2009 – Day 153.June 3 – God’s Protection and Provision

2009 – Day 153.June 3 – God’s Protection and Provision

Passage of the Day: 1st Kings 17: 4 - 6 … 2 Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, 3 “Get away from here and turn eastward, and hide by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. 4 And it will be that you shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.” … 5 So he went and did according to the word of the LORD, for he went and stayed by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. 6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the brook. 7 And it happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.

My Journal for Today: Chuck Swindoll really likes to get all God has for him (and us) out of a passage; and so, here we are again in these first few verses of 1st Kings 17, dwelling on this boot camp experience God had arranged for Elijah where the Lord had the Prophet to a quiet place in the wilderness where he’d be secure, secluded, and surrendered to God’s will.

And the first thing we note is Elijah’s response to God’s leading, reading in verse 5 that upon being called to do so, Elijah went to the Brook Cherith without question. There was no, “What’s this all about, Lord?” God said, “Go,” and Elijah went where God said to go. And I love the way Swindoll speculates about what Elijah may have perceived God saying. He writes that it would be as if God said, “[Elijah] You need to get out of the spotlight. You need to come up in the mountains, alone with Me, where you can hear My voice clearly. We need more time together, Elijah, and you need more training.”

How about you? Do you feel God saying to you, “[Insert your name here], I need more time with you. You need to carve out more quiet time with Me. We need to be alone together so that I can get closer to you, and so that I can lead you more clearly through my Word.” So many men which I’ve been blessed to lead in ministry over the years have said to me, “Bill, I know that I need more quiet time with God in His word; BUT I … [and I’ll bet you can fill in the blank here with reasons (really EXCUSES) why you don’t have enough time with God or why your time with Him is not deep enough].”

God wanted Elijah to be protected and prepared by the solitude and provision He laid out for His Prophet. God knew that Elijah was going to face some really tough times ahead; and so God made a way for a bootcamp of solitude and character building for Elijah. But Elijah had to CHOOSE to respond. God didn’t force the Prophet to follow Him. No, Elijah simply responded obediently and immediately to God’s lead and followed His Lord; and God came through with the provisions and the promises which Elijah was going to need in Spiritual warfare for the near and more distant future.

My dear one, as you read this, I hope you get it that God is saying to all of us that we need to get away from the tyranny of the urgent, from the hubbub of worldly information, and from the deceitfulness of our own hearts so that we can be refreshed by the living waters which come only from God’s Word.

Are you getting alone with God in a quiet place EVERY DAY and letting God feed you and give you drink from His word? Blessed one, EVERY DAY we face the wiles of the devil, the terror of the world, and the call of our own flesh to do things Satan’s way rather than God’s way. And EVERY DAY we need to have a brief “boot camp” in solitude where we are refreshed by God’s living truth and rearmed for battle for the day ahead. That is what Elijah learned by the Brook of Cherith; and it is the lesson we must learn and activate in our battle plan living for each day of our lives.

My Prayer for Today: Lord, as I type this, You are filling me with Your living waters and giving me the armor I need for the day of battle ahead. I praise You for this quiet place of protection and for Your provision for my day. Amen