February 2023 -

Bread and meat

Elijah brought the word of the LORD to Ahab, the wicked king of Israel that till he says again, there will not be dew or rain in the land. After he said this, the word of the LORD came to Elijah asking him to get away from that place and to hide by the Brook Cherith. God told him to drink the water from the brook and that He had commanded the ravens to feed him there.

According to the word of the LORD, Elijah went to the brook of Cherith. The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and in the evening. Though the rest of the land was under famine, Elijah was fed day and night with bread and meat, brought by ravens. One day, the brook dried up, due to the famine.

Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah, asking him to go to Zarephath, and to dwell there and that He has commanded a widow to provide for him. So Elijah obeyed and went to Zarephath. When he came to the gate of the city, he saw a widow gathering some sticks. He remembered the word of the LORD and asked her for a cup of water. As she was about to bring water, he requested her to bring a small piece of bread too. The widow got frustrated at Elijah’s request and conveyed to him that she had only a handful of flour in a bin and a little oil in a jar with which she was going to make a last meal for her and her son and die as they had no more hope left.

Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake from it first, and bring it to me; and afterward make some for yourself and your son. For thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘The bin of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil run dry, until the day the LORD sends rain on the earth”.

So she obeyed and did according to the word of Elijah, And God multiplied the flour in the bin and the oil in the jar. The widow, her son, and Elijah ate for many days, till the famine was over.

There are no other means which can provide for us like God faithfully does. Elijah obeyed and brought God’s word of judgment to the nation and he was impacted by the famine too. But God provided for him without fail. And through him, fed a widow’s family too. Isn’t it amazing? God could have continued to feed Elijah with the ravens and the water in the brook. The widow’s provision was coming to an end to the last meal anticipating only death after that. God dried up the brook just in time and sends Elijah to the widow’s place in order to provide for her! Our Jehovah Jirah! As we wait on the LORD, God is able to provide through unimaginable ways for His name to be glorified! Who could imagine that ravens could bring food diligently morning and evening?!

Psalm 34:10 The young lions lack and suffer hunger; But those who seek the LORD shall not lack any good thing.

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By Fire

Elijah said to Ahab, the wicked king of Israel, who led the people to idol worship, that till he says again, there will be neither dew nor rain in the land. Just as Elijah said, there was no rain in the land for three years which led to a severe famine. In the third year, God told Elijah to visit Ahab and that He will send rain on the land. Elijah told Ahab to bring the Israelites, 450 prophets of the pagan God Baal, and 400 prophets of another pagan God Asherah to mount Carmel. And Ahab did just as Elijah said.

When all of them gathered in Mount Carmel, Elijah rebuked the Israelites asking them not to waver between two opinions but to follow either Yahweh or the other false gods. Then he challenged the prophets of the pagan gods to bring the wood for two altars and two bulls for sacrifice. He told those prophets to build an altar and cut one bull and place it on the altar. The challenge was that without putting fire on the altar, they are to call their gods. The God who answers by fire is the true God. They chanted and called on the name of their gods till noon, cutting their bodies and shedding blood too. But nothing happened. No fire consumed their bull sacrifice.

Then Elijah asked the people to come to his side. He first repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down. Then he took twelve stones, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. With these stones, he built an altar in the name of the LORD. Then he built a trench around the altar. He put the wood and cut the bull and placed it on the wood. Then he asked the people to bring four waterpots full of water and pour it on the bull, and the wood. He asked them to do that three times – i.e 12 pots of water. The water filled the trench around the altar too.

Now, Elijah said to God, “LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant and that I have done all these things at Your word. Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that these people may know that You are the LORD God and that You have turned their hearts back to You again”.

Immediately the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust and it licked up the water that was in the trench. When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and they said, “The LORD, He is God! The LORD, He is God!”.

