Updated: Don’t Bind the Brook, Don’t Rebuke the Ravens - Simple Lesson in Obedience

 

Over the years I have come to understand the place of simple obedience to the instructions of God, and the huge difference it could make in one’s life. I have also come to see how easy believers can be in disobedience, yet be able to cover up with some form of spiritual activity, then in the end attempt to pass on the responsibility for their failures on God.

 

This can possibly account for one of the biggest reasons why there are believers who seem not to be making progress in life in spite of their seeming spirituality. The situation is even more compounded when older believers who should set the example for younger believers fall into this group. The implication is that there will be a generation of young believers who cannot seem to find the proper alignment between the Christian faith and being productive in life.

 

The story of the prophet Elijah in 1 Kings 17, clearly illustrates my point.  The Word of the Lord had come to the prophet to camp by the brook Cherith, where God had commanded the Ravens to feed him. The prophet acted according to the instruction and he was sustained. In the process of time, the brook dried up, and God gave another instruction for the prophet to arise and go to Zarephath, where God had commanded a widow to feed him.

 

If you pause to think about it for a moment, why did God allow the brook to dry up when he sent the prophet there in the first place? After all, He is God Almighty, the one who creates water in the desert, the one who brought forth water from the rock for the children of Israel. He could definitely have sustained the brook from drying up, or could it be that the devil was responsible for the drying up of the brooks? I don’t know if the prophet had these thoughts, but if he ever did, and if he had allowed himself to be sucked in by those thoughts, then he could have responded differently. Rather than yielding to God’s simple instruction, he could have attempted to engage the power of prayer to bind the brooks and to rebuke the Ravens for not bringing him food anymore, and in the end he could have starved to death in spite of his mighty prayers. This is exactly where many believers are today.

 

We live in very challenging times all around the world, with many economies hit hard by an economic downturn. There seems to be no better time to be attentive and ready to follow God's instructions as they come to you, because that will be your salvation. Unfortunately, there are believers who would rather spend more time in prayer than to obey simple God given instructions. This sort of thing would make your life somewhat inconsistent; some level of success today, and lots of setbacks the next day. Instructions from God come as answers to your prayers, so ignoring them and praying even more will not bring any better solution. The reason people often choose to ignore instructions could be as a result of laziness or just the fear of failure. If you were Elijah, you did probably have thought of the implications of getting to Zarephath and not finding the widow that God spoke about. The more you spent time on such thoughts, the less likely it is that you will obey God. You would rather stay at the brook, and plead with God all you can, to make things happen differently for you, when infact nothing is ever going to happen. In the end, it will appear as though God doesn’t answer prayers, and that He has failed you, when in actual fact you failed yourself and failed God. The lesson there is to not over rationalize God's instructions, just obey even when it doesn't seem to make so much sense. Be willing to step out in faith at the expense of being wrong.

 

Samuel, in rebuking King Saul in 1 Sam. 15:22, said to obey is better than sacrifices and to hearken than the fat of rams. Sometimes you just need to evaluate where you are, particularly in the face of the obvious challenges that seem to be stagnating you. Could there be that there is an instruction that you are missing out on, that may be responsible for the seeming drought that you are experiencing?

 

That is not to say that this is the situation in all cases, or that prayer doesn’t work, but that in most cases, simple obedience to Gods simple instruction will save you a lot of stress. Don’t be in a haste to bind the brooks or rebuke the Ravens, rather take some time to look inwards first. Take full responsibility for your life in accordance to the leading of the Lord in your heart, and as you do, you will never be stranded in life.

 

Shalom!