Elijah’s story reminds us that God’s provision often shows up in the most unexpected places—and through the most unlikely people. Whether it’s ravens delivering meals or a desperate widow offering her last meal, the message is the same: God is faithful, even when the method doesn’t make sense. ✨ Key Takeaways 💡 Obedience opens the door to provision. Elijah didn’t question God’s instructions—he obeyed, even when the command defied logic.💡 God prepares us in private before stretching us in public. Time spent in quiet reliance (like Elijah at the brook) builds faith for bold obedience later.💡 God meets others’ needs through our obedience. Elijah’s faith not only sustained him but revived hope in a grieving, starving mother.💡 Provision isn’t always comfortable. God sent Elijah to a hostile region, into the home of a Gentile, yet there—His provision waited.💡 God specializes in showing up in our lack. When the widow had nothing left, that’s when God showed up and multiplied her resources. 🌿 Intersecting Faith & Life Have you ever felt like God was calling you to something that didn’t make sense on paper? Where in your life are you relying more on logic than obedience? How might your step of faith spark hope or provision in someone else’s life? 📖 Further Reading Philippians 4:19 | Psalm 23:1-6 | Luke 12:24 🎙️ Don’t miss an episode of The Crosswalk Devotional — your daily encouragement to trust, obey, and lean into God’s goodness, no matter the season. 🎙🎶 SUBSCRIBE to our NEW SHOW — Your Nightly Prayer 🌟 Check out other Crosswalk Podcasts: Crosswalk Talk: Celebrity Christian Interviews Full Transcript Below: 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.” 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.” 1 Kings 17:2-8 Imagine losing your job and all of your savings in a nonexistent job market and sensing God say, “Go to an empty warehouse in west Las Vegas, an area notorious for gangs and drug users, and ask a woman sleeping in a back corner on the floor for food.” Would you obey, or would you question your ability to hear the Lord’s voice? And what if reaching that place required a long, solitary walk, during which you had ample time to feed your doubts, questions, and anxiety, or to practice a sacred silence in which to draw closer to God and receive His assurance and much needed confirmation for your journey. I wonder how Elijah, the Old Testament prophet introduced in 1 Kings 17, used his 75-90 mile trek, which likely took several days, on foot, from the Kerith Ravine to Zarephath, in the pagan land of Sidon. Did he wrestle with doubt? He had ample reason to do so. First, this occurred during a drought severe enough to cause the brook where he’d been resting to dry up, and God had instructed him to embark on a physically demanding journey that would’ve burned at least 75,000 calories and made him quite thirsty. Third, God told him to go to Queen Jezebel’s hometown. She was a wicked woman married to the equally wicked Ahab, king of Israel. Fourth, the people of Sidon considered Baal, a false god believed to govern the sky and weather the most important deity. And lastly, a widow would’ve been the least likely person to support a hungry man, at any time, let alone during a drought-induced famine! Based on what we read in Scripture, however, Elijah appears to obey God without hesitation or question. No doubt, his time at the brook during which the Lord fed him, miraculously, through ravens, prepared him for the faith-filled journey that followed. I find it equally intriguing that God used a bird He’d previously declared unclean. Did He do so to prepare Elijah to enter a pagan land, accept food from a, presumably, pagan woman, and, later, reside within a pagan home? I don’t know the related cultural practices during Elijah’s day, but by the time of Jesus, no respected Jew would enter a Gentile’s residence, nor would they eat their food or from their dishes for fear both had been connected to idol worship. Regardless, Elijah must’ve felt some level of discomfort. But he’d learned, and was learning, to trust and obey God, even when it didn’t seem to make sense or evoked some level of distress. Here's what I find beautiful. Because Elijah did as God asked, not only did he receive the nourishment he needed to survive the two-and-a-half-year drought—a deadly situation in that day. But consider as well, prior to encountering Elijah, this poor widow was out of hope. This is what Scripture records, directly following the ...
