From His Heart

Dr. Jeff Schreve: Can you relate to doing something that you feel like God wants you to do and running into tremendous opposition? I mean, it just seems like the bottom drops out and you scratch your head and you can't figure it out. And it's like, "Why, God? Why is this so hard? I'm doing Your will, and yet it seems like You don't want me to do it because there is such tremendous opposition." What do you do when your brook runs dry? That's what happened to Elijah in 1 Kings, chapter 17.

Guest (Male): When the Old Testament prophet Elijah waited on God's provision and obeyed His voice, he saw God work miracles through his dry brook period. Is this possible for us when our brook runs dry too? Absolutely. Thank you for listening to From His Heart today as we begin the second message from Pastor Jeff's dynamic series, Holy Boldness: Lessons from Elijah, the Prophet of Fire.

As we're in this series this month, if you miss any, you can go online to listen again once it's aired. You go to FromHisHeart.org and click the listen link. Now though, open your Bible to the book of 1 Kings, chapter 17, as Pastor Jeff begins to explain God's plan for you when your brook runs dry.

Dr. Jeff Schreve: William Carey was the missionary to India. He was born in 1761 in England. He became a Christian when he was in his later teens and he had a desire in his heart to share Christ outside of the confines of England, and God led him to the land of India. He's famous for saying this, he's called the father of modern missions, but his famous saying was, "Expect great things from God and attempt great things for God." And that's how he lived.

When he was getting ready to go to India, I mean, it was exciting. "We are going to venture out and the gospel continuation of Acts and we're going out and we're going to share Christ in India." Well, his wife didn't want to go. They had three boys, four years old to eight years old, and she was pregnant. And he said, "Well, we need to go." She said, "I don't want to go," but he knew that they had to go and, back in those days, the wife didn't have a lot of say, so she reluctantly went.

They were on the ship for five months. She got seasick most of the time. She's big and pregnant and had her baby on the ship. When they got to India, Carey hadn't calculated how expensive it was going to be for him to live, and within two months, they ran out of money. They moved five times in seven months.

Carey got malaria and his little son Peter got dysentery, and he got it so bad that he died. Seven months into the journey, he's burying his youngest son, Peter, and the strain was too much for his wife. And the depression turned into full-blown mental illness, and she was never the same. She never got out of the mental breakdown, nervous breakdown she had. She ended up living the end of her life secluded in a room, restrained to a bed so she wouldn't hurt herself.

In the midst of all of this, William Carey, where he felt like God wanted him to be, burying his son, dealing with his wife and with no money, he said these words: "This is indeed the valley of the shadow of death to me."

Can you relate to doing something that you feel like God wants you to do and running into tremendous opposition? I mean, it just seems like the bottom drops out. It seems, as we're going to study today, like your brook runs dry. And you scratch your head and you can't figure it out and it's like, "Why, God? Why is this so hard? I'm doing Your will, and yet it seems like You don't want me to do it because there is such tremendous opposition."

When God called me into the ministry, one of the things that I knew I needed to do was go to seminary. I didn't want to go to seminary. I thought, man, when I got graduated from UT in 1984, I was singing that song, "School's Out for Summer, School's Out Forever." I thought I was done with school and then God calls me in the ministry and I talk to my pastor and I said, "God's called me in the ministry," and he said, "A call to preach is a call to prepare. You need to go to seminary." I was like, "Ah, don't want to do that." He said, "You need to."

And so Debbie and I talked about it and we prayed about it and God led us to North Carolina. So I resigned my job. God called me in July of 1995 into the ministry. I resigned from my job at the end of May and we went in June to Wake Forest, North Carolina, to go to seminary. And man, I was all excited. "Hey gang, we're going and we're following God and we're like Abraham, we're just going out there and we know we're stepping out of the boat and God is going to do great and mighty things." And I get to seminary and there are no opportunities for me to preach, no opportunities to teach.

I had this vision that everything, the heavens were just going to open and people were going to be so excited to meet Jeff Schreve and they're going to want him to preach and pastor and pretty soon I'd be pastoring a church of thousands and all that stuff. There was nothing. The only opportunities came to Debbie. People heard she could sing, they wanted her to sing. I was like, "Hey, we're here because of me, not because of her." And man, I just felt like the brook had dried up. "God, what's the deal? God, how come You're not coming through? God, I don't understand."

