Elijah was exhausted. 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)
Many, like Elijah, are exhausted from battling evil. Many are weary of being targets for standing up for what is good and right. Yet 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. And 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; or 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 my heart with power.
The chariots of fire to lift us away are not far off. Be strong and of good courage; and eat well.
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