TRUST BRINGS PROVISION

God is an amazing provider and sustainer to those who trust and obey Him. For we are called to trust in the Lord with all our heart and not lean on our own understanding. In all our ways we are to acknowledge Him, and He will make our paths straight (Proverbs 3:5-6).

The Prophet Elijah trusted God and obeyed His every command. So, God told Elijah to go to King Ahab, the evilest ruler of Israel’s northern kingdom and husband to wicked Queen Jezebel. He was to tell Ahab that God would withhold dew and rain for the next few years because of his worship of idols.

Elijah is the perfect example of how God takes us step-by-step on a faith journey without revealing the bigger picture. We must not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow has its own challenges (Matthew 6:34). Therefore, we are encouraged to focus on today and believe that God will direct our steps and provide for our needs each day. 

We must not doubt or fear when God requires our obedience. For He assures us, "Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth; do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert" (Isaiah 43:19) He promises to make our paths straight, if we trust Him (Proverbs 3:5-6). For we can do all things through Christ who gives us strength (Philippians 4:13). As with Elijah, God knows our strengths and abilities better than we know them.

God then directed Elijah to travel 85-100 perilous miles to a village where he was to find the widow who would feed him. However, the widow had only a piece of bread, a handful of flour, and a little cooking oil. She told Elijah her plan to fix a last meal for herself and her young son and then die.

Elijah told her not to fear but first prepare a meal for him. And then he said, “For this is what the LORD God of Israel says: There will always be flour and olive oil left in your containers until the time when the LORD sends rain and the crops grow again!”

The widow’s obedience brought the blessing of endless flour and olive oil just as the Lord had promised. Sowing the first of our increase reaps blessings from God. So, when we bring offerings in faith to our place of worship, He opens the windows of heaven and pours out a blessing without room to receive it all (Malachi 3:10). Obedience to the Holy Spirit’s directions brings blessings, for He delights in our every step of obedience (Psalm 37:23-24). 

Shortly after the widow had obeyed Elijah’s request, her son became very ill and died. Often when we take steps of faith to believe and obey God, the enemy tests us to see if we genuinely trust Him.

Elijah laid the boy on the bed, and cried out to the Lord three times to restore the child, and life returned to him. God was faithful to restore the widow’s son, because of her obedience to feed Elijah with the last of what she had.

God then directed Elijah to return to Israel and challenge Ahab to summon the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah and meet at Mount Carmel. There, God would prove Himself to be the one true God. This required Elijah to trust that God would be with him in the presence of his enemies (Psalm 23:5).  

The false prophets built their altar and placed their offerings on the altar. They and the people fruitlessly pled with their false gods throughout the day and into the night to burn up their offerings. Then Elijah built an alter, placed his offerings, dug a trench, filled it with water, and called upon God to show His power.

The LORD immediately flashed fire down from heaven and burned up Elijah’s offering of the young bull, the wood, stones, dust, and licked up all the water in the trench. When the people saw what God did, they fell to their faces and cried “THE LORD—He is God! Yes, the LORD is God” (1Kings 18:21-39 NLT).

Humanity is imperfect and will worship an array of idols which include false gods, people, money, pleasures, sports, comfort, vanity, technology, power, notoriety, status, success, etc. King Solomon, the richest king to rule and known for his wisdom said, “Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart rejoiced in all my labor; and this was my reward from all my labor. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done and on the labor in which I had toiled; and indeed, all was vanity and grasping for the wind” (Ecclesiastes 2:10-11 NKJV).

Elijah boldly ordered the people to seize the prophets. He then killed all 850 prophets who had led the people into sin. This symbolized the cleansing of the land from idolatry and enacting divine judgment for their false worship. When Jezebel heard what had happened, she issued an edict that Elijah was to be hunted and killed.

Despite his recent victory on Mount Carmel, Elijah was fearful and exhausted as he fled his enemies and begged God to take his life. But how often are we ready to give up because we become weary and exhausted from dealing with difficult people or troubling and challenging things that enter our lives. As with Elijah, regardless of defeating thoughts, God calls us to persevere and move forward with Him.

Elijah did move forward and traveled 40 arduous days and nights to Mount Horeb (also known as Mount Sinai where Moses had received the Ten Commandments). Throughout his journey, God sent an angel to sustain him with food and water. Upon reaching Horeb, God spoke to him in a cave and gave him new instructions to anoint Elisha as the next prophet. 

Throughout Elijah’s life, God required him to walk in faith and do what was difficult, yet He always protected and provided for him. However, despite Elijah’s powerful role as a prophet, he had human emotions like all people. He experienced significant fear, depression, loneliness, and a loss of hope after his great victory over the 850 prophets. But God remained faithful and sustained Elijah until He took him up in a whirlwind by a chariot of fire. Elisha would then carry Elijah’s anointing and ministry throughout the northern kingdom of Israel.

We have this hope and confidence that God is our anchor who loves and cares for us regardless of our circumstances. He is always working all things together for our good if we trust, obey, and believe that we are called according to His purposes. And as we trust Him, He sustains and protects us as we travel this journey of life with all its twists and turns.

PRAYER:  FATHER, there are times when I feel so weary, inadequate, and fearful. Help me to be more like Elijah, who despite fear and discouragement, he remained faithful to obey You. And because of his obedience, You provided for his every need and blessed him. Give me perseverance and faith to move forward with You each day believing that Your plan and purpose will be fulfilled in my life as I continue to trust and obey You. In Jesus’ name, amen.