Elijah was exhausted. He had battled the wicked Ahab and his evil wife Jezebel for three and half years, and had just finished an epic showdown between 400 false prophets of Baal. Now Jezebel put a bounty on his head with a fresh vengeance. Elijah was weary. Bone weary.
He fled into the wilderness and collapsed beneath a tree … “As he slept, the Angel of the Lord touched him and said, ‘Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you’. Elijah looked and there was hot bread, freshly baked on coals of a fire, and a jug of water at his head. He arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food for forty days and forty nights …” – (1 Kings 19:4-8)
We may not have had an epic battle like Elijah, but many are weary of the evil around us and of becoming targets for standing for what is right. Just as He did for Elijah, God has also provided spiritual “food and water” for us through His Word. There we find Jesus, our “Living Bread” and “Living Water.” Bread strengthens the heart, while water refreshes the soul. Every morning the Lord gently taps our shoulder and whispers, “Arise, and eat.”
Weariness, faintness, and weakness are signs, not to quit, but to eat – but not “prepackaged” food off the shelf! Getting into God’s Word individually is the difference between delicious “hot bread off the coals” and store-bought bread in a bag; between oxygenated, icy cold water from the Spring, and stale water in plastic. A book can tell me to “Be strong and of good courage”, but when Jesus says it from His Word, it jumps off the page and enters our hearts with power.
Let us meet each day before us in the strength of the Lord.
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