DEVOTIONAL

It has been said that God works in mysterious ways. I'm sure as Christians, we all have had those times when it appears that only God could have orchestrated certain events or bring something to pass that seemed impossible. Well, reading through 1 Kings chapter 17, the other day I was struck with how God provided for Elijah in some rather an unusual ways. Most of us, I assume, have had the opportunity to feed the birds at some time in our life, whether it be directly (e.g., throwing your dried leftover loaf of Wonderbread to the pigeons in the park) or indirectly (e.g., dropping your half-eaten sandwich from lunch on the ground because their just wasn't any trash can around). But most, if not all of us, have never had the experience of being fed by those very same birds. But as we read in 1 Kings 17, we see that God had the ravens provide meat and bread every morning and every night for Elijah during a time of drought in the land. This may seem kind of odd at first, which it would be (how many times have you been sitting at the bus stop when a pigeon comes by and drops a dried crust of bread in our lap?), but some things that make it even more odd is that ravens like to eat dead animals (so you could only guess where that meat may have come from), ravens were considered unclean according to Leviticus 11:15, and finally, ravens have long been associated with bad omens, selfishness, and death. Yet in spite of all those things, God, being ruler and creator of His creation took these unclean, ominous, selfish, and death-bringing creatures and brought promise, hope, selflessness, and life to Elijah.

But just when you would think that God had done His miracle for the day and it was time for Elijah to take over and start trying to find a way to provide for himself, the Lord tells Elijah to meet up with a widow in another town 80-90 miles away. Now when some of us here the word widow, it may conjure up images of a rich white widow whose husb[Photo]and died and is left with a ridiculously large inheritance. However, widows back in the time of Elijah were women without a lot of power and social influence and certainly not wealthy. They were near the bottom of the social class, if not at the bottom. So with that in mind, we find Elijah arriving in town and asking the first widow he sees for a drink of water, and if that wasn't enough he asks her for a piece of bread also. I'm sure it felt weird and maybe a little humbling for Elijah to ask this poor widow, in the midst of a drought nonetheless, for some bread and water (imagine yourself asking one of those guys standing on the street corner holding a "hungry and homeless" sign to give you some money for food). But the widow complied, after a bit of protest, and provided Elijah with not only bread and water but also a place to live for awhile!

God used some amazing yet humbling means to take care of Elijah. Here was an able-bodied man being served and provided for by some wild birds and a poor destitute woman. May we always be reminded of how God provided for Elijah and that He will always provide for our daily needs but not always through the means we might expect.

Let me leave you with one of my most favorite Bible passages found in Matthew 6:24-35. This passage reminds us of the truth of God's Faithfulness and His provisions.

25"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? 28"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Prayer Thought:

"Lord, may You never let me forget about Your providence. May I be reminded daily of Your faithfulness to me and for Your provisions. I am thankful for all that You have blessed me with and I am confident that You will continue to provide for my daily needs in whatever manner you see fit. I place my hope and my trust in You. Amen!!"

DEVOTIONAL

In 1 Kings 19 we find Elijah running for his life, literally, because of the "contest" that took place on Mount Carmel between him and the prophets of Baal. The Lord had shown his power and superiority over the false god Baal, and in response, Elijah had all the prophets of Baal "slaughtered". This of course, greatly upset Queen Jezebel and she swore that she would "slaughter" Elijah because of what he did. So this caused Elijah to run and hide out and he began feeling very depressed even to the point of asking to die. More than likely, he probably felt all alone, like he was the only follower of God left and that all had turned away. Thankfully, God brought him to Mt. Horeb, the same mountain that Moses received the 10 Commandments, (also known as Mt. Sinai) and gave him a word of encouragement by saying, "[y]et I will leave 7,000 in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him.” (1 Kings 19:18). In other words, God was telling Elijah that he wasn't the only one left who was a true follower of God. There were still others that were faithful servants.

As a Christian in today's society, it is too easy to feel that you are the only one left and that everyone has turned away from the things of God and desires rather to do their own thing. Especially with reports about how Christianity has plummeted 10% in the last decade. However, we must remember that God's word to Elijah still holds true to us today in some respects. We have encouragement that we are not the only ones left, but that God has chosen His people and that not even Satan can pluck them out of His hand. And He'll remind of us of this fact whenever you see someone standing up for their beliefs in the news or if you meet someone in the grocery store who is a christian or even maybe as little as a person carrying a bible down the street.

 

In today's society as a Christian, it is too easy to feel that you are the only one left and that everyone has turned away from the things of God and desires rather to do their own thing. Especially with reports about how Christianity has plummeted 10% in the last decade. However, we must remember that God's word to Elijah still holds true to us today in some respects. We have encouragement that we are not the only ones left, but that God has chosen his people and that not even Satan can pluck them out of His hand. And He'll remind of us of this fact whenever you see someone standing up for their beliefs in the news or if you meet someone in the grocery store who is a christian or even maybe as little as a person carrying a bible down the street.

Finally, this brings to my remembrance of a story that Matt Redman told of how he was playing a concert in Norway one night and for some reason he kept thinking of that Michael Jackson song "You are not alone", so he went ahead and played it and afterward was having regrets about playing the song. However, his choice was confirmed when after the concert a lady walked up to him and said that she felt so alone before the concert and was spoken to by that song. This is just one tiny of example of how God shows us that we are not alone. (Hebrews 13:5)