The Brook Cherith

Yesterday I sat under some wonderful teachings from the life of the Old Testament prophet Elijah. I thought that I already knew everything about this biblical character, but God knows better than that. Yesterday we came to I Kings 17:1-7.

[1] 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.” [2] And the word of the Lord came to him, [3] “Depart from here and turn eastward and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. [4] You shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.” [5] 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. [6] And the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook. [7] And after a while the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.

In verse one of this passage, we see that Elijah is seemingly brought to a pinnacle of spirituality. As the Holy Spirit revealed to James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, “Elijah… prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth.” (James 5:17-18) Elijah prays fervently, probably for days, that it might not rain. The context here is important, and I hope that you already know something of this story because it is a long one and to tell it properly I would have to start at the very beginning of time (and earlier). Elijah’s country, Israel, was in a period of gross idolatry and rampant wickedness. Moreover, the king of Israel, “Ahab the son of Omri [,] did evil in the sight of the Lord, more than all who were before him.” (1 Kings 16:30) So Elijah prayed that God would strike his country with a drought, trusting that by this terrible judgment his people would return to their heavenly King and Lord. Elijah took no sadistic glee in the suffering of his brethren. Elijah wanted to see his people forsake their iniquities and return to the Lord their Redeemer. So Elijah prayed and pled that God would hold back the rains and dews that were necessary for life in Israel. In fact, before God even led the children of Israel into the promised land, he had sworn that if they were to forsake him and defile themselves with the gods and the abominations of the surrounding nations, he would hold back the waters of heaven. Elijah was merely praying that the LORD God would keep his word, for Elijah believed that the Lord would be faithful to make good his covenant and to keep a remnant of his own.

Elijah prayed fervently. God answered his prayer. Then God sent Elijah to tell king Ahab of his judgment. For six months no rain had fell on the land, and Elijah was supposed to go and tell the most powerful and most baleful man in the country that the drought would continue until he, a nobody from nowhere, would give the word! Would you or I do such a thing? It seems so obviously suicidal. Yet, Elijah, full of the Holy Spirit, obeyed the LORD God and went to Ahab, told him the terrible, no-good news, AND LIVED! Wouldn’t you be at a spiritual summit by now? Prayed, prayer answered. Commanded on a death-errand, survived.

Seeing that Elijah just survived the court visit, you and I, being fallen finites, would expect that some glorious display of holy wrath would now follow. Instead, Elijah is ordered to oblivion. God brought Elijah out of obscurity, lifted him to untold power, and now God orders him to seeming oblivion. I hope you’ve smelled all the paradoxes already because I haven’t taken the time to point them all out. Now oblivion means something like “forgetfulness” or “of or pertaining to being forgotten”, so this is primarily a statement of irony, for the lesson that Elijah was to learn (and we should learn too) was that God had not and would never forget him (or any of his children). This oblivion was to be a time for Elijah to be forgotten by king Ahab and the people of Israel not a time to be forgotten by God. This was a time for Elijah to be tested.

Elijah was sent to “the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan.” Here, the LORD God taught Elijah lessons in obedience, dependence, frugality, humility, and sole communion with God. Ravens brought him food both morning and evening, and he had the brook for water to drink. Yet sooner or later, the brook dried up, and it did so right before his eyes. Daily Elijah saw the blessings of the Lord’s provision, yet daily he saw that one of those bodily necessities, indeed the most important, was subsiding. If anyone was tempted to doubt God, it was Elijah. But “[c]ount it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:2-4)

While I listened to this sermon yesterday, I saw that Elijah’s life shadows that of the Christ’s. Here are a few of those immediate types and shadows and their fulfillment. The Holy Spirit sent Elijah to the brook Cherith and ravens came unto him. In the fullness of time, the Holy Spirit sent Jesus, the Son of the Most High, to the river Jordan, and “the Spirit descend[ed] from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him (John 1:32). “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours” (James 5:17), Jesus was the Son of God (Matthew 4:6). From the account, it almost even seems that the brook Cherith flowed into the river Jordan. Unclean carrion descended upon Elijah, the likeness of a sacral dove descended upon Jesus. Elijah was the shadow, Jesus is the substance.

At times God will lead us through similar experiences. Like Elijah, God might lift us up, he might gift us with power and success, and then the next moment he might order us to oblivion. Yet the LORD God Jehovah has promised in Isaiah 49:15, “Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.” On the cross of Golgotha, the Father forsook the incarnate Christ so that Elijah, so that every last man, woman, or child who believes God and obeys his commands, might never be forsaken. Christ made propitiation for sin, he was a sacrifice to God, that he might bring many sons to glory.

