I wrote about Elijah and Ahab exactly three years ago, and when we came to 1 Kings 17, I emphasized “God Provides.” This time, let’s look at the guidance part. If Elijah doesn’t follow God’s weird instructions, there’d be no provision.

We left Elijah yesterday, delivering the announcement to King Ahab:

And then this happened: Elijah the Tishbite, from among the settlers of Gilead, confronted Ahab: “As surely as GOD lives, the God of Israel before whom I stand in obedient service, the next years are going to see a total drought—not a drop of dew or rain unless I say otherwise.” (1 Kings 17.1, MSG)

You’ve just delivered that kind of message to an evil king. What do you do next? RUN!

GOD then told Elijah, “Get out of here, and fast. Head east and hide out at the Kerith Ravine on the other side of the Jordan River. You can drink fresh water from the brook; I’ve ordered the ravens to feed you.” Elijah obeyed GOD’s orders. (1 Kings 17.2 – 5, MSG)

“The other side of the Jordan.” Out of Israel. Remember, they crossed the Jordan to enter into the Promised Land. It might have looked like this:

It would be an act of faith to go to a place like this and depend on…ravens? But it worked:

And sure enough, ravens brought him his meals, both breakfast and supper, and he drank from the brook. (1 Kings 17.6, MSG)

It worked until it didn’t:

Eventually the brook dried up because of the drought. Then GOD spoke to him: “Get up and go to Zarephath in Sidon and live there. I’ve instructed a woman who lives there, a widow, to feed you.” (1 Kings 17.7 – 9, MSG)

I’ve always just raced through this. “Zarephath in Sidon” – what’s significant about that? Again, it’s out of the country, into another country. Whose country? Let’s go back to the introduction to Ahab in chapter 16:

Ahab son of Omri did even more open evil before GOD than anyone yet—a new champion in evil! It wasn’t enough for him to copy the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat; no, he went all out, first by marrying Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and then by serving and worshiping the god Baal. (1 Kings 16.30 – 31, MSG, emphasis mine)

Jezebel’s country! We will learn in 1 Kings 18 that Ahab searches everywhere for Elijah. Ahab’s chief of staff Obadiah tells Elijah:

As surely as your GOD lives, there isn’t a country or kingdom where my master hasn’t sent out search parties looking for you. And if they said, “We can’t find him; we’ve looked high and low,” he would make that country or kingdom swear that you were not to be found. (1 Kings 18.10, MSG)

And where is Elijah hiding? With a widow in an out-of-the way village in Sidon. Go figure. You can read about the widow and how God miraculously provides for both her and Elijah in 1 Kings 17.8 – 16.

And while there, God chooses to reveal his power to this non-Israelite in another way:

Later on the woman’s son became sick. The sickness took a turn for the worse—and then he stopped breathing. The woman said to Elijah, “Why did you ever show up here in the first place—a holy man barging in, exposing my sins, and killing my son?” Elijah said, “Hand me your son.” He then took him from her bosom, carried him up to the loft where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. Then he prayed, “O GOD, my God, why have you brought this terrible thing on this widow who has opened her home to me? Why have you killed her son?” Three times he stretched himself out full-length on the boy, praying with all his might, “GOD, my God, put breath back into this boy’s body!” GOD listened to Elijah’s prayer and put breath back into his body—he was alive! Elijah picked the boy up, carried him downstairs from the loft, and gave him to his mother. “Here’s your son,” said Elijah, “alive!” The woman said to Elijah, “I see it all now—you are a holy man. When you speak, GOD speaks—a true word!” (1 Kings 17 – 24, MSG)

Again, we see Elijah as a man of prayer, and God revealing himself beyond the borders of Israel. Jesus recalls the story in Nazareth:

He answered, “I suppose you’re going to quote the proverb, ‘Doctor, go heal yourself. Do here in your hometown what we heard you did in Capernaum.’ Well, let me tell you something: No prophet is ever welcomed in his hometown. Isn’t it a fact that there were many widows in Israel at the time of Elijah during that three and a half years of drought when famine devastated the land, but the only widow to whom Elijah was sent was in Sarepta in Sidon?” (Luke 4.23 – 26, MSG)

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. (Proverbs 3.5, 6, NKJV)