Elijah and the Ravens

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University

"Elijah was a man just like us," James 5:17a

"How does it make you feel to know that Elijah was just like you and me?" asked the speaker yesterday at Xiamen International Christian Fellowship. Several people responded, "Powerful!" or "We can be like Elijah too!" etc.

I replied, "Sorry for Elijah!"

Elijah is, to me, the most amazing character in the Old Testament, which is full of amazing characters. He was a nobody, from a nothing town. Archaeologists have discovered almost nothing about his hometown of Tishbe. He was not even mentioned in the Bible until he is called to confront Ahab and Jezebel, the most evil couple in the Bible.

We know nothing about his background, or his training. We do know he had great courage. We also know that he was indeed like us, because he got depressed and complained that he was the only one left serving God.

Elijah performed great miracles, even raising the dead. Yet this great man from nowhere had to hide in the desert after confronting Ahab, afraid for his life.

He was indeed a man like us, with ups and downs.

And God cared for him, as he does for us--in very unexpected ways. He had Elijah accept food from a starving widow. Now that was faith--being able to ask a starving widow for her last bit of food! Of course, he knew that if she obeyed, she'd never run out of oil and flour (I wonder how many televangelists have used that line?).

The ravens are the epitome of unusual provision! While Elijah hid for his life in the desert, God had ravens bring him meat and bread every morning. I hope they carried it in a take-out bag and not in their mouths.

Entire books could be written about Elijah (and have been), but for today I hope to bear in mind two points.

One, Elijah was indeed a man like me. And most of the great people of the Bible were underdog nobodies, like me, and maybe you. Joseph, the youngest, became ruler of Egypt. David, the youngest, became King. Peter, an uneducated fisherman, became the pillar of the church. "God's strength is made manifest in weakness."

Two, while using ordinary people to accomplish unordinary ends, our Father always provides, even if it takes daily visits from ravens.

But he won't send the ravens unless we first confront our Ahabs.

P.S. I noticed this interesting blog, Mental Musings, that just came out last week about Elijah.