Out of Hiding

PASSAGE FOR THE DAY:

1 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.”

2 Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah: 3 “Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. 4 You will drink from the brook, and I have directed the ravens to supply you with food there.”

5 So he did what the LORD had told him. He went to the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan, and stayed there. 6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.

7 Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. 8 Then the word of the LORD came to him: 9 “Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.” 10 So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, “Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?” 11 As she was going to get it, he called, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.”

12 “As surely as the LORD your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.”

13 Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. 14 For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD sends rain on the land.’”

15 She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. 16 For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the LORD spoken by Elijah. (1 Kings 17:1-16, NIV)

REFLECTIONS:

Elijah comes to Zarephath out of need for his own survival. God sends a survivor to a woman who is barely surviving herself. How strange of God to choose this way of bringing life from death. Not only given food and drink, Elijah finds shelter with the widow and her son. His life depends on her for sustenance. Because she needs him, Elijah will find what he needs.

Fearing for his own life, Elijah had escaped to the Kerith Ravine, where ravens fed him each day. The intermittent stream of the wadi had dried up and, relying on God's direction, Elijah leaves there for the city of Zarephath.

Imagine how Elijah must have felt, leaving that isolated valley for a bustling town along the Mediterranean. Rather than ravens for company, Elijah will now be surrounded by humans. He is literally coming out of hiding.

Elijah promises the widow that if she gives over what little she has, she will receive all she needs. If she serves Elijah, then she will see what God can do. Until the rains come again, they will never lack for grain and oil.

Imagine how the widow must have felt! Who is Elijah to tell her these things? But what does she have to lose? Her life is lost already. What she does not know is that Elijah has already seen what God can do. Day and night, down by the wadi, he has known God's faithfulness and found God trustworthy. Now she will discover the same truth about God.

Do we have the courage to step out, certain of God's trustworthiness, and ask of others the promises that God has made? Does our experience of and witness to God's commitment to life make us willing helpers to God's promises? Are we willing to come out of hiding and walk in faith?

PRAYER:

Faithful God, draw us into the world with your power and grace. Strengthen us to step outside our comfort zones and our personal "Kerith Ravines" where we have been satisfied for so long. Graciously enable us to trust you. We are so slow to learn the way of faith. We need your grace to inspire courage in our hearts so that we might step out of hiding and give you what little we have.

WHO AM I?

I am Tres Sansom, and yesterday I mentioned that this story challenges me to give financially from a place of faith. But that's not the only way that the story challenges me—I'm also convicted that I need to serve from a place of faith. Too often I find myself serving from a place of comfort, where I find no real need to trust in God's provision. I simply do things in my own power. There's virtually no faith in God, simply a faith in Tres’ abilities. Too often, when placed in a situation that stretches me or causes me even a mild level of discomfort, I find myself shrinking back, remaining silent, failing to step out. But this story challenges me to cry out for God's grace. Deep in my spirit, I say "No more!" I yearn to serve from a place of faith—faith and trust and confidence in the living God. I want to live from a place that looks outside of my own personal strength and creativity and gifts to the power and abilities of the God who made heaven and earth. I want to walk about with my eyes focused on the God for whom all things are possible. As I walk about my daily life, interacting with others in various and sundry ways, I want to move about with a confidence in the God who raised Christ Jesus from the dead. I want to live on the very edge of faith, believing that God will use me in ways that I cannot even begin to dream or imagine. I want to join Elijah in coming out of hiding. I want to join the widow of Zarephath in serving others with all that I am, and more. I want to live "in keeping with the word of the Lord."