I Commanded the Ravens

I Commanded the Ravens

1 Kings 17:2-6

Series Slide

Good morning and welcome to worship today.  What an amazing day that the Lord has given us! This is the day the Lord has made, and we will rejoice and be glad in it, Amen!

I would be remiss if I did not start with a huge thank you to Jim for stepping into the pulpit while Renee and I were with Reagan and Logan for their wedding!  Jim’s message on the meaning of true freedom, real liberty, was perfect for the day.  I am hoping that this will not be the last time we hear Jim preaching from this pulpit.

As we continue our rotations in the pulpit, I wanted to remind you that I will be preaching in The Current next week while Jerod is out on Vacation.  Terry Jacobson will be bringing the message here in the Sanctuary next week.  I will be back here on the 26th, then Dustin will be preaching on August 2nd while Renee and I lead a trip out of state.  But, we aren’t here to discuss logistics, we are here to open God’s Word together and consider the stories in these beautiful windows to faith… and today is a window that many people consider their favorite… maybe because it is the one most people see most often, or maybe it’s because it is such a beautiful and vibrant window.

Sermon Slide

Today, we are considering the story of Elijah being fed by the Ravens, a window first given to this church in memory of one of the first settlers and business leaders of what would become Corsicana, TX.  Mr. and Mrs. S. L. (sometimes seen as L. S.) Tatum owned a tin shop and hardware store on the south side of the courthouse that remained in business, being run by Ralph Tatum well into the modern era.  Some of you may even remember Tatum Hardware on Beaton Street.  A glance through the financials of the history of this church shows that we often used Tatum Hardware for the supplies to do the maintenance of the old parsonage and this building.  They supplied many of the materials used in the construction and maintenance of this building.  The Tatum’s first lived at 729 W. 3rdAve… the current home of John and Linda Farley.  But the last Tatum to live here in town was Crawford.  I remember Crawford when we were here before, and I was saddened to see that he passed in 2023.

Restoration

This window was first restored in memory of the Robinson family, and most recently restored by Stanton Glass in loving memory of Hank and Lila Wyatt… I believe that was Candace and K.C.’s parents.

Now that we know the providence and the history of this window… let’s learn the story of this window.

But first, let us pause for prayer.

<Prayer>

Sermon Slide

As we heard in the reading of today’s passage, God commanded the ravens to care for Elijah during a drought.  Simply put, God provided for the needs of Elijah during a challenging time.  I could probably stop right there with that context and preach a pretty good sermon about how God provides for us.  I could reference Jesus’ statements of the lilies of the field and the birds of the air… of how God knows every hair on our head.  That would make a nice and comfy sermon that we would all feel good about, but it really doesn’t get at the heart of what is happening here.

There are questions that remain.  Why was Elijah commanded to go into the desert beyond the Jordon River and drink from a wadi (a creek) and eat bread brought to him by the ravens?  The simple answer is King Ahab wanted him dead… but who is King Ahab?  Well, he’s the husband of Jezabel and the King of Israel… but he isn’t the King over Jerusalem… that’s not Israel, that’s Judah… and that’s confusing because we know today that Jerusalem is the location of the Temple Mount where there now sits 2 Islamic mosques, and Jerusalem is the capital of the nation of Israel.

So, to understand all that is going on here, we need to step back a few years… actually almost 1000 years before Elijah, to the birth of Jacob.  Jacob’s brother was Esau.  Jacob and Esau didn’t have a great relationship because as a young man Jacob wasn’t the most honest.  He fled, met Rachel and Leah, and through a series of deceptions by their father Laban, he had to marry both of them.  Between Leah, Rachel, and their 2 concubines, Jacob gave birth to 12 sons.  Eventually, after maturing, Jacob returned to his ancestral land, reconciled with Esau, and lived happily ever after…

Jacob

but, on his journey back to his homeland, Jacob encountered the Spirit of God, he wrestled with God, and because of that was given the name “Isra-el, One who wrestled with God.

Now, it was customary in that culture for the parent of a large family to be the Patriarch of the Clans, or Tribes, of their offspring, so, Jacob… I mean Israel, became to father of the 12 Tribes of his offspring… the 12 tribes of Israel.