Two groups of people. One group chanted and screamed to their gods for half a day, shedding blood and hurting themselves, and yet with no answer. The other party just talked to God and the answer came immediately as mighty fire from heaven that consumed the sacrifice along with the wood, the stones and the dust, and the water. Which side do we belong to? Even if we talk to a person, do we not expect an answer? ‘Silence is golden’ might sound good in a proverb. It is not when it comes to desperate prayers. What is the use of worshipping anything that does not answer? On the other hand, fire from heaven, can human minds perceive this idea? Fire from heaven at a word from the man of God.

Refer to 1 Kings chapter 18.

1 John 5:14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.

May we not waver between God Almighty and the idols of this world, which can be money, status, power, beauty, or anything else. And may the God who answers by fire answer our prayers and even our thoughts! May Almighty God be so close to our prayers, petitions, and thoughts! AMEN!

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EL Roi

Hagar, who was a slave of Sarai, had no entitlement to opinion when Sarai decided to give her as Abram’s wife. And Abram also did not bother reminding Sarai about the promise which God had given about their offspring. And Hagar conceived with Abram’s child. When Hagar saw that she had conceived, she despised her mistress, Sarai. And Sarai nagged Abram blaming him for this situation, though she was the one who had given Hagar as his wife. Isn’t it amazing how desperation and impatience lead to wrong decisions in the life of people? Abram and Sarai were not ordinary people but the ones who heard directly from God Himself and yet they gave in to their own wisdom and made the wrong choices.

Neither Sarai nor Abram took ownership of their choices. Abram left the decision to Sarai and Sarai treated Hagar harshly. This led Hagar to flee from Sarai.

The Angel of the LORD, who is Jesus Himself, met Hagar by a spring of water in the wilderness. He asked Hagar where she was going. Hagar replied to Him with all honesty that she was fleeing from Sarai. He told her to return to Sarai and to submit to her. He promised that He will multiply Hagar’s descendants. He gave the name for her child then and there and that was Ishmael meaning “The LORD has heard your afflictions”. Hagar called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, “You Are the God Who Sees”. In due time, Hagar bore Ishmael for Abram when he was 86 years old.

Abram was 100 years old when Isaac was born to Sarah, just as God had promised. During a feast of celebration for Isaac, Sarah ordered Hagar and Ishmael to be sent away from them. God also confirmed to Abraham to do as Sarah said. The next morning, Abraham took bread and a skin of water, gave it to Hagar, and sent her away with her son Ishmael.

Hagar and Ishmael wandered in the wilderness and the water in the skin ran out. They were on the verge of death due to thirst for water. She could not watch her son die of thirst so she put him under a shrub and stepped away at a distance and she wept loudly. And God heard the voice of Ishmael. The angel of God spoke to Hagar, “Arise, lift up the lad and hold him with your hand, for I will make him a great nation”.

Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. She filled the skin with water. Just as God promised, He made Ishmael’s descendants into a nation.

The first time when Hagar ran away from Sarai, God sent her back to Sarai. The second time, when Hagar was thrown away by Sarah, God took Hagar away to a new place and established her there. God has a purpose for us wherever He has planted us. When the right time comes, He will take our hand and lead us toward the destination.

No matter how difficult a place can be, we are to humble ourselves and be under the shadow of the wings of Almighty God.

Isaiah 40:28 The everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. 29. He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength. 30. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, 31. But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary; They shall walk and not faint.

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A pitcher, a torch, and a trumpet

Gideon was threshing wheat in the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites who were constantly plundering the Israelites. The Angel of the LORD, who was Jesus Himself, appeared to Gideon in the winepress and said to him, “The LORD is with you, you mighty warrior”. It is funny to see that God has a great humor sense to call a man who was in the hiding ‘a mighty warrior’. God calls us His warriors even when we are fearful. God calls us by the name of whom He will make us into, and not who we are in our weaknesses and failures.

Gideon replied to The Angel of God, “If the LORD is with us why has all this happened to us? Where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about the LORD bringing us from Egypt?” The LORD had abundant patience towards Gideon and did not point out to him that they were given in Midianites’ hands because of their own disobedience towards Almighty God. The LORD answered to him, “Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?”.

