Elijah, fed by ravens!

“You will drink from the brook, and I have ordered the ravens to feed you there.”1 Kings 17 : 4

Good morning, friends.

It was the period when Ahab the king supported the worship to Baal and he led the people stray. He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal. Ahab also made Asherah pole and did more to provoke the Lord to anger than did all the other kings of Israel. 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.” 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 ordered the ravens to feed you 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.

Elijah clearly stated that his God was a living God. He also declared that He was the one whom he served. Elijah means ‘Yahweh is my God’. I hope many of you have heard the song ‘These are the days of Elijah’. It clearly shows this man as one who declared the word of the Lord. The Lord wants you and me to declare His name and His word without fear and doubt. Amen!

When the Lord told Elijah that He would supply food to Elijah through ravens, he never doubted it. He simply obeyed after conveying the word of the Lord to Ahab and he fled to Kerith. I think that’s the first time the Lord speaking about providing food through ravens. I also think Elijah should have known how the Lord provided manna, the food of angels to Israelites day by day. So he believed that the Lord would provide him enough food and he never asked any question to God. He drank the water from the brook and then ate the meat and bread provided by ravens. How good it should be to be fed up even by ravens! But the situation turned upside down one day. As the land never saw rain as Elijah told, the brook dried up. The Bible no where talks about Elijah asking water and food to the Lord. Even before that, the Lord himself asked him to move to Zarephath and assured him that He ordered a widow to provide him food.

The thing which I wanted to add is, when the Lord leads you somewhere, don’t look for green pastures. Keep trusting Him for He is going to provide you everything that you need to survive, even before you ask for it in one way or the other. Remember the clubs may remain starving, but the ones who belong to the Lord will never lack anything!!!