Flight of the Ravens

I am amazed at God’s sovereign power. I am also greatly encouraged from reading the scriptures and from twenty five years of walking with Him that He can be trusted. I am also astounded by the numerous times God calls my faith into account as I am put through some test or directed to some act of obedience that requires assurance that He will be there for me and will catch me.
Elijah is one of my favorite Bible characters. He was a loner who preferred the company of God in isolation than the company and camaraderie of people. He was a man of faith and tremendous courage. This larger than life servant of the Lord was tested over and over again before making his famous stand on Mount Carmel.
Elijah was called to prophesy a drought over Israel and King Ahab for their rebellion, idolatry, and disobedience. That is exactly what Elijah does in I Kings 17:1. What follows is a series of tests for this fiery prophet.
Sure enough the rain stopped. We learn in [James 5:17] that it did not rain for three and a half years. I Kings 17:2 states, “Then a revelation from the Lord came to him” That is the way Christian Holman Standard version translate that verse. The updated New American Standard version puts it like this, “The word of the Lord came to him saying.”
I would be amiss not to take the time to mention the importance of hearing from God. Hearing from the Lord is the only way I know how to live in confidence. Just last night as I was leaving a service where I had been teaching some college students, it started snowing, sleeting, and the temperatures begin hovering around the freezing the mark. I had a hour and a half of drive in front of me late into the night to get back home. Ironically I had just finished teaching on this passage from I Kings 17. The service did not end until after 10:00 p.m. and we began getting reports that the bridges were icing up. I really needed to leave but my host kept inviting me to spend the night with them. I really wanted to get on my way so I could be at home the next day for Brenda and the boys.
We watched the local weather forecast on the news and checked the internet weather channels for information. I finally decided to try to make the trip. When I got to the edge of town I had to make a choice of going two different directions that would take me back home. One route was shorter but it consisted of back roads most of the way. The other route was longer but had major roads all the way. I breathed out a quick prayer for direction. Outside the sleet and snow continued to fall rapidly as I asked the Lord for wisdom about which route I should take. I sensed the Lord leading me to take the longer route. Should we really expect to hear from the Lord on matters like that? I think so.
Not hearing from the Lord on the mundane matters of life as well as the seemingly trivial matters of life is important. Elijah heard the Lord to tell him to prophesy a drought over the nation and the Lord’s word for him after that was for his own survival. Do not forget that Elijah would face the consequences of the drought just like everyone else would.
God’s word for Elijah was very clear and simple. Elijah was go hide himself at a brook called Cherith. God assured Elijah that he would find water to drink from that brook but then the Lord said something else that must have been shocking. Read it for yourself. “It shall be that you will drink of the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to provide for you there.” [I Kings 17:4]
What does that mean when the Lord told Elijah that He had commanded the ravens to provide for him there? It means just what it says it means. God, who has power over the entire universe, chose to make some ravens his messengers and agents of provision for the fiery prophet Elijah.
That set my mind to thinking what it would have been light to have been one of the chosen ravens. I do not know raven culture but I imagine they do have some ability to communicate with one another. They probably have some limited reasoning skills to help them find shelter and food for themselves. How did God take some ravens and have them gather both bread and meat and deliver it to Elijah once in the morning and once in the evening daily?
God whose power is infinite has the ability to turn the ordinary flight of a raven into a kingdom assignment for Him. The flight of the raven for those days had great kingdom significance. That meant for those ravens that they not only had to find provision for themselves but also the provision for Elijah and yet God intervened and provided. Would it have not been easy for those ravens to have kept back God’s provision for Elijah for themselves? They would have enjoyed feasting on the bread and meat two times a day but God set them apart for His purpose and the flight of the ravens took on added significance. If they had chosen to rebel what would have happened to Elijah? Yes, God could have provided for him through some other means but He intended to do it through the ravens. If they rebelled then Elijah would have had nothing to eat. Without food to eat Elijah would have died and if Elijah would have died the drought would not have come to an end because Elijah was God’s spokesperson. Ahab would not have been confronted as well as the false prophets who were peddling their idolatrous poison into the hearts and minds of the people. These delivery flights for the ravens were bigger than they could have imagined for not only Elijah but for an entire nation.
The flight of the ravens was more important than feeding one man. It was God’s way of providing for His messenger who would shake up a whole nation of Isreal. Never under estimate the importance of the flight of the ravens.
In essence you and I are little more than ravens in God’s hands. We are his servants who are given various kingdom assignments. The flight of our lives may not seem important to us but we cannot see the tapestry God is weaving through the course of history with each life and each assignment bringing together His sovereign plans.
I want to be as available to God as those ravens were. I want the flight of my life, though seemingly insignificant at times in my own life, to have purpose and meaning for something and someone bigger than myself. The flight of our lives must be yielded to God and we must believe that our existence on this planet among billions of others has significance. We were created for good works. [Eph 2:10] “For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared before hand so that we would walk in them.”
I know your life and my life are of much more value to God than the life of a raven. You have things you were created to do in this life. You were created to partner with God and to labor for Him and with Him. You were created to be on mission for Him. The assignments may vary from time to time. We may not know the full value of our missions in our life times but do not for one second think God created you to take up space on this planet. If He wills to bring ravens on mission for Him and chooses to use them in His grand scheme, how much more does He desire to use us? My hope is that you and I will live with a willingness to be available to God and be compliant to His plans for us regardless of what they might be.
I am thankful for the reminder this morning about how God used the flight of the ravens to show me that I am on mission for Him too. My life counts and I have no idea how my little assignment is playing a march larger role than I know. Today part of that mission is to sit at this key board to type out these thoughts and sentences hoping to lasso them onto the pages of a book and on my blog. I believe by faith that somebody is going to read this one day, perhaps in my life time and maybe after I am dead and gone, and by faith I am trusting that this simple flight and this obscure raven is going to produce something of eternal value in a heart. I cn rest easy tonight knowing that the flight of this raven was not wasted but that I was an instrument in the hands of a great and mighty God who allows me to be used by Him.
Who knows? My assignment might bring encouragement and help build the faith of someone God is going to use mightily. Maybe God will use some raven to bring His provision for me today. It doesn’t matter if I am the prophet or the raven. Being used by God is what life is all about. Lord, thank for the faith of the prophet and for the flight of the ravens.