What do you do when your brook runs dry? That's what happened to Elijah in 1 Kings, chapter 17. If you remember, Elijah is somewhat of a mountain man from a little place called Tishbe on the other side of the Jordan River, and he has a heart for God and God calls him to confront wicked King Ahab and his wicked wife, Jezebel, and they are turning Israel into a place of Baal worship. And Elijah, whose name means "The Lord is my God," he comes and confronts Ahab and says, "There's not going to be any rain. I stand before the Lord who is God. There's not going to be any rain on the land except by my word." And it didn't rain for three and a half years.

And God took Elijah after he confronted Ahab. Ahab is worshipping Baal. Baal is the god of fertility, Baal is the god of rain. And God goes right after their false god and says, "I'm going to show you who God is." And so after Elijah confronts Ahab, then the Lord tells him, "Go to the brook Cherith, which is on the other side of the Jordan River, which is not that far from Tishbe where he was from." And He says, "Go there, hide yourself there, and I will command the ravens to provide for you."

And it says in verse six, "And the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he would drink from the brook. And it happened after a while that the brook dried up because there was no rain in the land." Well, part of that is like, okay, that's going to happen because there's no rain and Elijah, that was what you told them and so that was your prayer, but now that's hitting you and your brook dried up. What do you do when your brook dries up? When you're where God wants you to be, but there's no water?

I want to give you a threefold action plan because all of us, if we live long enough and walk with God long enough, we're going to find ourselves in a situation where the brook dries up and then we ask ourselves, "What do I do now?" Threefold action plan for when your brook dries up.

Part one: you remind yourself that God has not forgotten you. When the brook dries up, that's when the devil moves in. And the devil will whisper in your ear and say, "Ah, you're following God. You're serving God. You're going where God wants you to go. Well, look at this. There is no water for you. The brook has dried up. Maybe you misunderstood God. Maybe you didn't really understand what He told you to do. Maybe you're in the wrong place because how are you going to survive if there is no water?" The devil moves in when the brook dries up.

That's what happened to me in seminary. When my brook dried up, the devil moved in and all the excitement of moving to North Carolina with no job, just stepping out on the Word of God and taking my wife and my three girls there and trusting God, all that stuff started to fade. The vision began to fade because there wasn't anything going on. And I was just disillusioned. I was like, "God, why'd You bring me here? I'm not doing anything. I had a better ministry in Houston when I was working and providing for my family and now I just have part-time jobs and we're living on less than a third of the income that I had before, and there's no health insurance because there's no money for that. God, why'd You bring me here?"

I remember calling my pastor from Houston and I said to him, I said, "I'm really discouraged." And he said, "Well, tell me about it." So I told him. I said, "There's just no opportunity here. I don't know why I came here." He said, "Any scripture come to mind?" I said, "The only one is Job 2:9, 'Curse God and die,' and I said, that's not a good one. It's not a good one." I was in that place where I thought God had forgotten about me. Have you ever been there? That's a lie from the devil. God doesn't forget you. That's why the very first thing you need to do when your brook dries up, you need to remind yourself God hasn't forgotten me.

Guest (Male): We'll continue to explore this truth when Pastor Jeff Schreve returns on From His Heart in just a moment. The lesson is called "When Your Brook Runs Dry" and it's from the series Holy Boldness: Lessons from Elijah, the Prophet of Fire. Now, holy boldness, these are two words that so aptly describe the life of the prophet Elijah. Elijah walked with God, took a strong stand for God, and made a great difference for God in his day. And the Lord is calling you and me to do the same in our troubled world.

Pastor Jeff's Holy Boldness series will teach you how to stand strong in your faith regardless of the circumstances. You'll learn how to pray with power, how to overcome the darkest days, and how to find real joy and real peace in the promises of God. This Holy Boldness series and the booklet Unveiling the Mystery of Prayer are our thank you gifts this month for your support of any amount.

