're not in a vacuum. We're part of a family. And we ask for prayers, and we should be asking for prayers. Then God will not only bolster you and your faith, but bolster the people who are helping you, or praying for you, or fasting for you on the other end of the line. We've seen another quality where it shows that God, having faith, that God is greater than what the eye can see. We have faith that sometimes God asks us to do something that's not understandable.

It doesn't seem to click in our minds, but it's not a man who's asking us to do it. It's God. It's in the Bible. Love our enemies. Tough thing to do. God tells us to do it, doesn't he? Trust in another aspect, another quality of faith, the need to do it for desperate times. Trusting in God in every circumstance, regardless of the outward appearances.

And certainly the last lesson that I saw was that the widow woman traded the certain for the uncertain and received the impossible in return.

She traded the certain for the uncertain. She put aside the physical, looked to the spiritual, and received the impossible. She was fed when other people were dying. Her son lived when other children were dying. She received what seemed to be, and her son had died. She seemed to get what was impossible. God changed, but seemingly unchangeable. So the question for you and I today, brethren, is where are you and I with all of this? Where is our faith? Are we ready for what's coming down the road? So many times we've given sermons and talked about how bad it was in 1930s Europe, realizing what was going to happen in the late 1930s and 1940s in Europe with Hitler and all around the world. And it may well be, brethren, we are in very similar age to the 1930s. And yet, what you and I are going to go through, if indeed we're living at the end of the age when Christ does return, worst times the world has ever seen. Desperate times. So the question for all of us is, do we have the faith needed for those desperate times?