Israel

We aren’t going to take the time to go through the saga of Joseph – the colorful coat, the brothers selling him into slavery and his rise to power in Egypt, but eventually, the 12 tribes end up in Egypt, where Joseph takes care of them and the tribes settle and do well… until a new Pharaoh comes along.

This leads to Moses leading the people out of Egypt, the wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, and eventually, the ancestors of Israel and his 12 sons settle in what we know as The Promise Land, the Holy Land, the Fertile Crescent. Each of the 12 families of these sons settled in various areas and lived and worked together.  They were ruled by judges for a generation, but then the people began to cry for a King, so they could be like the nations around them.  While they needed no King but God, eventually Saul was anointed as King… and he ruled over the 12 separate tribes.

12 Tribes

Then, David rose to power and became king.  Under David, of the lineage of Judah, the 12 Tribes were united into one Kingdom, the United Kingdom in 1004 BC.  While there were many wars fought, both David and his son Solomon maintained the United Kingdom.  After Solomon died in 931 BC, the Northern Tribes formed the Kingdom of Israel and were often led by Kings who worshipped Idols and intermarried with the Canaanites of the region. 

Israel V Judah

You notice their capital was Samaria… The home of what would later be called the Samaritans.

The Southern Kingdom was called the Kingdom of Judah, and they were most often led by Kings, in the lineage of David, who tried to follow the teachings of God.  Their capital was Jerusalem. 

Final History

Just to finish the history lesson, Israel and Judah sometimes joined together, but most often were at odds with each other.  In 722 BC, the Northern Kingdom fell to the Assyrians.  Then in 586, the Southern Kingdom of Judah fell to Babylon.  Eventually, Judah… where we get the term Jew from… returned to their land, but they were ruled by various nations for the next 300 years including the Medes, the Persians, and the Greeks under Alexander the Great and his successors, the Seleucid Empire. 

In 166 BC, the Jewish Priestly family of the Maccabees revolted, and the Jews ruled their own land for the next 100 years, until the Roman Empire was invited in to help settle a family disagreement, and they never left… leading up to what we remember from the New Testament.

Sermon Slide

Now, what did that 8-minute history lesson have to do with the Prophet Elijah? 

Elijah was a prophet of God to both Israel and Judah.  During the reign of Ahab, King of Israel, Ahab married the Canaanite Jezebel, who worshipped Ba’al.  She set up altars to Ba'al, and Ahab not only allowed it, but he also joined in the worship of these other gods. In fact, Ahab is described in 1 Kings 16:30 as having done more evil in the sight of God than all the Kings before him.

And a lot of it goes back to the worship of Ba'al.  Ba'al was thought to be the “god of life” and had control over the rains that would fall. 

One poem gives credit to Ba'al, saying,

              Let the heavens rain oil,

              The wadis run with honey

              Then I will know the mightiest Ba’al lives,

              The Prince, Lord of the earth is alive.

[Translated by Mark S. Smith in Ugaritic Narrative Poetry, ed. Simon B. Parker, SBL Writings from the Ancient World Series, vol. 9

(Atlantic: Scholars, 1997) 157, col III, Il 6-9, In the text Ba’al is known as the Prince (Ugaritic zbl, an element of the name “Jezabel”).]

Because of all this evil, Elijah came to Ahab and prophesied:

1 Kings 17:1

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.”

So, these Canaanites thought that Ba’al was the Lord of the earth… the one who controlled the rains… but Elijah says, I’ll show you who the Lord is… the Lord, the God of Israel…

The only problem was, by opposing the King and Queen, he became a marked man.  There was a bounty on his head, so, he followed God, and went across the Jordan River to the Kerith Ravine, or the Wadi Cherith, depending on your translation.

Sermon Slide

Elijah drank from the stream that flowed through this ravine, this shallow valley known as a Wadi… and God commanded the Ravens to bring him food. 

Now here’s the interesting thing… what is a Raven?  Well, it is a bird of prey, but it isn’t like a hawk or an eagle… they are majestic… we think of eagles caring for their young.  We have video cameras set up over nests to watch as Bald Eagle parents care for their young.  We have images of the eagle carrying the young on their broad back and dumping them, then catching them again as they train them to fly… a harrowing sight, but in the end, we see the beauty and care of these majestic birds.

