Priscilla Shirer - God Will Sustain You
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Summary
Priscilla Shirer really drives home how God uses those tough, isolating seasons—like Elijah hiding at the brook Cherith in 1 Kings 17—to build our faith and intimacy with Him, preparing us for the bold moments ahead, just like Elijah’s showdown on Mount Carmel. She ties it to her own story of finally appreciating Dallas’s Design District by actually walking through it, showing that we only deeply know God’s character and promises when we go through hardships ourselves. In the end, she urges us to embrace separation because that’s where God sustains us miraculously, surprises us with unexpected provision, and shields us from unseen dangers.
Opening Greeting and Thanks
Hey there, it’s a privilege to have the opportunity to be with you again today. Thank you so much for including me in your service. I hope you’re encouraged. The last time we were together, it was Mother’s Day, and I felt especially grateful to be able to share that holiday with you. Now to be invited to do it again is something I’m very grateful for. Thank you to your pastors, leaders, and to you for allowing me to come into your spiritual life in this way. I’m praying that the word of God is rich for you today; that God speaks to you. He always does, right? He speaks to us through the scriptures. So I’ve already been praying for that, and now I want to open us up in a word of prayer together and let’s see what God has to say to us.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, I thank you so much for Lake Point. I thank you for the work that you are not only doing through their church but the work you’re doing in them, in us. Lord, thank you that as the family of God, we can know that you are not bound by space. You’re not bound by time. You don’t have to be in one building. Father, you can be with each of us equally right now in this moment, wherever we are. So would you take this one message, would you divide it up and multiply it several thousand different ways so that every single one of us right now will hear the voice of God? In Jesus' name, amen.
Hot Chocolate Run and Design District Illustration
So here in Dallas, where I am, there is a little half marathon that takes place once a year. It occurs around the holiday time frame, so it’s in December, and it’s called appropriately the Hot Chocolate Run. The Hot Chocolate Run is just fun. You know, folks come with Christmas lights around their hair or on their heads, and they’ve got light-up shoes. It’s fun; it’s in the dark. The run, whether you do a mile or three miles, or I think there’s a five-mile track as well, goes through an area of town known as the Design District. When you get to the end of your run, you get a bunch of sweets, hot chocolate being one of those. So I enjoyed doing this for several years along with my sister and her children. We’d bring out all our kids and we’d do the run together. We’d walk it or run it; either way, we just have a good time.
One of the things that I most remember about this run is that it took place in an area of Dallas called the Design District. Now I have known about the Design District my entire life. I was born and raised here in the city, and so I have seen a huge billboard off one of the major freeways in Dallas, Highway 35. That freeway has a billboard that says «Divine Design District.»
So I’ve known that that is where the designers are. It’s for people who are artists, craftsmen, interior designers, decorators, and artisans. They’ve got cute little shops down there, and I’ve seen it and known about it from afar. I’ve known people that have worked there, and I know the regular rhythms of their life are in the Design District.
But I’m always just on Highway 35, headed from one side of town, racing past to the other side of town. So the run, the Hot Chocolate Run, was the very first time that I ever went through it. When I went through it by foot, walking through, jogging through, interacting with others, and enjoying myself through it, I saw some details about Dallas I’d never seen before. There were some cute little shops and restaurants that I took note of, places that I made note of their addresses so that I could come back later and really engage and see what they had inside their stores. Man, I really grew a greater appreciation for the Design District—not when I saw it from afar, but when I had to go through it.
The Value of Going Through Hard Times
Right now, God is allowing many of us to go through it, isn’t He? We’ve been through some stuff, not only individually but also in whole communities. Whole churches are going through some stuff; whole nations—the globe is going through some stuff. But I found that it is not until I go through something that I actually see nuances about God, about His character, and about my relationship with Him. It’s actually not until I go through something that I discover more fully His promises. It’s not only witnessing them outworked in other people’s lives where I come to actually expect His truths to be applicable in my own life. It’s when I go through something that I actually develop character and have some frame of reference for what it means to have endurance and a life of faith. It’s when I go through something that I become better acquainted with the Holy Spirit.
