When the Brook Runs Dry

 

Dear Reader, 

Today, I have been reflecting on Elijah in 1 Kings 17. 

Many of us remember the ravens bringing bread and meat to the prophet as he hid beside the Brook Cherith. It was a remarkable miracle, but something else stood out to me. 

Eventually, the brook ran dry. 

Imagine what Elijah may have thought as he watched the water slowly recede. Each day, the stream grew smaller until no water remained. 

Had God forgotten him? 

Had Elijah done something wrong? 

Had the miracle ended? 

The answer was no. 

The brook dried up because God was preparing Elijah for what came next. 

At times, we face our own drying brooks. A job ends. A relationship changes. A season passes. A source of comfort disappears. What once sustained us no longer can. 

In recovery, we often learn that old solutions eventually stop working. What we once relied on cannot carry us where God is leading us. 

We may be tempted to believe we have been abandoned. 

But Elijah's story offers another possibility. 

Perhaps a drying brook is not proof of God's absence, but a sign of His guidance. 

The same God who sent ravens also sent Elijah to a widow in Zarephath. The same God who provided water at Cherith provided meal and oil in a distant village. What seemed like an ending became a new beginning. 

There is another lesson here as well. 

Elijah was obedient when the brook was flowing, but he also had to be obedient when the brook stopped flowing. 

Sometimes we pray for God to restore the brook, while God is preparing us to leave it. 

Elijah's faith was not only demonstrated by staying at Cherith when God commanded him to stay. It was also demonstrated by leaving when God commanded him to go. 

There are seasons in life when faith means remaining steadfast. There are other seasons when faith means moving forward. Wisdom is learning the difference. 

Faith is not believing every brook will flow forever. Faith is trusting that when one brook runs dry, God already knows where the next source of living water can be found. 

Recovery has taught me that I do not need to see the whole path. I need only enough light for today's step and enough faith to trust that God is already preparing tomorrow. 

The scriptures repeatedly remind us of this truth. Through Isaiah, the Lord declared: 

"Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing..." (Isaiah 43:18–19) 

And in the Book of Mormon we are taught: 

"Ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith." (Ether 12:6) 

Like Elijah, we are often asked to trust before we can see what lies ahead. 

When the brook runs dry, do not lose heart. 

The God who led you there is still leading you forward. 

Amen. 

🙏🧘‍♂️💕🤗☮️ 

 

God Wastes Nothing

Dear Reader, 

In a 1964 letter later published in As Bill Sees It (p. 168), Bill Wilson wrote: 
 
“Though many theologians hold that sudden spiritual experiences amount to a special distinction, if not a divine appointment of some sort, I question this view. Every human being, no matter what his attributes for good or evil, is a part of the divine spiritual economy. Therefore, each of us has his place, and I cannot see that God intends to exalt one another. 
 
“So it is necessary for all of us to accept whatever positive gifts we receive with a deep humility, always bearing in mind that our negative attitudes were first necessary as a means of reducing us to such a state that we would be ready for a gift of the positive ones via the conversion experience. Your own alcoholism and the immense deflation that finally resulted are indeed the foundation upon which your spiritual experience rests.” 
 
What strikes me most is Bill’s rejection of spiritual elitism. He suggests that profound spiritual experiences are not signs that God loves one person more than another. Rather, every soul has a place in God’s plan, and every gift should be received with humility. 
 
I believe God is no respecter of persons.  
“Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons.” (Acts 10:34)  
“The Lord inviteth them all to come unto him... black and white, bond and free, male and female.” (2 Nephi 26:33) 
 
Every person is literally a child of God with divine worth and eternal potential. 
 
President Dieter F. Uchtdorf taught:  
“God sees you not only as a mortal being on a small planet who lives for a brief season—He sees you as His child.”  
The emphasis is not on who receives the most dramatic revelation, but on God’s love for all His children. 
 
I also found something profound in the second part of Bill’s letter. Our negative attitudes and painful experiences can become the means by which we are humbled and made ready to receive God’s gifts. 
 
Notice the pattern: 

•  Weakness 
• Humility
•  Surrender 
• Grace 
• Strength  
  

This pattern is essentially the heart of the Twelve Steps and can also be found throughout scripture. 
 

• Moses needed forty years in the wilderness. 
  
• Jonah needed the belly of the fish. 
  
• Alma the Younger needed his collapse and conversion. 
  
• Paul needed his “thorn in the flesh.” 
  

 
The Lord often transforms us through what first humbles us. 
 
“If men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness... then will I make weak things become strong unto them.” (Ether 12:27) 
 
Three additional quotations come to mind: 
 
“God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains.” — C. S. Lewis 
 
“The craving for alcohol was the equivalent of a spiritual thirst.” — Carl Jung 
 
“The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.” — Marcus Aurelius 
 
For me, the simple truth is that we would never have chosen a path of failure, broken families, addiction, or loss. Yet under God’s hand, those very things can become instruments of awakening. 
 
This does not mean God causes alcoholism. Nor does it mean suffering is inherently good. It means God can redeem what we cannot. 
 
As the Apostle Paul expressed: 
 
“We know that all things work together for good to them that love God.” (Romans 8:28) 
 
God wastes nothing. 
 

• Not our failures. 
  
• Not our losses. 
  
• Not our addictions. 
  
• Not our grief. 
  

 
When surrendered to Him, even our greatest defeats can become foundations for grace. 
 
Our weaknesses do not disqualify us from God’s work; they often become the very means by which He teaches us humility, dependence, faith, and ultimately, divine strength. 
 
Amen. 
 
🙏🧘‍♂️💕🤗☮️