When Your Brook Dries Up

Think back to time in your life when something in your life, maybe without warning, dried up. Everything was running smoothly, then suddenly, the wheels fell off.

You find yourself in the neurotrauma ICU after suffering a stroke, leaving you wondering what lies ahead. Your until death do us part marriage ends in divorce. The police show up at your door and tell you “There has been an accident.” One day your boss walks in and informs you that your job has been eliminated. After gathering up your personal belongings you quietly leave by the back door, saying to yourself, “didn’t see that coming.” A natural disaster wipes out your entire community, leaving nothing but devastation in its wake.

Whatever the suddenly was for you, it probably left you gasping for air, with more questions than answers. If you are like me, you not only asked the why question, but you likely also wondered where God was in that moment. However, in my journey with God, I have found it more beneficial to ask, “God, what are You doing in and through this situation? What are You teaching me?” rather than simply asking “Why?” He is always at work in and through every situation, wanting to build something good, something of eternal value, in us.

Let’s look at a story found in the Old Testament. 1 Kings Chapter 17 begins with the prophet Elijah announcing that because King Ahab “did more to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him” (16:33), a severe drought would come upon the land. God instructs Elijah to leave town and hide in the Kerith Ravine. The word “kerith” means hidden. Elijah was cut off from the rest of the world. Sometimes God has us in a hidden place, cut off from life so we can rely solely on Him.

God also tells Elijah that the ravens will bring him food and the brook will supply his drinking water. I don’t know about you, but if God told me that birds would bring me my food, and that I was to get my thirst quenched from a little ol’ brook, well, I would have more questions for Him. The text (v.6) goes on to tell us that he had plenty to eat and drink.

However, shortly thereafter, the wheels begin to fall off. We read this in v.7, “And after a while the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.” I am sure that Elijah questioned God. But God had a plan.

In v.8, we find this – “Then the word of the LORD came to him (Elijah).” He sent Elijah to the town of Zarephath; and it was there that he had an encounter with a poor widow in which the LORD (Yahweh) turns what appeared to be not enough into not just enough, but rather, more than enough, not only for Elijah but also for woman and her son. I previously wrote about this encounter. Click here to read that post.

What nugget of truth can we take away from Elijah’s Kerith Ravine experience? It was in that secluded place that Elijah had to rely solely on God’s provisions. And it was in his time of solitude, cut off from the world around him, that Elijah received divine instructions.

So, today, when your brook dries up, when the wheels fall off, know that your faithful and loving God is using it to grow you and make you more like His Son, Jesus, fully dependent on Him. And it might also just be in those moments that you hear His voice more easily.

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