Now, He’s not just a theoretical being, but now I recognize the fruit of God’s Spirit effervescent in my life. I see the patience outworked, the self-discipline, the kindness. I learn what it’s like to walk in the rhythms of grace. I don’t know all that from a billboard. Just experiencing God from afar, seeing His name, and maybe experiencing religious activity far away, I don’t get to know God intimately. I don’t get to have a friendship with Him like that. But, man, when we go through stuff, all of a sudden, there is a friendship that develops with God that carries us over the long haul.
So if today meets you at a time where you’re going through some stuff, would you know that this is an opportunity for you to have your spiritual eyes wide open to learn, to see, and to engage in every opportunity to get to know God in a way you otherwise would not have?
Introducing Elijah and Mount Carmel
This is one of the main things that drew me to a study of Elijah. Elijah is really the premier prophet of the Old Testament. His story sort of begins in the book of First Kings. If you have your Bible and you want to turn there with me, you can. You know, if you actually still use a Bible with paper pages like I do, or your iPhone, your iPad, any manner of device will get you to First Kings because in this particular book of the Bible, we get to see Elijah emerge onto the scene.
Now, this is a guy who really has some highlights in his life that we all recognize just like the heroes of scripture that we really admire, you know, like Moses and the whole Red Sea business, or like Joshua and the walls of Jericho coming tumbling down. The highlights that we remember in regards to Gideon or Jonah, all of these heroes of scripture—Esther and Ruth—we remember the highlights. For Elijah, the Mount Carmel experiences are what come to mind.
What I’ve discovered is that when I’m reading the pages of scripture and admiring folks whose faith is worthy to be admired and gleaned from, I’ve noticed that oftentimes it’s the Mount Carmels that dazzle us. It’s the flashy display of God’s glory—the unforgettable, big-stage experience of God’s presence and power—that draws us to people and often blinds us to what they went through to get there.
It will blind us to the things they had to navigate, the roads they had to walk down, the journey they went on with God to get them to the place where, in Elijah’s example, he stands flat-footed on Mount Carmel just a couple of chapters after he is first introduced. He will say to his own countrymen and to those that were supposed to be in covenant relationship with Yahweh, he will look at them squarely in their eyes and unapologetically challenge them.
He’s going to say, «Make a decision. Choose whom you’re going to follow. Stop having one foot over here in the world of idolatry and another foot over here in the worship of Yahweh. If you’re going to be loyal to Him, then be loyal to Him and Him alone.» He will stand flat-footed in the face of those who were worshiping idols, those who were antagonistic to the one true God, and he will challenge them. He says, «Build your sacrifice, and I’m going to build mine, and then we’re both going to pray. The God who answers by fire—He’s the one who is God.» What kind of courage and boldness do you have to have to be the only one willing to stand up in the midst of hundreds and even thousands of people surrounding you and be unapologetic and unashamed about what you believe?
I don’t know if you’ve noticed or not, but we’re living in a day and a time now more than ever when it’s going to take a lot of courage and boldness to be unapologetic, unshifting, and unwavering in what we believe as followers of Jesus Christ. When Elijah was committed to Yahweh, even in the face of so much adversity, fire fell from heaven, and God’s presence and power were seen in an unforgettable way.
So when we think about Elijah, most of the time that’s what we think about. But I don’t want to talk to you about Mount Carmel; I want to talk to you about what Elijah went through before he ever got there because that’s how his character was built. That’s how he garnered the kind of faith that could allow him to stand on Mount Carmel. That’s how he developed the kind of prayer life that garnered the attention and the favor of God—the sheer discipline and consistency of praying, believing God, and trusting—he went through some stuff to develop that kind of relationship with the Lord. And it all begins in First Kings chapter 17 after he has shown up on the scene and appeared to the king of the land to declare the judgment, the drought that was coming to the nation of Israel.
Elijah Sent to the Brook Cherith
First Kings chapter 17, verse 2, says, «The word of the Lord came to Elijah saying, 'Go away from here, now turn eastward, hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan.'»
Stop right there. Sometimes the journey that God takes us through begins in the place of separation, not in public but in private. Here is Elijah, who is arguably the most important figure in history at this moment. Without him, the worship of Yahweh is going to fizzle and die underneath the legislation of an evil king and his wife Jezebel, who have now legislated the worship of idolatry.
Without this lone voice calling people back to the worship of God, it could completely be lost. He is arguably the most important person regarding the agenda of Yahweh in this moment, and God speaks to him and says, «Where I need you is not in public. Where I need you is not in what you would consider to be the place of most significance and notoriety. I need to relocate you and re-situate you to a private place, to an unexpected place, where I can develop you. I need to separate you, Elijah, from the place of power.»
