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do for his own security, but as soon as the message was delivered then God showed him what to do, and where to hide himself. This is God’s method: He leaves us to do our duty, then when it is done and the peril faced, He hides us. He’ll always hide His' servants when they need to be hid (Ps. 31:20). It was a strange place in which Jehovah chose to hide his servant in this case, and a lonely place. He was to have no companions during those days but the ravens and God; but the ravens were to be good friends, they were to provide two wholesome, substantial meals a day. God often takes those whom He is to use, away from the tumult and publicity of life into solitude and communion with Himself. v. 5. "So he went and did according to the word of the Lord." Elijah asked no questions, he knew God’s will for the next step, and that was all he asked to know. He went to the exact place that God bade him go, and dwelt just where God bade him dwell. He did not ask anything about the future, but simply did what God bade him to do today. The whole secret of Elijah’s life and power is found in these words, “He went and did according unto the word of the Lord” (cf. vs.TO; 18:1, 2). He listened to hear the word of God, and when he heard it he obeyed. v. 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." As Elijah had obeyed God’s com mandment, so God fulfilled to him His promise. Every morning and every even ing the ravens appeared with the needed food, both bread and flesh, and he had the best drink in the world, the pure, cool water of a mountain brook, and he had plenty of time to think and plenty of time to com mune with God. v. 7. “And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land." It must have been a daily trial of faith for Elijah to sit by Cherith and see it dry up little by little as the drought continued. He had not the slightest idea where he was to go next,
when the water supply should utterly fail; but that was nought to him; he was a man under orders, and he just waited God’s time and God’s word; and it came in due season, and it always will for those who wait for Him, but the Word of God did not come until the brook was utterly dry. One al most wonders what Elijah thought as he scooped up the last handful of water in some shady nook. But whatever he thought, he waited until God spoke. Some of us are sitting by drying brooks and wonder ing what we shall do when we have drank the last draught. Don’t worry, if you are in God’s way He will take care of that. God’s promise that the ravens would bring Elijah food, seemed very improbable of fulfillment, such a thing never had been done before, but Elijah simply believed and obeyed. v. 8. "And the Word of the Lord came unto him, saying, Arise, get thee to Zare- phath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee." God chose queer ministers for His servant: first, the ravens and then a widow woman who was on her last handful of meal; but God is al ways choosing the weak things of the earth to confound the mighty (1 Cor. 1:27-29). There was much in God’s command to test Elijah’s faith. In the first place Zarephath belonged to Zidon, the very country from which Jezebel came. (ch. 16:31). Then it was a long journey thither; and it must have been humbling to a man of Elijah’s energetic spirit to think of being sustained by a poor widow. Zarephath means ’'smelt ing furnace,” or “work shop for refining metal,” and it was doubtless a place where much dross was taken out of Elijah. There is many a man who can stand the test of Ahab’s court, or even of the drying brook Cherith, who fails utterly when it comes to the test of home life. Our Lord tells us why Elijah was sent to this particular widow woman (Luke 4:25-27). All Elijah had to rely upon in going was God’s Word, but that was enough for him, and ought to be enough for us. v. 10. “So he arose and went to Zare-
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