Cherith is Drying Up

 

Elijah’s message of pending judgment upon Israel and King Ahab’s false gods brought an immediate reaction: Ahab and his wife Jezebel hated the prophet of God and sought to kill him. He delivered the Word of the Lord to Israel at a time when they had turned away from the Lord God of Israel to worship Baal. Elijah called them to return from their backsliding and to once again love and serve Jehovah. But they refused to repent and turn back. Elijah released a prophetic sign to enforce God’s call to repentance and God responded to his faith.

            1 Kings 17:1 says Elijah stopped the rains from falling on the land and called for a severe famine to humble the people. Immediately all of Israel began to feel the heat and their anger at Elijah exploded. To protect the prophet from certain destruction, God hid him in a desert ravine called Cherith, east of the Jordan. There, God released to him daily provisions. He drank from the brook and ate bread and meat delivered to him by ravens each morning. God’s rich blessings sustained him and he learned to be content and satisfied as he waited on God’s further direction.

            Recently, I awakened from a night’s sleep to this phrase ringing in my spirit: “Cherith is drying up.” Immediately, I sensed a prophetic word was coming with great significance for our ministry and also for the greater Body of Christ. The church in America has been richly blessed and ministry (for the most part) has been easy. We enjoy freedoms to preach without persecution and a general wealth unheard of in most areas of the world. But things are about to change. “Cherith is drying up!” God is about to change our normal way of doing business in the kingdom. We are in for some bumps in the road, some and pre-judgment rumblings. In my spirit, I have a knowing that our “Cheriths” – our normal sources of income and blessing – are soon to be radically impacted. And this is probably a good thing!! It was good for Elijah when that torrent course that carried the winter rains from the high places to the plains dried up. It forced him to change; to move on; to once again cry out to God for His provision and direction. Now the season was changing!

            Until the American Church is faced with financial insecurity, we probably will not change. There’s something sedentary about being blessed over and over. It can make us lazy and can even usher us into presumption and spiritual pride. And these realities are dangerous in this crucial prophetic hour!! Then too, we grow to depend upon the offering plate, or our mailing list, or our employer, or the government to supply our needs. It becomes easy to placate big givers and overlook sin and compromise. What pastor wants to threaten his own financial security? What evangelist wants to offend the church treasurer? What prophet wants small crowds? Big love offerings usually come when people love us…a lot. So, we often preach and prophesy good things. But God is releasing a prophetic call to holiness. A fresh fire of His Glory is calling us leaders and believers alike to move on in God. To put away spiritual politics and compromise. Cherith drying up may be a good thing.

 

~Pure Notes