So He says, «I’m going to prepare you by separating you. I’m going to prepare you by taking you to a little lone brook where you won’t be found.» For about 18 months, scholars say he is separated to this lone little brook of water, where he sits alone with God. The development that we often need for God to do things in us requires a separation. It requires a severing—a walking away from certain things. Here we find Elijah sheltered in place for 18 months, quarantined for 18 months, just him alone with God.
Some of us lost our cool after about 18 days of this shelter-in-place business, right? Well, here we find him for a year and a half, separated away from the habits, the patterns, the experiences that would have been the normal of his life. He is separated and shut aside at Cherith, and there he has an opportunity to experience God in a way he would otherwise not have.
The Meaning of Cherith: Severing
Now, here’s what’s interesting: the root word that is used in Scripture to derive the name of this brook, which is Cherith, or it is often pronounced Kirith depending upon how you’re pronouncing it, the original word is a verb. I want to tell you what it means. It actually means to sever. It means to eliminate.
Listen, it means to cut off a part of the body. Think about how violent that sounds, even gruesome, at least painful. He’s calling Elijah to walk away knowing that the severing is actually going to be painful. Sometimes when God calls us away to Himself, it feels painful. For many of us, this separation from the normal rhythm of our life that we’ve been required to undergo has felt like severing for many of us. It’s felt painful because we were used to gaining our sense of significance, our acceptance, or approval in that particular way. Now, because of realities that many times are outside of our control, God has caused us to have to sever our relationships to certain things.
Sometimes, going to the brook that God is calling you to requires a separation that feels like cutting off a part of the body, where a relationship we are severed from feels so difficult to pull ourselves away. But if you will yield to the separation, if you will honor God’s conviction in your life—because see, sometimes it’s not that God mandates it. It’s just a whisper of the Holy Spirit that says, «Separate yourself. Come away from here for just a little while.
Those habits, those patterns, those relationships, those places where you have rooted your significance—those ambitions, those goals—come away from here.» In separating yourself, you will find that there are some things that are going to happen at this brook Cherith that you would miss out on if you didn’t come away and obey and surrender to this particular season that I have called you to. Elijah’s journey to Mount Carmel begins in private. It begins separated from all of the things that he has once known.
How is God calling you to separate yourself? Clearly, there are some things that all of us have been mandated to shake—some habits and patterns and routines and busyness, some relationships that have had to go. As the world starts to open up again, the question is: are you going to just go right back to normal, or will we take the opportunity to seek God and ask Him how is He calling us to maintain some of these distances, some of these separations, so that we can remain consecrated and set apart unto Him?
God says to Elijah, and He says to many of us, «Separate yourself.» It’s here at this brook that I’m going to prepare you for the Mount Carmels yet to come.
Connection to Abraham’s Covenant
That original word that I told you about, that verb, is also found in Genesis 15. The reason why I want you to know this is that it’s one of the most vibrant and beautiful times that it’s used in the Old Testament, and it was used in regards to ancient Abraham and his relationship to Yahweh.
That verb that means to cut or sever—hang with me here because I want you to see how it’s used here. It shows us how God shows up in our lives when we are willing to yield to the separation. In Genesis chapter 15, Abraham is saying to God, «Listen, you’ve promised me so many things. You have said that my descendants are going to be as numerous as the stars that are in the sky.» And he says, «How will I know that what you’ve promised me will come to pass? How am I gonna know?»
And God speaks to Abraham in a language he’ll understand. He says, «I’m going to cut a covenant with you.» Back in the ancient world, when two people or two nations would make an agreement with each other, they would cut a covenant. That’s what they would call it—not just making a covenant or making an agreement. They would call it the cutting of a covenant. The reason why is because they would sacrifice an animal to seal the covenant, and what they would do—kind of gruesome, really gruesome, really—is take this animal, they would dismember, they would sever the parts of the animal, and they would lay the pieces out strategically on the floor.
Then one of the parties that was making the promise, that was going to have to follow through on the agreement, would then walk between the pieces of the severed animal. As they walked through, they were basically saying, «May my life be like the life of this animal if I don’t make good on this covenant that we are cutting with one another.»
