| Overcoming
Adversity(Having an Obedient Faith)Introduction:If you have your Bible, you
might want to open it to 1 Kings 17. That will be our text for this lesson.
We are engaged at this time in a series of lessons dealing with overcoming
adversity. Adversity is the common lot of all human beings. It doesn’t really
matter if you are a saint or a sinner, adversity will invade your life at
some point and time. We are reminded in Job 14:1 that “man that is born of
woman is of few days and full of trouble.” This is a reality that we all know
by ex-perience is true. So, how can we defeat, overcome or rise upon the
adversity that enters our life? We began the series by talking about the
importance of un-derstanding the various sources of our adversity. Then we
talked little bit about anchors that can help us weather the storms of life.
We have talked about trust-ing God and we have discussed the importance of
recognizing, rejoicing and re-flecting. Now tonight we want to talk about
overcoming adversity by having an obedient faith. Listen to me: good things
happen when we obey God. Paul put it like this in Romans 8:28: “And we know
that all things work together for good to them that love God…” Now, two
things: First, Paul in the context of Romans 8 is dealing specifically with
suffering, that is, adversity. Second, we must re-member that those who love
God are those who kept the commands of God. Je-sus once said, “If you love
me, keep my commandments” (Jn. 14:15). So then, scripturally speaking, we can
have confidence in the fact that if we live with an obedient faith, adversity
may creep into our lives, but in the end everything will work out. God will
see us through. This truth is accentuated in the story of Elijah and the
widow of Zarephath. They both experience some adversity but as they obeyed
God, things worked out. So, let’s turn our attention to this biblical story
found in 1 Kings 17.Like a meteor flashing across the sky, Elijah appeared on
the biblical scene out of nowhere. He was prepared to stand up in the face of
danger and cast himself into the crosshairs of death. So then, it is not
surprising that the first picture we get of Elijah is of him standing before
a wicked king and pronouncing judgment upon Israel for her unfaithfulness.
The king was Ahab, the most unfaithful and evil king that Israel had known up
to that time. The judgment was a stoppage of dew and rain, not for weeks or
months, but for years (1 Ki. 17:1). Elijah quickly draws a contrast between
his God, that is, the true and living God of heaven, and the false god that
was being served in Israel, that is, Baal. Baal was supposed to be the god of
nature and in control of the rain, but the truth is he was nothing but a dumb
idol conjured up in the minds of men. So Elijah begins his announce-ment of
the coming judgment by referring to the God of Israel as the one who lives.
Then he throws a jab at the king. Did you see it? Physically Elijah was
standing before Ahab, but he knew that he was in the presence of One far
great-er than this pitiful king. Elijah stood before God and he doesn’t
hesitate to let Ahab know it. Then he announces the judgment of
God.Overcoming Adversity: Having an Obedient FaithAfter this confrontation
with Ahab, God sends Elijah to a place called Cherith, east of Jordan, to
hide from the king. There we see God’s willingness and ability to provide for
his own (vers. 2-6). Eventually, though, the famine in the land had an impact
upon this region where Elijah was hiding out (ver. 7). The rippling mu-sic of
the brook is now silent. The pool of water is replaced with sand and stones.
But even here we see the faith and obedience of Elijah. This drying up of the
brook was a natural result of the famine caused by the lack of rain.
Something like that doesn’t happen overnight, does it? Elijah could see this
thing transpir-ing. He would be able to observe day by day, the drying up of
his only source of sustenance, a development that would in |
