Waterslides are a treat during the hot days of summer. When the cool water is flowing, the waterslide is fun and refreshing but cut off the water and the fun soon stops. Without water, water sliding turns into scooting and the once cool surface becomes hot and painful. Guarding the water source for your waterslide from pranksters or those who pay the water bill trying to turn it off is critical for keeping the water and fun flowing.
Besides offering fun water gives life, but it is not the source of life. We rely on water for our lives as well as our crops and livestock. When the water source is cut off, life is cut off. Water gives life, but the source for water begins with God. All the water we have and that gives life on the earth comes from God. Water flows naturally from God’s creation from things like rain or a spring both of which feed streams, rivers, ponds, lakes, reservoirs, seas and the ocean. God can also produce water supernaturally as he did in the beginning when he created everything from nothing as we read in Hebrews 11, 3 … the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. Another supernatural example of God providing something that gives life is recorded in our Gospel reading from Matthew 14. After Jesus had been teaching and healing a large crowd, it was late in the day and the disciples told Jesus to dismiss the crowd to find something to eat. In response to his disciples, we read, 16 Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” 17 “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered. 18 “Bring them here to me,” he said. 19 And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. That day, Jesus fed thousands of people from the source of life. Notice, Jesus had looked up to heaven and given thanks before distributing the bread and fish. Looking to God was like turning on the faucet to the waterslide. Those who were there saw that the source for life does not come from things like bread and fish, but from the LORD God’s command.
At times, God commands sources of life to stop. When people forget God as the source of life by putting their hope in secondary sources or imagining other reasons for their existence, God reminds them who he is. When God promised the people of Israel a homeland after their freedom from Egypt, he gave this description in Exodus 3, 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey. The land God brought the Israelites to settle in would not have a few vending machines or gas station convenience stores sparsely scattered around. Instead, God promised the land would be flowing with milk and honey; there would be an abundance of life-giving resources for his people to thrive. Every meal may not have been a milk and honey bowl of ice cream, frozen yogurt or milkshake, but that reality also would not be too far off with the LORD God’s blessing. By the time the prophet Elijah began serving Israel, they had been in the promised land for hundreds of years, and we would expect them to be thriving, but the abundance had dried up. In our Old Testament reading from 1 Kings 17, we read, 1 Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.” Elijah announced what would become a 3½ year drought according to Luke 4:25. God stopped the rain for years as judgment against the wicked king Ahab who married Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, because he turned Israel away to serve the false god Baal, who was the god of fertility in control of sending rain, providing crops and allowing animals and people to give birth. To get his people’s attention, God sent a supernatural sign to stop the foolish and sinful worship of Baal and bring the people to repent. The drought should not have surprised anyone at the time of Elijah because God had made clear what would happen if his people turned away from him to worship other gods as we read in Deuteronomy 11, 16 Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them. 17 Then the LORD’s anger will burn against you, and he will shut up the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce, and you will soon perish from the good land the LORD is giving you. Hundreds of years earlier, God spoke this warning through Moses, and the people of Elijah’s day suffered through the consequences.
There are consequences when we turn from the source of life. Israel stopped wanting what God wanted turning to idolatry to satisfy their sinful desires, and for their sins, there were consequences. When we stop wanting what God wants, there will be consequences. Our sinful hearts crave things we can get. When we follow our sinful hearts, we can get what we want. We can even call things that are evil good, but there are consequences. Whoever we turn to that affirms our sinful behavior becomes our false god. Whoever shouts the causes we feel are right or whispers in hidden places that we can drink, taste, touch, watch, listen to what God warns against is not a friend, not good and not God. Our lack of gratitude, apathy and taking for granted what we have all flow from doubt in God’s power to provide for us. And even deeper is the doubt that God cares to give us what we need, leading to doubt in him to provide us with salvation through Jesus.
Our needs are met in God the source of life. God is not passive or apathetic or a cosmic clock maker who wound up the universe to watch it spin. God remains involved and in control commanding what we need to exist. While God called his people to repentance with the consequences of the drought, he cared for the needs of his faithful servant Elijah as we read in our Old Testament reading from 1 Kings 17, 2 Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah: 3 “Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. 4 You will drink from the brook, and I have directed the ravens to supply you with food there.” 5 So he did what the LORD had told him. He went to the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan, and stayed there. 6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook. Elijah was fed by the supernatural work of God to send ravens, a selfish, strong willed, smart, self-reliant, even unclean according to God’s ceremonial laws of the Old Testament creature to feed him. More importantly, notice again that Elijah first hears the word of God that promises he will be fed. As Jesus looked to heaven and provided food to the thousands, so God called to Elijah from heaven so that he would know who was providing him with life. God continues to meet all our needs assuring us of who he is and what he gives us in Scripture, and a clear example is found in our New Testament reading from Ephesians 1, 4 … In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, 9 he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ. When our hearts wander from God after false promises from other to provide for us, and we doubt God’s care and power to provide for us, the only way to bring us back to life is God’s grace. In his grace, God chose us to be his children, knowing us by name. He sent Jesus to redeem us shedding his blood on the cross as the payment for our sins. God’s good and gracious pleasure and will to save us has been made known to us through his Word. In these ways and more, the LORD God commanded all things to give us what we need for salvation, forgiveness, redemption and eternal life.
Elijah, King Ahab and the Israelites went through the same drought. When God stopped the rain over Israel, King Ahab and the people suffered, but for those who saw and listened, they saw the false god, Baal, judged as evil and imaginary by the one true LORD God who created the heavens and the earth. During the drought Elijah was miraculously kept alive by God away from Israel until the time was right for him to return with the word of God to allow rain to return and some to put their hope in God. Through this supernatural event, God did not want the Israelites to stop worshipping Baal to get their offerings or clean up their moral character, it was their hearts he wanted. Our hearts are God’s desire as well. Working through Scripture, God exposes our sins with his law and brings healing with the gospel. When something happens to us in life causing an emotional response like frustration or anxiety, thoughts of doubt quickly follow leading to spiritual wandering from God to idolatry. God wove us together as body, mind and spirit, so when one is adversely affected, the others suffer as well. Equipped with the Word of God using the law and gospel, God would have us recognize our emotional responses to things as signs something is affecting us. Then, he would have us take things that cause frustration, anxiety or other emotions and apply the truth that the LORD God who made the heavens and the earth and commands all things works for our good, so that rather than doubting and turning from him, we would trust God to provide for us with a patient, joyful, confident, purposeful and bright future outlook on life.
Waterslides are a treat during the hot days of summer as long as the water is flowing. Without water, water sliding turns into scooting and the once cool surface becomes hot and painful. Water gives life, so when the water source is cut off, life is cut off. When God stopped the rain over Israel during the reign of the wicked King Ahab, the people suffered, but the false god, Baal, was exposed as an imaginary evil sham. The one true LORD God who created the heavens and the earth miraculously kept Elijah alive during the drought and he still provides for us. Above all, God sent the source of life, our Savior Jesus who obeyed his Father’s good, rich and gracious command to redeem us from our sins with his blood shed on the cross. We have life here and for eternity because God commands into existence what we need to live. Amen.
Gunnar Ledermann, Pastor Divine Peace Church
Gunnar Ledermann
I’m passionate about Rockwall’s vibrant community and actively engage with local non-profits and community organizations, including the Rockwall Chamber of Commerce, the City of Rockwall, and the Downtown Rockwall Association. My background includes a bachelor’s degree in Classical Languages and a master’s degree in divinity. Currently serving as a pastor at Divine Peace Church in Rockwall, I also enjoy spending time with my wife, Marinda, and our five children.
