As I mentioned yesterday, this past Wednesday, our Pastorman taught from 1 Kings 17 -- the early ministry of Elijah. In the very first paragraph, he boldly stands in front of Ahab and declares that in the next years, there will be a terrible drought -- as in, NOT ONE DROP OF RAIN. Then, God tells Elijah to get outta dodge, and get out fast! He instructs Elijah to go to the other side of the Jordan where he can ... "drink from the brook, and I have ordered the ravens to feed you there."
Ummmm ... Yeah. Okay. The ravens. And... that food ... it's gonna be sanitary and clean and nicely packaged in plastic shrink wrap, right?
Wrong. Pastorman pointed out that it was probably picked off of a dead carcass -- nice. And not only did he point that out, but he then proceeded to ask me if I would have been willing to eat that food.
Of course, my answer was something like this: "uh, well, um, uhhhh ... I'm not so sure, but I, uhhh (think, woman... think! give a spiritual answer) yeah, I uhhhhh... would hope I would have the faith to eat the food the ... uh... ravens provided me with."
In other words ... no. Absolutely not.
Did you know that birds swallow the food as they forage and then regurgitate it for their young? Mmmmmm. Tasty.
So, today, when I went to eat my reheated leftovers, I lifted the lid and much to my surprise, I saw fibrey things... things of fibrous substance... specifically... hair. Hair wrapped around my spaghetti. Many hairs. WHAT IN HEAVEN'S NAME?!?!
So Pastorman, the answer is a resounding No. If I can't even bring myself to pick around the fibers in my spaghetti, than I humanly and freely admit that I do not have the faith nor the strength that Elijah had to eat the food the ravens would have brought me. No, no, no. I can handle a little bit of mud in my water. Maybe even a little bit of Cholera, Typhoid, or ... worms... eeewwwww. But the food thing stuck right in my throat. Clearly, I have been modernized.
But Elijah trusted that God would thoroughly provide for his needs. He didn't respond with, "Okay God, I believe that you will provide for me. I'll run for the hills in a few days after I stock up on barley, wheat and oil." Instead, he immediately ran to the location God sent him, with the expectation that God would provide ... and he did. And in the process, Elijah's faith was strengthened as he was being prepared for his ministry.
And that's the biggest thing I took away from this lesson... God wants us to rely on him and experience his faithfulness in our lives.
But I'm still not sure I could eat meat provided to me by a raven...
Friday, January 18, 2008
Would YOU eat from Ravens?
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6 comments:
HHmmm... so now I'm wondering if there are times in my life that God wants to provide for me via "ravens"... but I'm not willing to trust that it is His plan or provision. I would rather have it another way that I see more fitting.
Definately food for thought!
Well, look at it this way: God could have said "Cows". Everyone knows that cows regurgitate their food in 4 stomachs. Ewww. Look at the bright side I say, GiBee. It could have been worse!
Thanks for the recap. I enjoy hearing your take from the Pastorman's sermonettes.
It would be a no for me to, but then again I have eaten at McDonalds a time or two. ;)
Er.....yum?
Besides the focus on faith here, could it be possible that God made it so what the raven provided was actually sweet to Elijah?
It might have still taken great faith to eat that first bite though.
I know that many times at the beginning of a trial I don't want to take the first step.....I want to avoid the whole thing. My faith can be weak.
But then when I have made it through I look back with great thanks for what I have learned and the growth I have made.
And I realize once again how much my Father in Heaven loves me.
Tammy and Parker
Hmmm...Not so sure about raven food myself. But God never puts more on us than we can handle, so He must've known that Elijah had a very strong stomach, or perhaps he was blind and didn't actually have to look at the food provided by said ravens. Either way, I'm glad God chose that particular test for Elijah and has chosen different types of tests for me. Because after having to deal with the parasite from Honduras, I seriously doubt that I'd be willing to take food from HUMANS in some parts of the world (especially the parts where hot water is something look on as strange!)
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