And the word of the
Lord came unto him saying, get thee hence eastward, and hide thyself by the
brook of Cherith, that is before Jordan. And it shall be that thou shalt drink
of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there. (1 Kings
17:3-4)
The story of
Elijah is one that we are so familiar with. We will look closely at the story
and glean lessons that will boost our confidence in our God. Elijah the prophet
had just given King Ahab a piece of his godly mind. He had enough of Ahab bad
behavior and gave a prophetic declaration that there would be no rain for three
and half years. Wow! That’s quite a long time but he needed to bring Ahab to
understand that God was supreme. A land without rain for three and half years
would definitely be one with drought. Elijah was very much present in the land
with the famine and the Lord had a Back Up plan for His general.
God is a God of order and direction. He
instructed Elijah to go eastward and hide himself by the brook of Cherith.
Elijah did exactly what he was told without hesitation. Let me ask at this
point, how often do God’s children follow His instruction to the letter or are
we sometimes tempted to modify His word to suit our personal desires? The truth is that the key to God’s
intervention in our lives is strongly tied to our ability to obey His word.
“And it shall be that thou shalt
drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there.” The Lord told Elijah that the water
of the brook will be sufficient for his drinking needs for as long as was
necessary. A brook is a small stream. The Lord did not send him to the larger
bodies of water in the land rather to a small brook. Sometimes the Lord will
lead to something that seems insignificant but has ability to produce what will
suffice per time. We must develop the habit of having an open mind when dealing
with the Lord. Remember He says that His ways are not our ways. His thoughts
are higher than our thoughts.
“And I have commanded the ravens to
feed thee there.” The
Lord sent Elijah to a brook and as
if that was not humbling enough He told Elijah that ravens had been mandated to
feed him. Wow! This God is amazing. A raven is a member of the crow family. It
is an intelligent but scavenging bird. A scavenger is definitely unclean and does
not consider the issue of hygiene. However notice that one of the good
attributes of the raven is that of intelligence. Beloved nothing is ever a
complete write off with God. All things were created for the Lord’s pleasure
even the dirty raven.
Another negative characteristic of the raven is that it can
pluck out the eyes of even his children when hungry. Yet the raven was
disciplined enough to bring Elijah’s food without tampering with it because the
Word of the Lord was involved. Remember
He says’ “my word will not return void until it has accomplished the purpose
for which it is sent”. Hallelujah this God is too much.
Elijah was a man
of God who obeyed the Lord and God was obligated to his obedience. When a man’s
ways pleases God, he makes even the enemies to be at peace with the man. The raven could have plucked Elijah’s eyes
but the Lord used it to work in Elijah’s favour.
Trust God enough to obey Him.
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