When we hear of a raven, we think of Edgar Allen Poe and the Raven with eyes of a demon that only says one word, “Nevermore.”

Or we think of the bird that didn’t come back to Noah when he let it out of the ark.

Raven’s are scavengers… they take from others for themselves… they are thought to be a symbol of greed and trickery as well as an omen of death.  But here, contrary to the nature of the Raven, God directs it to bring bread to Elijah, miraculously providing for his needs.

While Ahab and Jezebel wait on their storm god Ba’al to bring rain and life to the land, it is Yahweh, the Lord, the God of Israel who provides for the needs of His faithful messenger Elijah.

But the story doesn’t end there.  Eventually, the stream dries up and God instructs Elijah to go to a widow’s home.  This poor widow has no one to care for her and her young son.  The drought has been hard on them, and when Elijah arrives, she is down to her last resources… she is going to bake a little bread for her and her son to eat, and then die a slow gradual death of starvation.

Even in the midst of this pain, she welcomes Elijah in.  When he asks for something to eat, she tells him her plan, and he says, “Go ahead and bake the bread for you and your son, but only bake a little piece of bread for me too… then you will not run out of flour or oil.”  So she does… and she doesn’t.  She bakes bread for Elijah, and until the day of the first rains, she does not run out of flour and oil.

Keep in mind, she is likely a worshipper of Ba’al… but now this prophet of Yahweh, the God of Israel, has done what the prophets of Ba’al could not do.

Then, when her son gets sick and “there is no life left in him,” Elijah prays to the Lord, the God of Israel, and the boy is restored.  Ba’al is not the god of life, the God of life is none other than Yahweh, the Lord, the God of Israel.

Ok, so that’s a cool story… and it makes a great picture for a stained glass window… but what does that have to do with you and me today?  What does a raven feeding Elijah, a poor widow, and her son from about 925 BC have to do with us sitting here in Corsicana in 2026 AD?

Well, have you ever faced a difficult decision?

Have you ever asked God for direction and the direction seemed completely impossible?

Have you ever been asked to be generous with what little you have?

This story has everything to do with us.  And when we believe that with God, all things are possible… a story like this doesn’t seem so far-fetched; instead, it seems possible, even probable.

God does provide… and often, God’s provision and our obedience go hand in hand, just like with Elijah.  Had he not gone to the Wadi Cherith, the ravens wouldn’t have brought him food.  If he hadn’t gone to the widow, he wouldn’t have been there to provide for her and pray for her son.  If the widow hadn’t been willing to share her last meal with this stranger, she wouldn’t have seen God’s provision for her and her son.

You see, God does care!  As I said earlier, I can reference Jesus’ own words here…

Luke 12:22-25

Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear.  For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes.  Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!  Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life?

Jesus goes on to say in verses 27-28

“Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.  If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith!

God does provide.  God does take care of you… We serve a God of life.  We serve a God who wants the best for you and me.

Again, Jesus tells us…

John 10:10-11

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”

Friends, we don’t serve a capricious Canaanite god.  We don’t follow a selfish Roman or Greek deity.

We serve a God who, while we were yet sinners, came among us, to become one of us… and gave himself for us.  Jesus laid his life down for you and me so that we can have the abundant, full, complete life that we were created for.  That full life is more than you could ever imagine.  I want to wrap up with this thought…

Sermon Slide

Whether it’s a raven in a ravine, or a widow looking out her window, God uses the ordinary to accomplish the extraordinary. 

God’s abundant life is available to you, for you, through you.  Sometimes, you are the recipient of the provision of God… God cares about you and God cares for you… but sometimes, you are the provision for someone else.  Sometimes you are Elijah in the desert, but sometimes you are the widow, generously offering from your scarcity to make a difference for someone else.  Maybe it is money or resources… but maybe, what you have to offer is a word of hope, a conversation about the difference God has made in your life…

So my question for you today is, will you trust God?  Will you live into the full, complete, abundant life you were created for?