Ravens feed Elijah - 1 Kings 17:1-7

Am I the only one who finds it a bit odd that birds carried enough food to feed a man every day twice a day? I’ve never seen a bird carry more than a cracker, let alone enough to satisfy the nutritional needs of a person. Sure, I bet several birds carried all the food. How fascinating that a man camped by the river did nothing to obtain his food.

God used Elijah to announce to the king, Ahab, that God was sending a drought. We don’t get much more than that from the story in 1 Kings 17. There is direct no connection to the baal worship that Ahab practiced, though it is generally concluded that God was responding to that. Please note, just because it would seem a punishment, that doesn’t lead to the conclusion that all bad is the result of our sin. Consider Job who was harassed and lost everything, but not because of sin; it was simply that Satan wanted to tempt him.

Going back to Elijah, we see that God sends him away. He says that Elijah should hide. Hardship is coming and there is no time for provisions to be made for a journey. Elijah goes away, hides in God’s shadow. Elijah went away, by himself. It must have been a desolate time, alone for some time. What could he do? Perhaps he carried scriptures in his satchel or paper and pen to record his journeys.

There was nothing to be done, as God had led him to this place of solitude. It was a time of Elijah and God and that is all. Prayer would have been in the forefront. Would he have prayed for the people to repent? For the drought to end? For the faithful followers to come and find him? They say that solitary confinement is cruel and unusual punishment, but we are never alone for God is with us. Our God is not cruel, so I am sure that Elijah had great conversations with God during this time. Surely the time alone with God prepared him for what was to come, bolstered his faith and understanding of God.

Elijah was sent away, but he was sent to a specific place, prepared by God for this purpose. He was sent to a brook, hardly coincidental. Our God of living waters was there as well to feed him, his spiritual and mental health was of importance to God. God planned for Elijah’s needs, even in the nothingness of the ravine. God even told Elijah that the ravens would come and feed him. Ravens are scavengers who don’t feed their own young until they grow their black feathers. The raven adults apparently don’t recognize them and the young feed on dew until they grow their feathers. Ravens mate for life and live in pairs. Yet, God sent them to feed a man. Not just once, not daily, but twice a day. Elijah did not even need to store up food once he got to the ravine. I wonder if it was different pairs that fed Elijah each day or if pairs alternated. Maybe he camped near some and they were even a bit of entertainment. Elijah need not have been concerned with his earthly needs and preparations to hide away for some time, as God provides.

God used the birds of the air and the waters of the earth for his purpose, for Elijah’s good. Elijah only knew what to do for food because God told him. We don’t always know what God intends for us, other than ‘good’. He can do much more than we imagine. Many assume that the meat and bread was simple fare without much flavor, but it could have been well spiced and a different variety every day. Why not just feed him bread and no meat? There is much we do not know. But Elijah accepted that his current position was difficult, and he trusted God in it and obeyed him. He stayed where God put him, despite the difficulties.

Later in the story, we are told that people were looking for Elijah and were exacting in their search. King Ahab was no longer patient to wait for the drought to end. But Elijah was hiding in plain sight, hidden by God yet completely cared for and well protected.  In God’s time, Elijah was ready, and the new thing Elijah was to do for God was ready, so he moved on.

Even in nothingness, a barren drought of solitude, God works. He accompanies us and prepares us for whatever is to come. He utilizes anything and everything to accomplish his purposes in our lives. In the times of abject poverty of life, he is the one who sent us, accompanied us, and then leads us out to a new time.