Elijah and Radical Dependence

2 Then the LORD’s word came to Elijah: 3 Go from here and turn east. Hide by the Cherith Brook that faces the Jordan River. 4 You can drink from the brook. I have also ordered the ravens to provide for you there. 5 Elijah went and did just what the LORD said. He stayed by the Cherith Brook that faced the Jordan River. 6 The ravens brought bread and meat in the mornings and evenings. He drank from the Cherith Brook. (1 Kings 17:2-6, CEB)

One of the tough things to learn in my own life in this particular era of our society is the difference between abundance and wealth. Too often what I look at (and this is confession time) is wealth. I look at the financial side of the ledger. It worries me. I am constantly in a mental state of, “Do we have enough?”

Elijah was the man of God. His radical dependence on provision consisted of sitting by a stream of water waiting for nasty ravens to come and drop off some bread. It could have been crusty bread they had already picked through and then dropped off what they didn’t want to Elijah.

But Elijah knew abundance. He had the provision of God. It was enough.

One response to “Elijah and Radical Dependence”

  1. Thank you for this post. As I am learning to live in a radically different financial context I am struggling a lot with my traditional ideas of what is necessary and what isn’t.
    I once related the story of Elijah to a friend in almost exactly the same terms you just used and she roundly rebuked me for not believing that God had provided pristine, fresh loaves of bread by special delivery. This same woman saw fit to roundly rebuke Elijah for running and hiding when Jezebel sought his life. She was aghast that I empathised with him even though I still acknowledged the basic illogic and lack of faith behind his actions.

    The truth is, our Biblical heros were human and they had some pretty rough lives. By taking the time to learn about them, to empathise with them, to place ourselves in their situation, we begin to give ourselves a perspective from which we can appreciate the awesome work of God in the lives of these men and women who were not much different than you and me.

Leave a reply to John Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.