A raven came and sat on the neighbour's roof antenna this morning as I spent time with God. It had a stick in its mouth. And it immediately reminded me of the story of Elijah at the brook Cherith, hiding from King Ahab who was out for his blood, and God sending ravens to feed him twice a day with bread and meat.
I felt like God wanted me to see something more in that story, so I began to investigate. Ravens are scavengers and birds of carrion. As such, they are "unclean" to a Jew, and would seem a very odd choice for a food delivery service! How could Elijah eat food delivered by an "untouchable"??? But he did - because God sent it to him that way, even though he must have struggled with it in his mind.
But then came the next part of the story. The brook which had been his water source, dried up. It was time to move on. And once again, God did something strange. He looked past all the faithful Hebrew followers who were left in his own land, many of whom would have been honoured to aid this great prophet, and sent him to the land of birth of the evil Queen Jezebel who had led the land into Baal worship.
He sent Elijah to live amongst "gentiles", once again something a well brought up Jew would never do! And more than that, to live in the home of a widowed woman! All of these things would have seemed terribly wrong to a man brought up in the culture of his homeland. But when God tells you to go, and you know him well, you go. And we know the story turns out well for both Elijah and the widow.
And a few thoughts came through. Maybe the choice of a raven as delivery service was teaching Elijah to accept what God decides is not "unclean". Maybe it helped to prepare him to go to the widow at Zarephath, and be a source of life to her. And maybe it was all part of the teaching process for all of us, that we don't get to judge who is worthy of being saved. He went through a similar process with Peter and his visions of "unclean" animals God was telling him to "eat". God was making it clear - salvation was not to be just for the Jews! His offer is open to anyone who accepts it!
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