God had tremendous patience towards Gideon even as he tested God three times to make sure God will surely go with him to the battle. Gideon took the people who were with him and encamped them opposite the enemy camp. The LORD said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel claims glory for itself against Me saying, ‘My own hand has saved me’.

So God tested the people who were with Gideon. He asked the people who were fearful to return to their houses and 22000 of them returned home. Then He tested the rest of them in the water. The ones who drank the water without caution about the enemies were asked to return. The army was now reduced to just 300 people. from the 33000 people who started off, Gideon’s army was reduced to just 300.

That night, the LORD told Gideon to go to the enemy camp so that He could strengthen Gideon through the words he would hear from the enemies. The Midianites and Amalekites were lying in the valley as numerous as the locusts and their camels were without number. And Gideon’s army was 300 people.

Gideon divided the people into 3 divisions and he gave a pitcher, a torch, and a trumpet to each of them. At the beginning of the middle watch, as they neared the enemy camp, they blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers and shouted, “The sword of the LORD and of Gideon!”. When Gideon’s army blew the trumpet, the LORD set every man’s sword in the enemy’s camp against his own army’s companion and they all fled away. God gave victory to Gideon’s army just as He promised.

Two things that caught my attention are 1) God had so much patience towards Gideon though he dared to test God multiple times. God gave him provisions for his fear to be freed. 2) As usual with God’s ways, the unusual war weapons that God gave them, and cutting down the number of the army to make them completely dependent on God and to give the glory only to God and not to themselves.

Unimaginable to our little minds! 300 men with a pitcher, a torch, and a trumpet chased away an army as numerous as locusts. With God on our side, no battle is too big to defeat! In heavenly armor, we will enter the land, because the battle belongs to the LORD! AMEN!

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Have breakfast!

By the lake of Gennasaret, Jesus saw two boats. The fishermen were washing their nets because they had caught nothing. Jesus got into one of the boats which was Simon’s and started to teach the multitudes. While washing his fishing net, Simon was giving ear to Jesus’ teaching. After finishing His teaching, Jesus said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch”. Simon replied, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word, I will cast down my net”. And when they did just as Jesus said, they caught a great number of fish to the point that their net was breaking. So he signaled to James and John who were in their boat to come and help him. And when they came over, they filled both the boats so that they began to sink. When Simon saw that, overwhelmed he fell down at Jesus’ knees. Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men”. So when they had brought their boats to the land, they forsook their boats and the fish and followed Jesus. (Luke 5:1-11)

Later, after Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection – Jesus revealed Himself to the disciples twice while they were confined inside the house due to fear for their lives. Even after seeing resurrected Jesus, as they did not know what was next for them, they went back to fishing following the initiative of Simon. Simon who was the first one to leave two boats full of fish to follow Jesus was also the first one to lead the rest of the disciples back to the fishing profession when they momentarily did not have the clarity of their calling. Though Jesus revealed Himself repeatedly to them, it was not the same as before when they had the continued presence of Jesus. Even then, Jesus’ patience toward them is simply astonishing. His patience towards us today is still the same.

That night also, history repeated. They caught nothing though they toiled all night. By morning, Jesus stood on the shore; Jesus said to them, “Children, have you any food?”. They replied, “No”. Jesus said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some”. So they cast, and they caught so many fish that they were not able to draw it in.

Immediately John recognized that it was Jesus and he told Peter. Hearing that, Peter plunged into the sea and swam to meet Jesus. When they came to the land, they saw fish laid on fire of coals and bread. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of your fish too”. They had caught a net full of 153 large fishes. Jesus said to them, “Come and eat breakfast”. Jesus then came and took the bread and gave it to them and the fish. Not only did He repeat the miracle of letting them catch a boatload of fish again, but He also fed them with food prepared by His own nail-pierced hands. I lack words to describe this utmost kindness of Jesus.

This kindness was towards these disciples who abandoned Jesus and denied knowing Him while He was being crucified. Instead of zapping them with lightning or rebuking them, Jesus showed kindness to them. Jesus’ kindness towards us is mightily more powerful than any punishment which we deserve. His patience and love have the power to transform our lives to surrender ourselves for His work.

