Focusing on the Ravens

In my Bible (Life Application Study Bible, NIV), the title of 1 Kings 17 is: Elijah's Ministry. Here's the first two paragraphs:

     Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, "As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few year except at my word." (1)


     Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah: "Leave there, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. You will drink from the brook, and I have ordered the ravens to feed you there." (2-4)

To set the scene a bit, Elijah, God's appointed prophet, is speaking to an evil king who's married to an equally evil wife. Ok, let's just stop here because there are so many things that stand out:

* Elijah is speaking to an evil king
* Elijah basically tells the evil king that it's not gonna rain the next couple of years       unless he tells it to.
* Then God instructs him to leave and hide in a ravine and ravens will come to feed     him.

Here's the third paragraph: So he did what the Lord had told him. He went to the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan, and stayed there. The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook. (5-6)

The Lord led me to this passage the other day because I've been struggling with heavy discouragement. When I read the scripture, the first word that popped into my head was RIDICULOUS. In fact, I said it out loud, "That's ridiculous." I didn't mean it as an insult to God, I'd just pictured myself lying on a rock in the middle of a ravine, waiting for birds to show up with my food. And then it hit me, Oh my gosh! God instructed birds to feed a man.

And then my mind was opened...

I've been fixating so much on my circumstances and about "how" certain things were going to happen, that I let my focus drift . God is our provider - by any means necessary. It's not my business to worry or wonder about how it will happen, the miracle for Elijah and me remains the same:

The miracle is that I can have a relationship with Him at all.