T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S not the ravens, for him. He had th e God of Israel w ith him in his hiding place— he lived by faith. And how tru ly blessed for th e sp irit thu s to cling, in unaffected simplicity, to th e promise- of God! How happy to be lifted above th e power of circumstances, in the ap prehension of God’s presence and care! Thus was E lijah conveyed from soli tude to solitude. He had come from the mountains to Gilead, w ith a mes sage from th e Lord God of Israel to Israel’s king, and having delivered th a t message, he was again conducted, by th e hand of God, into unbroken soli tude, th e re to have his sp irit exercised, and his streng th renewed in th e p res ence of God, And who would be w ith out those sweet and holy lessons learn t in secret? Who would lack th e tra in ing of a F a th e r’s hand? Who would, n o t long to be led away from beneath th e eye of man, and above th e influence of things earth ly and n atu ral, into the pure ligh t of the divine presence, where self and all around are viewed and es tim ated according to th e judgm ent of the sanctuary? But, though E lijah was th u s happily alone by th e brook Cherith, he was not exempt from the deep exercise of soul consequent upon a life of faith. The ravens, it is tru e, in obedience to th e divine command, paid him th eir daily visits, and Cherith flowed on in its tran q u il and un in terrup ted course, so th a t th e prophet’s bread was given him and his w ater was’ sure, and thus, as far as he was personally concerned, he m ight forget th a t the rod of judg m ent was’ stretched out over the land. But faith must be pu t to th e test. .The man of faith cannot be allowed to set tle on his lees; he m ust be femptied from vessel to vessel; th e child of God must pass from form to form in th e school of Christ, and having mastered, through grace, th e difficulties of one, he must be called to grapple w ith those of another. I t was, therefore, needful
508 Get thee hence, and tu rn thee eastward, and h ide thyself by th e brook Cherith, th a t is before Jo rd an .” All th is is full of teaching for us. We must be kept low. F lesh m ust be crushed. Our tim e of train in g in secret m ust far exceed our tim e of acting in public. E lijah stood, as it were, for a brief moment, in public testimony, and th at, too, afte r haying been alone w ith God, and he must a t once be led away into seclusion for th ree years and a half. Oh, how little can man be tru ste d ; how badly can we bear to be set in a place of honor! How soon we forget ourselves and God! We shall see presently , how much our honored prophet needed to be th u s k ep t in re tirem ent. The Lord knew his tem per am ent and tendencies, and dealt w ith him accordingly. It is tru ly hum iliat ing to th in k how little we can- be tru sted in the way of public testimony for Christ; we are so full of self; we vainly imagine th a t we are something and th a t God will do much by n s: hence it is ^ th at we need, like our prophet, to be told to “ hide ourselves,” to get away from public view, th a t we may learn, in the holy calmness of our F a th e r’s presence, our own proper no thingness. In his, lonely re tre a t by th e brook Cherith, E lijah was called to sojourn many days; not, howeyer, w ithout a precious prom ise from th e Lord *God of Israel in reference to his needed provision, for he went accompanied by the gracious assurance, “I have com manded th e ravens to feed thee th ere.” W hat a strange provision! W hat a eon tinual exercise of faith was th ere involved in being called to look out for the daily visits of birds th a t would n atu rally desire to devour th e proph e t’s meal! But was it upon th e ravens th a t E lijah lived? Surely not. His soul reposed in the precious words, “I have commanded.” It was God, and.
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