In His Goodness through His Provision, His Presence and His Redemption

If you missed this past Sunday's sermon, you need to watch it. And even if you were at the service, you need to watch it again. Our speaker, Kathryn Chen, packed 30 minutes with so many beautiful morsels of tasty spiritual food, it's worth your time to listen or watch it again. She used the story of Elijah, David, and Paul and Silas to nail the point that God's goodness is real, especially in the midst of difficulties.

In I Kings 17, God instructed Elijah to go Eastward and hide by the brook Cherith, that is before the Jordan and in verses 4-5, the Bible says, "And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there. ⁵ So he went and did according unto the word of the Lord: for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan."

Elijah obeyed! One point that Kathryn brought forth was that God commanded the ravens to feed Elijah. How strange that God would choose ravens?

I Kings 17:6 continues, "⁶ And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook."

God commanded the ravens to feed Elijah, twice a day with bread and flesh. How interesting that it was twice a day, not a day's worth at one time or a week's worth?

Then the Bible says in verse 7, "And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land."

Kathryn pointed this out and went on with what happened next.

God then instructed Elijah to move on to Zarephath, which belongs to Zidon. ⁹ Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.

First, God instructs ravens to bring bread and flesh to Elijah and now, He instructs Elijah to go to a place filled with idolatry and to a widow who is to sustain him. And to top off this act of God's goodness, as he enters the gate of the city, Elijah is met with the widow who says that she is gathering a few sticks to make her and her son one last meal before they die!

Have I piqued your interest? This was only the first course of the spiritual menu of God's goodness!

In the midst of our difficulties, when we don't understand, and we obey, trusting God and His goodness, only then will we truly TASTE AND SEE THAT THE LORD IS GOOD; BLESSED IS THE ONE WHO TAKES REFUGE IN HIM. (Psalm 34:8)