And it's because of the faithful and ongoing support of our listeners that we're able to continue to share God's Word around the world each and every day. Pastor Jeff receives no income from this ministry. He's our chief volunteer. So thank you for your gifts this month to help us continue to be a bold witness for Christ to a lost and a hurting world. Call 866-40-BIBLE to make your gift, 866-40-BIBLE, or go online to FromHisHeart.org. Now let's get back to today's lesson, "When Your Brook Runs Dry."

Dr. Jeff Schreve: Isaiah chapter 49, such a great passage where the scripture says this, "But Zion said, 'The Lord has forsaken me and the Lord has forgotten me.'" Here's God's response to that: "Can a woman forget her nursing child and have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you. Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands." If you belong to Jesus Christ, He has engraved your name on the palms of His hands. He's inscribed you on the palms of His hands, on His nail-scarred palms. He can't forget you.

A woman wouldn't forget her nursing child, but even if she does, God says that doesn't mean I will, because you're right there, right there before Me all the time. God hasn't forgotten you when the brook dries up. So you and I need to remind ourselves, God hasn't forgotten me, and the Lord is in charge and He knows what He is doing. I don't know what He's doing. I don't understand, but God knows what He's doing and God is in charge. And so I don't need to worry or fret or believe the lies of the devil.

I love what William Carey said. I read you just the first part of his quote, but his whole quote was this: "This is indeed the valley of the shadow of death to me, but I rejoice that I am here notwithstanding, and God is here." It would have been very easy for William Carey in the death of his son, in the situation with his wife and all the difficulties financially, it would have been so easy for him to say, "I just think I missed the boat. I need to get back to England. This is an awful place." But he knew that God called him there. He knew that God was there, and he could still praise the Lord and trust the Lord. He stayed there for 41 years. He never had a furlough. 41 years of ministry. He translated the Bible into six different dialects and God used him in such a tremendous way. He's the father of modern missions.

What do you do when your brook runs dry? Very first point of the threefold action plan: you remind yourself that God has not forgotten you.

Secondly, you wait for God to show you the next step. So here's Elijah. "Lord, I'm here. I'm at the brook Cherith. You told me to be here. And Lord, it's been awesome because the ravens, those dirty birds, those scavenger birds, they've been coming and they've been dropping food morning and evening, and I've been drinking by the brook. But God, now the brook has dried up and, Lord, unless the ravens start bringing water jugs, I'm in trouble here. I can't make it here. So what do You want me to do? What am I supposed to do now?"

Well, let me tell you, when you are in that situation and your brook dries up, let me tell you the first thing you don't do. You don't take matters into your own hands and say, "Well, okay, I know how to solve this problem. I can't stay here. I'm going to go to a place where I know I can find some water. Lord, I'm going to take the wheel now, and we're going the way I want to go because the way You wanted to go is not working anymore." Don't do that. You're going to be tempted to do that. I'm tempted to do that when the brook runs dry, but don't do that.

Proverbs 3:5 and 6 says this: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path." You wait for God to direct your path. You don't take matters into your own hands. You know who's the poster child for taking matters into his own hands when his brook went dry? Abraham. Abraham, who is known for his faith, he's the father of all who believe. Abraham, as the scripture says, he believed God and his faith was counted for righteousness.

Abraham was in a situation in Genesis chapter 12 when his brook ran dry. I mean, he had left Ur of the Chaldees with his wife and with Lot, his nephew, and they had traveled to the promised land, the land flowing with milk and honey. And he's there where God wants him to be, but then it says in Genesis chapter 12, verse 10, "Now there was a famine in the land, so Abram," he was Abram before he was Abraham, "went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land." He hits the famine. It's like the brook running dry. And he says, "Well, this isn't any good. I hear they have food in Egypt, and so I'm going to just get myself down to Egypt and I'm going to hang out there for a time."

God didn't want him to go to Egypt. God never told him to go to Egypt. Egypt in the Bible is a picture of sin. And Abraham sinned when he went down into Egypt because if you know anything about the story in Genesis chapter 12, when Abraham went down to Egypt, one of the things he had to do was tell a lie. And he told his wife, "Now when we go see Pharaoh, you make sure to tell him you're my sister, not my wife, because you're a good-looking woman and he's going to take one look at you and he's going to say, 'I want you for my harem.' And if he knows I'm your husband, then he's going to kill me. And so just say you're my sister so that it will go well with me." So he goes down to Egypt, he lies and deceives down in Egypt.

It's a terrible thing that happened to him. He takes Lot, his nephew, down to Egypt, and Lot is polluted. Egypt is a picture of sin. Egypt is not a good place. And so Lot goes down to Egypt and Lot gets polluted by Egypt. And one of the reasons why we read in Genesis chapter 13 that Lot pitched his tent towards Sodom is because he said, "It's like the land of Egypt. It's like the garden of the Lord, like the Garden of Eden and like the land of Egypt, and I love Egypt and so I'm going in this direction." And he pitched his tent toward Sodom and that ruined his life. It came about because Abraham made a bad decision, because Abraham took matters into his own hands.

Don't do that. Don't do what he did. Do what Elijah did. Stay put and stay attentive until God brings new orders. "There's nothing going on here, Lord. The brook has dried up." And he waited until verse eight when the word of the Lord came to him saying, "Arise and go to Zarephath." He waited there. He stayed put and he stayed attentive. His eyes were on the Lord and he waited for God to give him instructions.

Now the scripture says this in Psalm 27, David said, "I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord. Be strong and let your heart take courage. Yes, wait for the Lord." We don't like to wait for the Lord. Don't like to wait for anything. We don't like to wait for our food. I mean, in today's world, everything instant, instant, instant. You go to a grocery store and these are some of the items that you see: instant coffee. It's instant coffee crystals. You don't have to wait. It can just be instant.

But not only is there instant coffee, there's also instant breakfast. Carnation Instant Breakfast. Just bam, you want breakfast, here it is in an instant. But not only do you have that, but you have instant mashed potatoes. Now, if you know anything about making potatoes, you know that you've got to cook the potato before you can mash the potato and that takes a long time. I know sometimes we would have baked potatoes and if you don't get them in the oven, I'm told this, I don't really know about it, if you don't get it in the oven a long time out before dinner, it's not going to be ready. But not with instant mashed potatoes.

You say, "Jeff, I don't eat potatoes. I'm a rice man." Well, they have instant rice. I mean, it's instant everything. And so we come to this instant, instant, instant, instant, and you know what? We want instant God. We want instant answers to our prayers. We want God to be like a microwave. You know, you just put in your prayer and you punch the button and you have about 30 seconds or 60 seconds of prayer and then bing! It's ready. Here's God with your answer. Let me tell you something about God. He doesn't use a microwave. He uses a crock pot. Have you found that out about God? "Oh, why so long, oh Lord? How come it takes so long on this answer?" Because God doesn't go by your time or my time. He goes by His time. His time. And when God chooses to move in His time, when He has everything ready, He moves quickly.

Guest (Male): Now, obviously it may not seem like His move is coming soon enough, but it will be God's perfect timing. You're listening to Pastor Jeff Schreve on From His Heart today and the message "When Your Brook Runs Dry." And we're learning what to do when we feel in the middle of God's will, but the bottom drops out anyway. We're learning to handle life when the brook is running dry. And this drought seems to happen to everyone. It surely happened to Elijah. He waited on God's provision and obeyed His voice, and he saw God work miracles through his dry days.

And you can learn to do the same thing too. Of course, it always starts with prayer. And Pastor Jeff has a powerful and sensitive booklet called Unveiling the Mystery of Prayer that can help you. It's our gift of thanks for your support this month to From His Heart of any amount. And with that gift, we'll send you the booklet and the eight-message series in the format of your choice, Holy Boldness: Lessons from Elijah, the Prophet of Fire.

You can get these resources when you call 866-40-BIBLE, 866-40-BIBLE, or go online to FromHisHeart.org. Thank you. We hope this program is a blessing to you and that you can help us continue to be a blessing around the world. Well, we trust that you'll also be here tomorrow for part two of this important and timely message called "When the Brook Runs Dry." Join us on Wednesday when Pastor Jeff Schreve will open up God's Word and share real truth, real love, and real hope from His heart.