Devotional reading: 1 Kings chapter 17-19
And the angel of the Lord came back the second time and touched him and said, “arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.” 1 Kings 19:7
This thing called life requires us to prepare for the journey ahead, doesn’t it? So we determine in our minds what we think we need to set our lives into motion, the things that will bring about our future hopes and dreams.
As a young adult, we hope to meet the man or woman of our greatest imaginations that will fulfill that perfect marriage we all desire to have! But, we never in a million years thought that the beautiful picture we had envisioned would end in a divorce. We work hard, go to college, pay off school loans, and get that degree in a field we had so desired, only to be terminated, laid off, or shut down in a failing economy. We are blessed with beautiful children and pray for them to prosper in all their ways, never conceiving the idea that addiction could take them captive, a severe illness falls upon them, or even worse, sudden death could take them from our presence!
When life brings these kinds of experiences, we began to question everything, don’t we? I know I do, and I’m sure I’m not alone! I’m so thankful for the stories in the Bible, God’s written Word to us that reveals time and time again how much he loves us and how He will give us what we need for the journey ahead.
Over the last several months, my daily reading has been in the Old Testament. As I read 1st Kings chapter 17, the prophet Elijah steps onto the scene during a drought in Israel, informing King Ahab that there will not be rain until the Lord God declares it! This situation is not the beginning of a good relationship between Elijah and King Ahab; the tension lasts to the death of Ahab!
Israel tolerated King Ahab worshipping Baal (an idol god), building an altar, and a wooden idol unto Baal. God was not pleased, so He sent a drought. Elijah was chosen by God to deliver the message to Ahab. After that, the Lord sent Elijah to a brook to drink from and sent ravens that fed him bread and meat until the stream went dry. After the brook dried up, God had another wonderful miracle in store for Elijah as He sent Elijah to a widow to provide for both his and her needs.
As Elijah entered Zarephath, he saw a widow gathering sticks. Elijah asked the widow to give him a cup of water. As she was going to get it, he also asked for a morsel of bread. The widow informed Elijah that she had no bread. All she had was a little oil in a jar and a handful of meal (also translated flour). The widow was going to prepare a meal for her and her son; she expected they would eat this last meal and then die. Elijah told her not to fear. He told her to prepare the meal but to feed him first, and then they would eat next. He explained that the Lord had declared that the oil nor meal would diminish until the Lord sent rain on the earth.
The widow obeyed the Lord, and God fulfilled His promise to her. They never ran out of food! Afterward, though, the woman’s son became sick and died. Again God used Elijah and his faith to do the miraculous! Elijah took the child and laid his body on top of the child. Elijah cried unto the Lord to breathe life again into the child’s body! Then the Lord heard the voice of Elijah, the soul of the child came back to him! Elijah was the first man to raise a dead person to life in the Old Testament, but he wouldn’t be the last recorded in the Bible. Jesus would also deliver this miracle in the New Testament!
After many days, the word of the Lord came to Elijah. Elijah was to confront King Ahab and all the prophets of Baal. The true and living God would rain fire from heaven, consuming a wet sacrifice that Elijah had prepared -proving He is the Lord God! The prophets of Baal begged and pleaded with their idol, the false god who never appeared had no power! But Elijah’s God sent fire and consumed the sacrifice. After this mighty miraculous act, the Israelites proclaimed, “The Lord He Is God!” Elijah had the prophets of Baal seized and executed!
Elijah told Ahab, “go eat and drink for I hear the abundance of rain!” Elijah knew that God would deliver before the rain ever came! Oh, what faith Elijah had in his God! Then Elijah went to the top of the mount and prayed for it to rain. He prayed seven times, and then the servant saw a cloud the size of a man’s hand. It rained heavy rain as Ahab traveled back to his home by chariot, but the Bible says that Elijah outran him. History states that it was a 17-mile journey!
When Ahab got home and told his wife, Jezabel, that Elijah had killed the prophets of Baal, she sent word to Elijah by a messenger that she would have his life just like he killed the prophets of Baal. When Elijah receives this message, he runs for his life, leaving his servant behind and ending up in the wilderness.
How could Elijah have been afraid of an evil woman like Jezebel, after experiencing and witnessing such a journey by the hand of God? As he sat under the broom tree, he prayed to die! He said, “It is enough! Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!” As he lay asleep, an angel of the Lord touched him and said, “arise and eat. ” Elijah arose and saw a cake and some water, so he ate and lay down again. The angel touched him the second time and said, “arise and eat because the journey is too great for you.”
Elijah went on the strength of that meal for 40 days and 40 nights! Elijah arrived at Horeb, the mountain of God, and went into a cave to spend the night. Behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and He said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
Elijah shared his heart! He told God how he has been zealous for the Lord, how Israel has forsaken His covenant, torn down the altars, killed your prophets, and now, “they seek my life!” God tells him to go out and stand on the mount, and the Lord passed by, and then a great wind came by, and then an earthquake, and then a fire but, God was not in these, and then a still small voice came and said: “Elijah what are you doing here?”
WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?
This story has meant so much to me lately! As I read about Elijah, no doubt, exhaustion had brought on fear, hunger, depression, and isolation that had brought him to this place in his life! What a mighty warrior he was, what miracles he had seen and experienced in his life, yet at his weakest moment, Elijah prayed to die and said he had had enough!
Thank God for the story of God’s people, His prophets and kings, who have seen the magnificent hand of God deliver them, and conquer their enemies. But those prophets and kings still grew weary at times in their life. If we did not have these examples, we would feel hopeless when we fail to overcome our fears and anxieties.
How do we overcome fear and anxiety? We have to be prepared for trouble because the Lord has told us, “in the world, you will have trouble but be of good cheer I have overcome the world!” We overcome by feeding ourselves the spiritual nourishment of God’s Word and praying for God to reveal to us His will in our life!
As the angel touched Elijah and told him the second time to eat, he told Elijah, “the journey is too great!” I believe as I read this, God told me, “Diane arise and eat: not the bread of man but the bread of heaven; without it, the journey is too great!”
The last several years have presented the most significant trials of my life. God is teaching me to rise and eat! You do not know what is ahead, so be prepared, strengthen yourself in the Word, meditate on it, quit focusing on the evil of the land, the pandemics, the politics, but set your affections on things above and not below!
As God asked Elijah, “what are you doing here?” I asked myself the same question. God gave me the answer!
“Rise and eat, Diane, for the journey is too great.”
I am praying for you; may God encourage you by His Word along your journey.
Diane Mann
Lean into Jesus Ministries
#dianemannblogs