The account of Elijah by the brook in 1 Kings 17:2-6 is deeply moving. In a time of drought and distress, with the nation under the severest judgement because of the sins of the King and the people's capitulation to his idolatry, Elijah obeys the Lord's word and hides in the Kerith Ravine. He is a wanted man and in great danger, but the Lord has said he will shield him; Elijah is to drink from the brook and will be fed, morning and evening, at God's instruction, by ravens.
A demanding, fraught time in Elijah's life history is undergirded by the faithfulness of the living God, the waters of the brook a foreshadowing of the springs of living water that the Lord Jesus was to say would flow from within all who believed in him (Jn. 7:38), in the gift of the Spirit to all God's people. And every morning and every evening he would be fed, a pattern that has rich scriptural allusions:
The God he serves is the Creator of all things in heaven and on earth, the sole giver and sustainer of life, the one whose creative word declared, "And there was evening and there was morning". Elijah is fed by the One who knows his every breath, his every fear and his every weakness, his loving Maker. And ours too.
The God who made provision in the Law for morning and evening sacrifices. A reminder to Elijah of better times past and to come, of the abiding truth of God and the centrality of sacrifice. In barren days, secluded and isolated, Elijah was fed and nourished by the settled ways of God and his mercies. Worship remained; confessing his sins and knowing the Lord's forgiveness remained, each meal a taste of tender grace.
But these daily mealtimes also had a raw edge to them: ravens were unclean birds and the food they delivered would be ritually contaminated. No doubt this was hard for Elijah to swallow. And yet, the insight they offer is profound: one day, Elijah's people would be faced with a more perplexing call, to "eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood," without which there could be no forgiveness of sin and no sharing in eternal life (Jn. 6:35-59) - the eating and drinking of believing in Jesus as the Messiah, as sent by the one the Father, as the Son of God "who loved me and gave himself for me".
Our privilege, in these darkening days, is to be fed daily and to feed, morning and evening, on the Living Bread who gave himself for the life of the world, whose self-giving is real food and real drink, able to shelter and sustain, to give hope in the darkest hours.
The ways of God can still seem strange to us; we do well to "judge not the Lord by feeble sense". But they are ways filled with the light of an endless morning.
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Almighty Father of mankind,
On Thee my hopes remain;
And when the day of trouble comes,
I shall not trust in vain.
In early days Thou was my guide,
And of my youth the Friend:
And as my days began with Thee,
With Thee my days shall end.
I know the power in whom I trust,
The arm on which I lean;
He will me Saviour ever be,
Who has my Saviour been.
My God, who causedst me to hope,
When life began to beat,
And when a stranger in the world,
Didst guide my wandering feet;
Thou wilt not cast me off when age
And evil days descend!
Thou wilt not leave me in despair,
To mourn my latter end.
Therefore in life I'll trust to Thee,
In death I will adore,
And after death I'll sing Thy praise,
When time shall be no more.
(Michael Bruce, 1746-67)