Well, in Genesis 15, God says, «Abraham, I’ll make a covenant with you so you’ll know I am who I say I am and that I’ll do everything that I say that I will do.» He says to Abraham, «Get the animal, prepare the animal.» Abraham does that; he lays the animal out. Then in one of the most beautiful theophanies—that is a God sighting—in all of the Old Testament, it says that a deep sleep falls over Abraham. God causes this human to fall asleep so that it will be not by works, but only by grace.
While Abraham is asleep, the scripture says that God Himself shows up and He moves between the pieces, sealing the covenant with Abraham. Do you see that? Abraham is the one that did the separating, the severing, the violent, gruesome cutting. But in doing it, God showed up and moved in the pieces.
If you and I will yield to the separation, if we’ll sever the things God’s asking us to sever, walk away from the things God’s asking us to walk away from, if we will trust Him with the separation, He will come down and move within the pieces. We’ll experience Him in a way we’ve never experienced Him before. We’ll see Him in a way we’ve never seen Him before. If we, like Elijah, will come away to the brook Cherith, we will discover new aspects of God that we’ve never experienced before.
God’s Sustaining Provision at Cherith
Elijah’s about to see that happen, and so are you, and so am I. Because it says that when Elijah goes to the brook Cherith, God says to him, verse 4, «It shall be that you shall drink from this brook.»
Now let me tell you why this is important. Because remember, there’s a famine in the land; the drought is going to cause a famine. For three years, people are going to be doing everything they can to find water to sustain them. In this agrarian society, they were going to need to be able to sustain their livestock. It was their livelihood. Without rain, the harvest would not grow. Amidst all of this judgment, and amidst all of this drought and famine, God says to His servant, «If you separate yourself, you need to know that in the place of separation, I have already made plans to sustain you.»
Do you know why you want to yield to the separation? Do you know why, even though it feels hard to sever that relationship you ain’t got no business being in, or severing that interest or that ambition or that endeavor that you know is the wrong road you’ve been walking down? The reason why you do it is because in the place of separation, God has already made plans to sustain you. He has already made plans to make sure that even if everybody else is thirsty in that place, you will know what it’s like to be sustained by the hands of your great God.
And you’re going to need that because, listen, Mount Carmel is coming. It’s coming for you, and it’s coming for me, where we’re going to be called to a position where we’re surrounded by people, but actually we’re all alone because we’re the only ones that are willing to stand for righteousness in the midst of the darkness. You’re going to have a need to have a track record of what it’s like to be sustained by the hands of God so that you can have confidence when you’re on the Mount Carmel of your experience. God says to Elijah, «I got your back. I’ve already made plans to sustain you.»
So, yeah, you might be a little bit lonely in the place of separation, but it’s when you’re lonely you see what it’s like to have God as your friend. It’s when you are tired that He becomes your strength. It’s when you are hungry that you experience the Bread of Life. It’s when you are insecure you discover what it’s like for Him to sustain you as your security. When you are empty, you realize what it’s like for Him to fill you up. You learn what it’s like to trust in the sustaining power of your great God. He becomes your provision and your provision alone.
In this increasingly post-Christian culture, you’re going to have to have some backbone that draws on the power and the strength and the sustaining power of your God. He teaches you that in the place of separation; He assures you of that in the place of separation.
Surprising Provision Through Ravens
Not only do you want to go ahead and go to the brook where He will sustain you, but even more than that, God says to him in verse 4, «I have commanded the ravens to provide for you there.»
In the place of separation, He says, «Now everybody else is going to be scavenging for food, but not you, Elijah. If you will trust me and entrust yourself to the place that I have called you to—severed away from things—and it makes you particularly uncomfortable because you’re away from habits and patterns and peoples and perceptions of what you thought your ministry and life would look like—Elijah, if you will separate yourself, not only will I sustain you there, but I’m going to do something more than that: I’m going to flat out surprise you with how I’m going to bring bread and meat to you in the morning.»
He says, «And bread and meat to you in the evening. I’m going to make sure that not only is your thirst quenched, but I’m going to make sure that you are thoroughly nourished with everything that you need to keep you strong even while you’re in the place of separation.» So He says, «I’ve commanded ravens to bring meat to you, bring bread to you, and to take care of you.»
Now let me tell you why this is so surprising: because He said a raven could have been any old kind of bird. You know, a dove would have made more sense. You remember back when Noah was wondering whether or not the floods had receded? He sent out birds several times. The doves returned, but when he sent out the ravens, the ravens didn’t come back because ravens don’t come back.
