“The LORD Will Provide!”

“The LORD Will Provide!”(I Kgs.17:1-6).
O LORD, my God, as I begin the day, I will listen to what you will say. Give us the peace you have promised us.(zps.85:8).
When Ahab became king of Israel, he married a foreign woman, Jezebel; the woman who has come to be considered as an epitome of evil. By her influence, King Ahab “began to serve Baal and worshipped him. He set up an alter for Baal in the temple of Baal that he had built in Samaria.” More than any king before him, he did so many things to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel to anger(I Kgs.16:29-33).
It is against this backdrop that prophet Elijah was called to specifically warn against idolatory – especially Ahab’s worship of Baal. Elijah – Yahweh is my God – spoke and acted in accordance with his name.
Today’s text is Elijah’s first prophetic declaration of the LORD’S punishment by drought against the rampant worship of Baal in the Northern kingdom where Ahab was king.
Elijah told Ahab, “There will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.”
Having said this, the LORD told Elijah to leave for a safe place – a Ravine – where he, the LORD, sent ravens to provide meat and bread to Elijah mornings and evenings. There was a brook there that provided him with drinking water.
Was Elijah’s daily provision of food and water a miracle?
A miracle is defined as “an extraordinary and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore attributed to a divine agency.”
If that is so, then Elijah’s daily provision is not quite fit to be miraculous. The Ravine that offered him protection from pursuers was natural. The water from the brook had always been there. Bread and meat are not extraordinary. However, the miraculous element is the ability of ravens bringing food and meat to him mornings and evenings. Ravens feed on carcasses. It couldn’t be carcass meat that they brought to Elijah. The raven was among the detestable birds not to be eaten(Lev.11:13-19; Dt.14:11-18). The Israelites were forbidden to eat the kind of meat the ravens ate. The miraculous here, therefore, is the ability of the ravens to search for meat and bread that was fit for human consumption. The miraculous is the regularity on which they fed Elijah: morning and evening. The miraculous is in conformity that “the LORD will provide” and that “with God all things are possible.”
On the flipside prophet, Elijah often portrays himself as the god of man, rather than the man of God. He told Ahab that “there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.” It is at his word, not as the LORD decides. The LORD could use some other person other than him. Elijah is too full of himself. This is a pit that prophets often fall into because they did not see it. Later on, when he was running away from Jezebel after he had killed all the prophets of Baal, he claimed that he was the only person left who worshipped the LORD. The LORD told him he the LORD had reserved seven thousand in Israel “whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him”(1Kgs.19:14&18).
Also, “When the righteous thrive, the people rejoice, when the wicked rule,the people groan”(Prv.29:2). Ahab and his wicked queen, Jezebel, are glaring examples of wicked rulership bringing hardship on the people. For many years, the land suffered drought and famine just because the king satisfied his wife by setting up alters for the god Baal. He ignored the LORD, who was the God of Israel. He instead did many evil things to provoke the LORD’S anger. And the punishment was on the people!
My friend, the race for the presidency of homeland, is now on full gear. What is your motivation for supporting the candidate of your choice? Remember: Bad leaders are the products of bad choices! Choose wisely!
Prayer of the day and week: Holy Spirit, guide my feet to the place where the LORD will provide and protect. Amen!
Welcome back to a new working day and week! Have a blessed working day and week! Peace be with you!
Rev Babila Fochang.
29/09/2025.