The Lord told Elijah to go and hide by the brook Cherith where he could drink of the brook; He also said the ravens would bring him food to eat. Elijah might have reasoned that it was foolish to expect the ravens to bring food to him; and so it was, naturally speaking. But the whole creation is under the hand of its Creator. The hand that sends the rain and withholds it, could use even an unclean, ravenous bird to feed His servant. Elijah knew this, so he acted in obedience. He did not question the wisdom nor the power of God, and he was not disappointed, for the ravens brought him bread and flesh morning and evening.
What a lesson for us, for we can be sure that if God calls us into a path, He can sustain us in it, and. He may even dispose the heart of an unsaved man or woman to care for us. While we should not go to the world seeking its help in the work of the Lord, we know He can and does at times turn them to be favorable and friendly in a most unexpected way. He brought Daniel into favor and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs, and He can do the same for us when we step out into the path of faith, having God alone for our resource. In these days when association and consederation are the cry, we need more of that quiet walking with God and confidence in Him, instead of leaning on an arm of flesh. The Lord can and does sustain His servants, and there will be power in one’s testimony only in the measure in which he has this confidence in his own soul. The Lord is the One who raises up, and fits, and sustains, as He did Elijah here. Let us pray the Lord of the harvest to raise up such, for His own glory, in these last days.
God also tests the faith of His sernts, for we cannot live on an experience, nor on the faith that sustained us in the past. There must be a present living faith for the path, so here when the brook dried up Elijah waited for the word of the Lord. Let us remember that the darker the day, the greater the need of walking with God; for other resources will eventually fail, even though God may use them for a time. As the end approaches for us, we are exhorted to be “sober and watch unto prayer,” 1 Peter 4: 7, for we have no strength or wisdom of our own.
The Lord now sends His servant out of the land of Israel altogether, to Zarephath in Zidon. If His own people will not have His word, He will reach out in blessing to others—even to Gentiles. This was strikingly seen in the life of the Lord Jesus who, when rejected by His people, the Jews, manifested grace to those who were outside. Indeed this is the way He is acting now. Though Israel is set aside because of their rejection of Christ, grace is working with the Gentiles, until Israel repents of its guilt, and is brought into blessing again.
When Elijah arrived at Zarephath, he found a poor widow gathering sticks. He asked her for a drink of water, and when she went to get it, he asked for a morsel of bread also. This brought forth her sad story of starvation and deep poverty. She had come to the very bottom of her barrel of meal, and she had only a little oil in a cruse. She was gathering sticks to cook this, the very last she had, and then, when she and her son had eaten, she said they would die. Little did she realize that the eye of God was upon her, that He had seen her need, and was about to provide for her. Man’s extremity is God’s oppounity!
ML 05/06/1956