2026 Pentecost Devotions II
Monday, August 3
1 Kings 19:1-8
1 Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me and more also, if I do not make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.” 3 Then he was afraid; he got up and fled for his life and came to Beer-sheba, which belongs to Judah; he left his servant there.
4 But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.” 5 Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, “Get up and eat.” 6 He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. He ate and drank and lay down again. 7 The angel of the Lord came a second time, touched him, and said, “Get up and eat, or the journey will be too much for you.” 8 He got up and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God. 9 At that place he came to a cave and spent the night there.
“… “Get up and eat, or the journey will be too much for you.” …”
Elijah’s on the run. Jezebel has put a price on his head and he’s trying to put as much distance between his life and hers. But it’s a long way to Horeb over some pretty desolate country. What will he eat? What will he drink? How will get to the place where he will be safe – where he will be in the presence of the Lord again?
The story of the feeding of Elijah parallels various feeding miracles in the Bible. From the time of Cain who is ousted from the Lord’s presence because of the Abel’s murder, God offers food to those who fleeing. Hagar, sent away by Abraham and Sarah, is provided for. David and his companions on the run for Saul eat the bread of the Presence. Jesus feeds the thousands. God has a way of providing food for the journey.
Those are not just provisions for biblical travelers. God also provides food for our journeys. Unlike Elijah for whom the cakes and water were enough, God’s abundance is typically revealed in other ways for we who traveling – either physically or spiritually. God offers the waters of baptism to give us life, bread and wine of the sacrament to fill our spirits, and the outpouring of the Spirit to quench our thirsty hearts. As Elijah was fed with heaven-provided food for his journey, so too we are similarly given comparable heaven-provided food for our journeys.
Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for providing that which nourishes us for our journeys of life. Amen.