Fed by the Ravens

1 Kings 17:1-6 (NIV)

Elijah Announces a Great Drought

Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.”

Elijah Fed by Ravens

Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah: “Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. You will drink from the brook, and I have directed the ravens to supply you with food there.” So he did what the Lord had told him. He went to the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan, and stayed there. The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.

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There are seasons in our lives where we hit a drought in some way, form, or fashion. Most often, people experience this in their finances. However, I’m certain there are some reading this message who may have experienced or can think of other types of droughts experienced in life. For the sake of this message, I would like to share the revelation I’ve received regarding financial and related economic droughts.

God tells us not to worry about what we’ll eat, drink, or even wear (Matthew 6:25). And in Elijah’s case, after declaring a drought that would last for a few years, God instructed him to go to a brook. The brook would serve as his source of water, and the ravens would deliver him food there. Can you imagine…drinking water from a brook is one thing, but receiving food from birds day and night? Not what I was expecting at all. I must emphasize that in order for Elijah to be taken care of during the drought, he had to be obedient to go where God told him to go.

I recall the first time I read this passage of scripture and reflected on how strange it would feel to be fed by ravens when I was accustomed to gathering food through other methods and means. But the main takeaway I have from this passage is this: When you listen to where God leads you to go, your provision will be there. He’s already instructed the “ravens” (other people, places, and things) to give you everything you need in that season. In Elijah’s case, it was food. Can you think of a time you had a need, and God directed you to go where your need was provided? How did you respond? If your needs did not arrive in a way you were expecting it, did you reject the provision?

Jehovah Jireh is not slack in providing for His children. I have many testimonies of times when what I needed came from a person, people, an organization, etc., I was not expecting to receive from. And even experienced having to reposition myself to receive what I needed. A positive memory I have of those times is that I was met with eagerness to be helped by others.

Reflection: I encourage anyone reading this that there may be seasons in your life when a drought may come, but our Father is willing and able to provide through unconventional and unexpected methods. Are you willing to get in position to receive? Do you recognize when and how He has used other ways to provide for you and or your loved ones? If the food comes in the “raven's” mouth, will you turn it down? Just a little food for thought.

                                                                                                                                                                                 Selah

Matthew 6:25-34 (NIV)

Do Not Worry

“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 than food, and the body more than clothes? Look 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? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If 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—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.