When the Blessings Dry Up

And it happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land. (1 Kings 17:7)

God used this prophet Elijah to speak forth His word against a corrupt regime. The regime was so corrupt that after his bold announcement (found in 1 Kings 17:1) they wanted to kill him. So, God sent His servant away to a safe place by a flowing brook where he was miraculously fed by ravens. It was a time of rest, restoration, and learning for Elijah as God stretched his faith and his thinking through those ravens.

Then we come to verse 7 and find that “after a while that the brook dried up.” It didn’t happen suddenly; it happened “after a while.” We can picture Elijah sitting by the brook day by day, observing that the water level slowly dropped and the speed of the flow began to slow. Elijah saw the flow of the brook slow down until it dried up. His source of water was gone.

Why did it happen? It happened as a direct result of his own prayers. Read it for yourself: “because there had been no rain in the land.” This was the drought Elijah prayed for. Perhaps when he first prayed he didn’t know how the answer to the prayer would affect him personally, but now he certainly knew. It isn’t easy when God’s gracious and righteous answer to your prayers brings hardship upon yourself.

Nevertheless, he did not pray for rain to come again – not even for his own survival. He kept the purpose of God first, even when it adversely affected him.

We can regard Elijah’s experience as an illustration of something many Christians experience, what F.B. Meyer called “the drying brook.” He wrote, “Ah, it is hard to sit beside a drying brook - much harder than to face the prophets of Baal on Carmel.” Meyer also mentioned different kinds of drying brooks we might experience:

• The drying brook of popularity, ebbing away as from John the Baptist.
• The drying brook of health, sinking under a creeping paralysis, or a slow consumption.
• The drying brook of money, slowly dwindling before the demands of sickness, bad debts, or other people’s extravagance.
• The drying brook of friendship, which for long has been diminishing, and threatens soon to cease.

It takes a special grace, a unique work of the Spirit of God, to see the brook dry up in front of you and to bear it with godly endurance. We like to see things move from one success to another, from glory to glory, but there are times when God knows that the drying brook is exactly what is best for us. He didn’t bring you to that place out of anger or punishment; indeed, we might say that Elijah had to live by that brook because he had a particular closeness with God. The season of the drying brook became a season of higher education and deeper experience.

“Why does God let them dry? He wants to teach us not to trust in His gifts but in Himself.” (F.B. Meyer)

If God has placed you beside a drying brook, don’t despise it – let it work its perfect work.

Based on The Enduring Word Bible Commentary by David Guzik.