Like Elijah, I am at a Cherith right now. My situation is not allegorical, so I shall not try to interpret every last detail. Neither do I claim that my situation is typological, so I you have no need to cast e-stones. Let’s just say that my situation is analogous. This summer I have been landscaping (just to pass the time, of course). The Lord blessed me with a truck, a trailer, equipment, experience, accounts (a.k.a. lawns to cut) and a will and desire to serve him in this labor. The Lord provided all these things, not without cost and yet wholly by his favor. To say it plainly, in each of these providences I have see Providence. I have been working for several months now, and God had brought me to a sort of pinnacle, but mine was perhaps more so a pinnacle of self-reliance. (Yes, perhaps I’ve even missed the analogy) All was going pretty well. I had worked a lot in the early summer and now it was slowing down. We had flirted with a drought, but God had sent rain. I was starting to get some study and school in every week. I knew I should have all my investments soon covered, and that I should make money the rest of the season. My ignorance and self-reliance was bliss, or so I thought. Don’t get me wrong, I had passed through my ups and downs over the past several months. But I had made it through, and now I had time to take it easy now and then. Pinnacles or valleys, what’s the difference before God?

Thursday, August 3rd I burst a brake line. God was in sovereign control; the line broke when I was starting the truck at one of my accounts and had a buddy working with me. I had a smidgen’ of a pedal, and so I pressed through and finished up my mowing that afternoon. The next morning I had committed to help some friends help their unsaved relatives move to Pittsburgh. I took my truck in to the mechanic’s shop that morning, and helped all day with the move. No biggie, I thought, I’ll have my truck back Monday or Tuesday, and I needed the brakes worked on anyways. I’ve got my investments and equipment payed for anyways.

Then it all started to fall around my ears. I think I may have been ordered to a brook Cherith even if I hadn’t gone to an Ahab’s court. Bad news. Brake lines replaced, still no pedal. Fixed master cylinder, still no pedal. Problem must be proportioning valve. This braking system is really stupid, must be why they changed it all the very next year. Attended Wednesday prayer meeting at church. Asked for prayer that truck would be fixed soon, mentioned that it is costing more than expected, also asked for prayer that I would be able to get my truck and get my mowing done that weekend. Almost didn’t think to even ask for prayer. Two brothers approach me after meeting, “Do you want a Ford or a Chevy?” Praise the Lord! I didn’t even imagine that anyone would lend me a truck. (Note to self: Self-reliance doesn’t figure in God.) Am humbled, blessed, can’t hardly think strait. Drove home in a shiny Silverado. Let’s see if a used proportioning valve will fix problem. If it doesn’t fix the problem, we’ll have the problem isolated. Fatherly friend gave good advice and a pecuniary gift too. Decided to save some money, went to junk yard, slithered under trucks, got valve off in poring rain. Looked like a tramp by now. Clambered into shiny truck. Drove through the streets, now rivers, to shop. Good thing truck haf some genuine brawn to it. Mechanics clean up valve. More rain, tornado warnings too. Valve doesn’t fix all the problems. New one should. Valve won’t come until Monday. Mowed lots of grass, lots of lots of grass. Returned truck Sunday. Sermons deeply applicable. Spent all morning writing post. New valve good. Truck fixed. Blocked in garage now. Should be able to pick her up soon. Faith strengthened throughout. Transfixed by God’s transcendence. [Maybe you're wondering about me being an English major too]

Post Scriptum: I didn’t really conclude my analogy. My pinnacle, unlike Elijah’s, was one of self-reliance. Elijah had done great things for God. I thought I was doing great things for God. Thankfully, God is the refiner, and not all of my dross will tarnish the silver, for I believe that God did in fact smelt some silver out of my life these past several weeks. I was practically living out the maxim, “God helps those who help themselves”. Now, by God’s grace alone, I am living out the scripture, “…the Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame.” (Isaiah 50:7) Which is more manly, which is more glorious, which is more stalwart? The therefore’s say it all, they magnify the Lord God of the passage. O, isn’t it awfully, painfully, wonderfully plain? To depend on God, is to manfully defy the world, the flesh, and the devil; it is to set your face like a flint and know that you will not be put to shame.

And yet, our brooks, both Elijah’s and mine, are much the same. Yes, his was east of the Jordan, and mine is west, but our lessons are the same. Elijah was taught to obey God; I am being taught to obey God (O Lord, I will go wherever you lead me, however you lead me, at whatever pace you lead me; as long as it is you that leads, I will follow.) Elijah was made to depend on God; I am being made to depend on God. (O Lord, it might seem like my finances are subsiding, but morning and evening you send food by the ministries of the Holy Spirit, the word of truth, and your servants here on earth… and hard earned wages as well.) Elijah learned frugality; I am learning frugality (O Lord, I will scramble under trucks, I will get the proportioning valve myself, just let me never loose sight of the ravens and the dove.) Elijah was humbled by God; I was humbled by God. (O Lord, how can you be so kind as to provide a temporary truck… and I didn’t even ask for it?!) Elijah was made to commune solely with God; I have been made to commune solely with God. (O Lord, you know my situation; you have a plan for me, and you are working that plan even now; continue to help me to trust in you alone.)

My past week has reminded me of the poem, The Vally of Vision. I’ll see if it is fine to post it here.

*****About the odd graphic*****
This is an illustration I came up with for this story in Elijah’s life. The mountain is the pinnacle of power and success. The valley is the seeming humiliation at the brook. I have pictured both the morning-raven and the evening-raven. The squiggles just indicate that I am not illustrating anything before or after this story.