Elijah: A Man Just Like Us - Part 3

1 Kings 17v2-6

We've been looking at Elijah:

James 5v17-18
Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.

Being just like us, Elijah must have had the same doubts, insecurities, shyness, social awkwardness, illness, complicated, dysfunctional relationships... as you and me. And yet he had the faith to pray this astonishing prayer. And, as we saw last time in 1 Kings 17v1, Elijah had the courage to prophesy that it wouldn't rain - to King Ahab. The faith, the prophesy and the courage all came from God. This shows us that:

God can equip us to do whatever He wants us to do.

We read on:

1 Kings 17v2-6
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.

It probably wasn't difficult for Elijah to obey this word from God. He was now a wanted man. He needed to hide, and somewhere east of the Jordan might be far enough away from Ahab's capital city of Samaria. But Elijah would need to trust God for his food. God said "I have ordered the ravens to feed you there" but Elijah must have had some concerns about such a strange promise.

Elijah was now a penniless outcast, because of his prophesy and because God was answering his prayer. He had little choice but to trust God. Elijah would probably have starved if God had not kept His word. But he would probably have starved - or worse, at Ahab's hands - if he'd disobeyed God and tried to fend for himself.

When we finally reach the point when we realise that we cannot provide for ourselves, then it becomes easier to obey God, because there is little alternative but to put our faith in Him. As Bob Dylan wrote, "When you've got nothing, you've got nothing to lose". The poor are blessed because they know they need God. As Jesus said:

Luke 6v20
Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

I'm not talking exclusively about financial poverty; Matthew records Jesus saying:

Luke 6v20
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus's sayings are so radical we still don't want to accept them. We struggle to believe that it can be blessed to be poor. But it can, because poverty - of one sort or another - can lead us to seek and trust God. On the other hand:

Matthew 19v23-24
Then Jesus said to his disciples, "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

It is, of course, impossible for a camel to enter the kingdom, but:

Matthew 19v25-26
When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, "Who then can be saved?"
Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

When God strips away those things in your life that give you the false impression that you don't need Him, he's making you poor (in money, or in spirit, or in something else) so that you can acknowledge your need, and enter His kingdom. Poverty can be (in such cases) the grace of God to us, part of his plan of salvation for us.

(Poverty can also, of course, be anything but a blessing, in other circumstances)

And now that Elijah was learning to be totally dependent on God, he was being prepared for his future.

God knows what He's doing, and all the power of Heaven is available to those whom he chooses. Even when our circumstances seem to be deteriorating, God is at work for us. Perhaps He's preparing and motivating us to seek Him and His more diligently.

And when we trust God, he never fails us, though what he provides may not be what we would have chosen, He does know best what we need to prepare us for our future.