Not an Easy Life
Scripture Reading — 1 Kings 17:1-5
“You will drink from the brook, and I have directed the ravens to supply you with food there.”
1 Kings 17:4
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People of faith are not promised an easy life, but they are promised that God will be with them.
As we begin to look at the life of the prophet Elijah, we see that his work begins with a message of judgment from God. King Ahab and Queen Jezebel are ruling the land, but in their kingdom Baal is worshiped front and center and the worship of the true God is pushed to the back row.
The sins of the rulers and the sins of the people lead to God’s punishment. Elijah announces, “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.” The consequence of Israel’s sin is that the nation’s fertile land will become a desert, and everyone will suffer.
God’s judgment even affects Elijah. He will need water and food in this time of famine.
It will not be easy to be a person that God will use. But God tells Elijah where to live and find water, and God assures Elijah that the ravens will supply him with food.
We don’t know what the food looked like after being in a raven’s beak. What probably did happen, though, is that whenever a raven landed with his daily bread, Elijah gave a prayer of thanks: “The Lord has provided for me—today.”
Maker of heaven and earth, thank you for providing for me today. Thank you for your promises to be with me, especially in the difficult times of life. Carry me, I pray. Amen.
About the author — Jul Medenblik
Rev. Jul Medenblik is a former attorney who was called to pastoral ministry and became the church-planting pastor of a congregation in New Lenox, Illinois. Since 2011 he has served as the seventh president of Calvin Theological Seminary, which, together with Calvin University, is celebrating 150 years of God’s faithfulness in their history as the educational institutions of the Christian Reformed Church in North America (see calvinseminary.edu/150th). Jul and his wife, Jackie, have been married for over 40 years and are blessed with two adult children and a son-in-law.
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