A Day’s Journey Into The Wilderness
Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had
done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent
a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me, and more also, if I
do not make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow. Then
he was afraid; he got up and fled for his life, and came to Beersheba, which
belongs to Judah; he left his servant there.
But he 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.” Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell
asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, “Get up and eat.” 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. 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.” 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. At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there.
Then the word of the LORD came to him,
saying, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He answered, “I have been very
zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your
covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I
alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.”
In the Bible, the wilderness is often
the setting for the mighty work of God within the human heart. Jesus made a
practice of withdrawing to the wilderness to pray and receive direction. In a
similar setting, God fed the despondent prophet Elijah with heavenly food. Do
you find yourself in a “wilderness” experience, isolated from friends and
family? If so, the LORD may want to teach you lessons of faith and endurance
that you could never learn in a busy crowd. God is with you in your most barren
wilderness.
Our Daily
Bread – February 8, 2007