19 1 Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, how he had killed all Baal’s prophets with the sword. 2Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah with this message: “May the gods do whatever they want to me if by this time tomorrow I haven’t made your life like the life of one of them.”
3 Elijah was terrified. He got up and ran for his life. He arrived at Beer-sheba in Judah and left his assistant there.
4He himself went farther on into the desert a day’s journey. He finally sat down under a solitary broom bush. He longed for his own death: “It’s more than enough, Lord! Take my life because I’m no better than my ancestors.” 5 He lay down and slept under the solitary broom bush.
Then suddenly a messenger tapped him and said to him, “Get up! Eat something!” 6 Elijah opened his eyes and saw flatbread baked on glowing coals and a jar of water right by his head. He ate and drank, and then went back to sleep. 7 The Lord’s messenger returned a second time and tapped him. “Get up!” the messenger said. “Eat something, because you have a difficult road ahead of you.” 8 Elijah got up, ate and drank, and went refreshed by that food for forty days and nights until he arrived at Horeb, God’s mountain.
Reflection:
The prophet, Elijah, is distressed and running for his life. After he had confronted and killed the 450 prophets of the god of Baal, now Jezebel words hit the mark. So Elijah has left his assistant in Beer-sheba and keeps running now into the desert. He is going to Mt. Horab (aka, Mt. Sinai) to the place where God spoke to Moses and the people of Israel.
After a day’s journey, Elijah is distraught. By himself, troubled and perhaps feeling alone in the desert, Elijah is indeed in need. Maybe he is questioning what he has done, or perhaps it is Jezebel’s words that are just ringing in his ears. Maybe he is just searching for God and/or a connection to the Spirit. But whatever the case, Elijah is so distraught that he is wishing for his own demise.
We can just hear Elijah saying to himself, “What have I done?” or “Am I so sure that God hasn’t called for my own head?” As the story progresses, Elijah believes that he is no better than his ancestors, and now he is asking God to take his life too. We can hear the mental gyrations going on in his brain. Perhaps, we can understand them too.
Left to our thoughts, or alone in our own “deserts,” we can imagine all the times that we’ve questioned ourselves: perhaps over a decision, perhaps over events small or large. In the moment, we think we know what God is asking of us –that we think we may be following God’s calling on our lives. In reality, later we may say, “That wasn’t it, at all!” (There’s a reason for the saying: hindsight is always twenty-twenty.)
Yet God doesn’t leave Elijah there in his distress. God sends help. God’s angels minister to Elijah. God is there, not only responding to Elijah’s dream, but waking him to gifts of food and water. I can only imagine that as Elijah lays his head to rest, presumably in defeat, God’s message is, Not so fast, Elijah. All is not lost. I am sending help.
We have a gracious God! As the scripture reveals through verses 7 and 8, not once, but twice; Elijah is awakened to be given sustenance.
When refreshment comes, it is literally the bread of life. And whether or not it was Elijah’s actual meals that sustained him, or God’s enduring presence, the message is not lost to us. God is the Bread of Life that sustains us. God is the Bread of Life revealed to us, even when we falter. When we look to God –in our deserts, there in the dark, there will be refreshment that comes. It may not be as we have always expected it, or as we have always found God’s presence. But God will be there feeding us in our hour of need.
by Barbara Carlson
For Pondering and Prayer
What are your thoughts and feelings about the sustenance that God has provided, particularly in times of trouble? How has it come, even if you felt you hadn’t deserved such grace? Who are the “messengers” that you have witnessed that have come from God’s blessings bestowed on your life?
Prayer: Gracious God, Thank you for your love and your promise to be with me wherever I am. I know that you, Lord, are the Bread of Life that sustains me. In my hour of need, your grace is what is offered to me despite my circumstance, and in and through all my mistakes. Thank you, Lord. I love you, Lord. Amen.