This week, we had the privilege of hearing a powerful message from a dear friend of City Central, Pastor Charlie Sweet as he reminded us to never stand down when God leads us into wilderness seasons. Through Elijah and Hagar, we see that God may allow the brook to dry up or the desert to surround us, yet He is still present, sustaining, and shaping purpose in the silence. What feels like loss or delay is often God’s way of awakening faith, revealing His care, and preparing us for greater glory.
1 Kings 17:1-7
1Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was among the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there will be neither dew nor rain in these years except at my word!” 2Then a revelation from the LORD came to Elijah: 3 “Leave here, turn eastward, and hide yourself by the Brook of Cherith, east of the Jordan. 4And you are to drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.” 5So Elijah did what the LORD had told him, and he went and lived by the Brook of Cherith, east of the Jordan. 6The ravens would bring him bread and meat in the morning and evening, and he would drink from the brook. 7Some time later, however, the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land.
Gen. 16:1-6
1Now Abram’s wife Sarai had borne him no children, but she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar. 2So Sarai said to Abram, “Look now, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Please go to my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. 3So after he had lived in Canaan for ten years, his wife Sarai took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to Abram to be his wife. 4And he slept with Hagar, and she conceived. But when Hagar realized that she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. 5Then Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be upon you! I delivered my servant into your arms, and ever since she saw that she was pregnant, she has treated me with contempt. May the LORD judge between you and me.” 6 “Here,” said Abram, “your servant is in your hands. Do whatever you want with her.” Then Sarai treated Hagar so harshly that she fled from her.
Wilderness Seasons
Elijah didn’t just prophesy about the drought—he had to endure it. In obedience to the Lord, Elijah went into the wilderness and remained in God’s will even as conditions became uncomfortable. When Elijah grew comfortable, God allowed the brook to dry up, not to abandon him, but to awaken the prophetic and move him forward.
Hagar found herself in the wilderness not by choice, but as a slave—pregnant, rejected, and alone. Like Elijah, she encountered God in a place of isolation and pain.
We, too, experience wilderness seasons—times when God seems distant or silent. These seasons are common throughout Scripture:
- Joseph: pit, prison, palace
- David: cave, crown
- Jesus: tomb, throne
Wilderness seasons are not signs of God’s absence; they are often evidence of His preparation.
God sustains us in the Wilderness
1 Kings 17:8-14
8Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah: 9 “Get up and go to Zarephath of Sidon, and stay there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.” 10So Elijah got up and went to Zarephath. When he arrived at the city gate, there was a widow gathering sticks. Elijah called to her and said, “Please bring me a little water in a cup, so that I may drink.” 11 And as she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a piece of bread.” 12But she replied, “As surely as the LORD your God lives, I have no bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. Look, I am gathering a couple of sticks to take home and prepare a meal for myself and my son, so that we may eat it and die.” 13 “Do not be afraid,” Elijah said to her. “Go and do as you have said. But first make me a small cake of bread from what you have, and bring it out to me. Afterward, make some for yourself and your son, 14for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be exhausted and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD sends rain upon the face of the earth.’”
God sustained Elijah through unlikely means—ravens and a widow. Ravens were scavengers, considered unclean, and the widow was near death herself. Yet God used what was unlikely, unlovely, and seemingly unbearable to preserve His prophet. Sometimes God hijacks the unclean to deliver the holy.
Good comes from the wilderness
The silence of the wilderness is not neglect; it is intimacy with God in disguise. Elijah was able to stand firm in the midst of trouble because he obeyed God. His famine was not final—it was fuel. God dried up the brook to launch the prophetic.
Gen. 16:13
13So Hagar gave this name to the LORD who had spoken to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “Here I have seen the One who sees me!”
Hagar named the Lord El Roi—“the God who sees me.” Though she seemed invisible to everyone else, God saw her. A lowly, pagan slave girl became the first person in Scripture to give God a name.
Hagar stood in the desert and birthed a nation. Israel endured 400 years of silence from God, yet became the place where the Savior was born and the Church was birthed. In the same way, our wilderness seasons are not the end—they are a selah moment. There is hope in the silence!
Standing your ground at your brook qualifies you for the greater glory God has prepared for you. In seasons of difficulty, we can rest in this truth: God sees us, and He is producing good things in us—even in the wilderness.
Discussion Questions:
- Share a time when you’ve experienced a season where God felt silent or distant. What is something God taught you through it?
- Elijah obeyed God even when provision came from unlikely sources. What are some “unlikely” ways God has provided for you in the past?
- Hagar called God El Roi—“the God who sees me.” Why is this name of God especially meaningful in wilderness seasons?
Application Questions:
- Is there one step of obedience God may be asking you to take right now, even if the outcome feels uncertain?