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Veggies, please!

Daniel and his friends were taken captives to Babylon. These were young men who were good-looking, gifted in all wisdom and knowledge, and quick to understand who had the ability to serve in the Babylonian King’s palace. The king appointed for them a daily provision of the king’s delicacies and of the wine which he drank. The things to note are that – not all the Israelites who were taken captives to Babylon got the opportunity to serve in the King’s palace. Daniel and his friends got the opportunity to live in the palace and were allotted King’s food in the land where they were captives. In spite of it, they took a stand of integrity for the LORD. Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the King’s delicacies. So he requested the chief who was appointed over them to spare them from King’s food and give them vegetables and water instead.

The chief feared that his head would be in danger of the King’s punishment if Daniel and his friends’ faces looked weak and tired compared to others who ate the King’s delicacies. Daniel requested the chief to test them for ten days and see how they did. God gave them favor in the chief’s eyes and so he agreed. He tested them after ten days and Daniel and his friends looked better and fatter than the other men who ate King’s delicacies. And so the chief continued to provide them just vegetables and water.

We often cruise through this part. But if we put ourselves in their shoes, how would it have been? It would have taken quite some willpower to stand by this decision, no? They would have to control the desire of their eyes, noses, mouths, and hearts to stick to this decision, every time they see the King’s delicacies parading in front of them. The rest of them would have mocked them as idiots for rejecting such rich royal food. This was not once, not twice, three times a day or more. And God honored their decision.

We serve a God who sees us, who sees our every thought, word, action, attitude, motive, etc. He sees our good and our bad. The sacrifices we make for His Name’s sake do not go forgotten by Him. For these four men, God gave knowledge and skill in all literature and wisdom. Daniel had an understanding of all visions and dreams. When the King interviewed them, the King saw that there were none like Daniel and his friends. And so they were chosen to serve before the King.

There were many who were with Daniel and his friends. Their names are not mentioned in the Bible. Something as small as deciding not to eat King’s food made them be chosen by God. Even in our lives, if we are committed to God in smaller things, God helps us to be committed to Him in greater things too.

God recompensed them for the sacrifice that they made for His Name’s sake. When we take a stand for God, God takes a stand for us. And when God stands on our behalf, there is deliverance.

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One Omer of Manna

When the Israelites grumbled against God, God promised to give them meat in the evening and bread from heaven in the morning. In the early morning, there was dew everywhere and once the dew melted, they saw tiny white flakes on the ground. Those were the size of coriander seeds and tasted like wafers made with honey.

God instructed them thru Moses to collect around one omer per person. Israelites collected it as instructed. When they measured it by the omer, the one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little. Everyone had gathered just as much as they needed. No one was supposed to keep any leftovers for the morning. Some people disobeyed and kept some for the morning and it was full of maggots and began to smell.

On Saturday, they were instructed to collect double portions because they were expected to keep the sabbath rest on Sunday. Whoever went outside to find manna on the Sabbath day did not find any because God did not provide any. Also, God instructed Aaron thru Moses to take a jar and put an omer of manna and keep it for future generations to see it so they will know about the bread that God gave them in the wilderness. The Israelites ate manna for forty years until they came to Canaan.

One omer of manna was neither too much, nor too less but it was just enough. It was not supposed to be saved for the next day except for the Sabbath. While it got spoiled during the rest of the days, only on the day before Sabbath, it stayed fresh. And the one that was preserved for future generations did not spoil at all. And God fed six hundred thousand men plus women and children for forty years, every single day. God must have left the count of women and children to our imagination as it would be a humongous number. God kept track of the quantity for each family for each day. He kept track of double portion for the Sabbath day. He kept track of all these details for 40 years.

All of this care and kindness was towards the Israelites who were known to be stiff-necked and rebellious, constantly disobeying people, just like us. This just shows a glimpse of God’s never failing faithfulness even when we prove always to be faithless.

Mathew 6:31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, “What shall we eat” or “what shall we drink?” or “what shall we wear?”.

For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

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