Dearest e-votees-
This week’s appointed Old Testament text has Elijah on the run from Jezebel. He has become exhausted and disheartened and is ready to be done with it all.
How are you doing energy wise? How are you doing in terms of your spirit? Do you need something to energize you and invigorate you?
Peace,
Karl
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4 But [Elijah] himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.” 5 Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, “Get up and eat.” 6 He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. 7 The angel of the Lord came a second time, touched him, and said, “Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.” 8 He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God. 9 At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there.
Elijah has just had a huge victory through God’s intervention with the priests of Baal (see 1 Kings 18:20-40). He has known God’s power and he has seen God’s provision. From a human perspective the odds were stacked against Elijah 450 to 1 but God’s perspective is so very different than our own.
In addition to the victory over the prophets, Elijah prayed and the drought which had plagued the land ceased (see 1 Kings 18:41-46 and James 5:17-18). Elijah was, through God’s power and inspiration, able to win whatever seemed to come his way.
Then Jezebel muttered a threat and Elijah ran. He struck off on his own and was ready to be done. So quickly the rush of victory faded. Despair had set in. In his exhaustion he slept.
God provides food (bread) and God provides drink (water). Through the angel God encourages to have bread for the journey. That spiritual food and that spiritual drink sustained Elijah for 40 days and nights as he journeyed to Horeb.
Which parts of Elijah’s story resonate with you? Are you tired? Are you despairing? Are people muttering threats? Have you known successes and victories and achievements that only could have come about through God’s help? Do you have somewhere to go and are longing for bread for the journey? Where are you this day?
God provides water and bread for sustenance.
God’s water finds us in baptism. It finds us with the Samaritan woman at the well. It finds us when Jesus proclaims that he is the living water. God’s water sustains us. We are invited to revisit our baptisms daily. To drink in Jesus. To find blessings even when we give a cup of water to another in Jesus’ name.
God’s bread finds us in communion. It finds us with the 5,000 + on the hillside. It finds us when Jesus proclaims that he is the bread of life. God’s bread sustains us. We are invited to pray for our daily bread. To ingest Jesus. To find blessings when we break bread with strangers and widows and orphans in Jesus’ name.
God, slake our thirst with your water. Sate our hunger with your bread. Sustain us that we might continue on this journey until, by your grace and mercy, you bring us into the place you have prepared for us. Help us share water and bread with all, even the Jezebels in our lives, that they might know your grace and mercy too. Amen.
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