Ravens are restive. They’re an unsettled species of animals, and not only that, they’re ravenous. That’s where we get the term from. They’re greedy birds. They will literally take prey out of an unsuspecting bird’s mouth—another bird. They will literally steal food from others because they are ravenous and will eat anything at any time, any place, anywhere.
So what makes Yahweh’s sustaining power so surprising and so miraculous is that He didn’t use any old kind of bird, where maybe someone could explain this miracle away. He used the most unsuspecting, unreasonable, surprising species of bird to make this point: that when you and I will yield to the place of separation, not only will He sustain us there, but, y’all, He’s going to surprise you there. He’s going to bring in resources to take care of you from means and from resources that you never even considered—you never even thought possible.
When you were praying that prayer asking God for that miracle, asking Him for a solution, for a remedy for the difficulty that you’re having in your parenting, or raising your children, or in your marriage, or on your job, or in that classroom, or that courtroom, or that struggle that you’re having in your own health—you never even prayed a prayer like that because you had no way of knowing that God could do something so unbelievably miraculous as that.
But in the place of separation, not only does He sustain you, but He starts surprising you. He starts showing you Ephesians 3:20 and 21: «Now unto Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above and beyond anything that you could ask or think. To Him be the glory in Christ Jesus and in the church.» He surprises you.
You’re going to need to know what it’s like to be surprised by God, to have some things that were so unthinkable happen in your life that now you have a track record with God. You’ve got some history with God. You’ve written down a couple of things that you saw God do that you can tell your children about and your children’s children about, about the time your God just plain old flat out surprised you, did something for you in a way that you never even considered.
You need some history with your God. That history comes in the place of separation where you watch God sustain you and where you watch God surprise you.
Shielded from Unseen Dangers
But not only that, we find out a couple of chapters later that for these 18 months that Elijah is tucked away at the brook, we find out that King Ahab has sent a search party all throughout Israel. He’s been looking for him. He’s so mad at this prophet for pronouncing this judgment that he set out a search party, searching the kingdom every which way he can to find Elijah and hopefully put him to death, him thinking that Elijah’s life was specifically connected to the drought and to the famine. So he thinks if I kill him, then this judgment will be over.
But what can only be described as a supernatural hedge of protection is over Elijah so that he is so tucked away in the place of separation that he doesn’t even realize that while he is there, not only is he being sustained, and not only is he being surprised, but he is being shielded from dangers he does not even know exist. It’s not until three years later that he’ll meet a guy named Obadiah who will tell him the king has been looking for you for three solid years.
Sometimes we don’t even know until hindsight when we look back that we recognize God was protecting us from dangers we didn’t even know existed. That we realize the prayers that He didn’t answer and the way we wanted. We realize that when we didn’t come out of that place of obscurity as quickly as we would have preferred, the reason why He left us there is because if He let us out too soon, there would have been Ahabs we would have run into.
So He protects us. He shields us. He puts a supernatural covering over us so that we are protected and shielded in the place of separation.
Final Encouragement
I want to encourage you that if you feel like you are ready to come out from the brook Cherith, ready to get away, ready for this anonymity or obscurity to go away so that you can come out into the full expression of what you feel like your ministry is supposed to look like, or the revenue your business is supposed to yield, or the way that your family dynamic is supposed to look, if everything in your mind is supposed to look different than it does right now—because of this pandemic, or because of the unrest that we’ve seen, or just because of the dynamics you’re facing in your own life—you can clearly see that the Holy Spirit is still calling you to this place of either mandated separation or just the clear conviction of the Holy Spirit to separate you unto Himself for a specific reason.
Remain there until He releases you because it’s in that place He’s going to surprise you in a way you will never forget. It’s in that place that you are going to be able to eat from His hand and drink from the water that He provides for you there, and it’s in that place that in hindsight you will look back and realize your God was protecting you all along. Be encouraged. Let’s pray.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, I thank you for Elijah 's example. I thank you, Father, for the opportunity that we have to know that you are preparing us even right now for the Mount Carmels yet to come. Help us not to devalue the significance of this part of our journey, but help us to honor you with every single day, every single piece, every single opportunity that we have to see you more clearly and to experience you more fully. In Jesus' name, amen.