Why is God’s Word not reasonable?

This week I was talking to a Presbyterian friend who said, “God’s Word has to make sense, and we have to discover how”

My friends at the atheist society say something similar: “Unless what God says is ‘reasonable’ to me it can’t be true.”

But the Bible never says that; in fact, again and again the Bible says that God’s Word is not reasonable.

The prophet Isaiah said: “who has known the mind of the Lord” (Isaiah 40:13)

The Apostle Paul wrote: “how inscrutable are his ways!” (Romans 11:33)

And King David sang: “Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.” (Psalm 145:3)

Many of us have been told and believed the lie: That God should make sense to our minds, and so what he says should make sense to our minds, and so we can use our minds to search out God’s truth beyond what he expressly says.

The book of kings starts with Solomon. A king with one of the greatest minds the world has ever seen. Solomon is knowledgeable, logical, discerning, clever. He has riches, resources, relationships, and religion. So… he relies on his own reason and resources, not on God and his Word… …and that leads to disaster for kingdom.

Soon after Solomon’s death, his kingdom splits into two: A Northern kingdom and a Southern kingdom.

The kings in the North also rely on their own reason and decisions. They don’t trust what God says, they trust in what looks most likely to succeed. Now, over 60 years after Solomon’s death, a guy called Ahab is king in the North.

And Ahab also trusts in what makes most sense to him… in making political connections, in having a big kingdom with lots of people, in having resources and money and compromise. So, he has a political marriage to the Phoenician princess Jezebel and adopts her religion: to worship Baal, the god of plenty.

But Baal fails to bring plenty… …Ahab’s trust in his own decisions fails… …and instead there’s a famine.

And it’s at this part of the story where we find the prophet Elijah. A teacher of God’s Word. And even he is starving and hungry.

And what God says to Elijah is ridiculous, vv. 8-9:

Then the word of the LORD came to him, “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed you.”

What a stupid thing to do. There’s a famine: What is the first thing you would do? Where is the first place you would go?

Call some friends who have a big house, who look after their finances. Get somewhere familiar, somewhere you understand.

But that’s not what God says, so that’s not what Elijah does, vv. 10-11:

So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.” And as she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, “Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.”

What Elijah’s asking here is crazy. This woman is a widow — she doesn’t have an income. She’s in Zarephath — an unfamiliar place. She’s a Gentile — a completely different culture. It’s insane to go to her asking for a meal.

Just hear how she describes her life in v. 12:

And she said, “As the LORD your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. And now I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die.”

The air is bone dry. Her tongue sticks to the roof of her mouth. She’s scraping the crumbs from her jar… …more dust than flour. Hopeless. All they can look forward to is death.

But Elijah doesn’t look to his wisdom. He doesn’t look to his resources. He doesn’t try to reason his way around God’s Word.

Elijah trusts what God says — even when it doesn’t make sense. And as a preacher, he tells her to do the same, v. 13:

And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said. But first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterward make something for yourself and your son.

An impossible demand. All she has is one last meal, which she intends to eat before she dies.

Elijah doesn’t get out the spreadsheet to discuss how to manage the finances. He doesn’t give her instruction in waste management to make it go further. He doesn’t hold a seminar about the most effective parenting strategies when children are malnourished.

— No, instead, he gives her cooking instructions: “Make a little cake of it.”

What’s wrong with you Elijah? Are you a complete moron? Are you a total bonehead?

She has almost nothing — and her child — and you, a stranger, claim priority.

We are a million miles away from Solomon in all his wisdom and wealth: The techniques, the strategy, the planning, the wisdom, the resources, the business sense, the knowledge.

God doesn’t care about any of that.

He confronts us with demands that expose our lack, our inability, and force us to look beyond ourselves.

Remember what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount we heard read earlier?

No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

Well, Elijah and this woman face a similar choice: Trust in what makes sense, in what you can understand, in resources that seem reasonable to make you secure.

Or trust in God’s Word… But not just generally in God’s Word… …specifically in God’s promises… his Gospel.

Because that is what Elijah attaches to his instructions now, v. 14:

For thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘The jar of flour shall not be spent, and the jug of oil shall not be empty, until the day that the LORD sends rain upon the earth.’”

The woman lives on her last crumb, her last drop. But, God promises those last pieces will never run out. God promises that he will provide beyond what they can see. God promises that he will provide beyond what makes sense. God promises that he will provide beyond what you understand.

God’s Word is not reasonable: Praise God for his unreasonable Word!

What was it that David sang?

Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.

And so, vv. 15-16:

And she went and did as Elijah said. And she and he and her household ate for many days. The jar of flour was not spent, neither did the jug of oil become empty, according to the word of the LORD that he spoke by Elijah.

You see this is the thing: God’s Word does NOT make sense… but God’s Word delivers.

do not be anxious [Jesus said] about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on…. your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

God is All-mighty. Not partly-mighty. Not mostly-mighty.

God can bring the riches of Solomon to nothing in an instant. And God can make the last morsel of flour last a lifetime.

Everyone here has so many things to worry about. This is a room full of Elijahs and widows. The rent. The job. The kids. The future. The savings. The connections. The plans.

I worry about our church. Of course I worry about our church. So many problems. So many distractions. So few resources. So few people.

But, three and half years the famine lasted… …and for much of that time Elijah pastored this little church plant in Zarephath.

Three people every Sunday… Elijah, a widow, a child. A broken family and a preacher.

Week by week: no grand revival; nothing impressive; nothing glorious.

Just three people with nothing… who trusted God’s Word. …but trust like that pays off.

Why is God’s Word not reasonable?

Those who claim God’s Word MUST make sense are simply wrong. Whether they’re a pious Christian, or an unbelieving atheist.

Solomon was pretty smart: fat lot of good that did for him in the end.

God doesn’t say things to make you trust in your reason. God says things to make you trust in Jesus.

Think of the widow: Facing certain death with her child. She failed at managing the finances. And if you can’t even feed your kids: that’s the definition of pretty poor parenting. But, she trusted God’s promise.

Remember what Jesus said?

Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

Think of Elijah: No revolutionary revival. No amazing ministry. But, he preached the Word and trusted the Word…

It’s just as Jesus promised:

seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

And so: What is your empty jar? and What is your dry jug? Because that is where Jesus meets you today. That is where his promises matter and make a difference.

Promises that look weak, sound stupid, are ridiculous to reason. A barrel always at the bottom, but never empty. A Church always despised, but never destroyed.

God’s Word isn’t reasonable… …because there’s always a reason not to trust Him. There’s always something that doesn’t make sense.

But one day, when the rains return, …and we see Christ in His crown …we’ll look back on these days and say:

Yes…

the jar of flour was not spent,

and nor…

did the jug of oil become empty,

all…

according to the word of the LORD