God’s Care
For Meditation
We’re continuing our summer sermon series called Taste and See. Have you ever noticed that the Bible begins and ends with meals? Throughout this series, we’re taking a look at different stories of feasts and food throughout the entire Bible, from beginning to end. What we’re finding in these stories is an invitation to know God as the one who wants to nourish us. The best meals not only give us sustenance, they also delight us. We’re finding that these meals give God’s people the opportunity to actually experience his goodness–to “taste and see” who He is, what kind of kingdom he is inaugurating here on earth, and to invite others to the table.
This week, we’re going to look at the story of one of the most important Biblical figures: the prophet Elijah. The books of Kings, which tell the story of Elijah, were written to the people of God in exile. They were confused, and things were not going the way they expected. They were wondering, “Is God still with us?”, “Is God still in control?” and “Does God still care?”
The story of Elijah in 1 Kings 17:1-16 shows us that God is in control, and that He cares for us in both the big, epochal events of our collective experience, as well as in our personal, intimate needs of our individual lives. We will see that God extends His care to those on the inside as well as those on the outside. And we’ll see that ultimately, God’s care leads to the flourishing of the whole world.
In preparation for worship, consider the question, “What is my experience of God’s care?” Whether you’re feeling God’s tender care for you right now, or whether you are doubtful that He cares for you at all, present those thoughts to God in prayer, and ask Him what He wants to say to you this Sunday.
1 Kings 17:1–16
1 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 years except at my word.”
2 Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah: 3 “Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. 4 You will drink from the brook, and I have directed the ravens to supply you with food there.”
5 So he did what the Lord had told him. He went to the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan, and stayed there. 6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.
7 Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. 8 Then the word of the Lord came to him: 9 “Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.” 10 So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, “Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?” 11 As she was going to get it, he called, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.”
12 “As surely as the Lord your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.”
13 Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. 14 For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land.’”
15 She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. 16 For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah.