“You will drink from the brook, and I have directed the ravens to supply you with food there.”

— 1 Kings 17:4

In the Bible there are many stories about God’s people disobeying God’s instructions to do certain things—and all of those things were designed to help the people learn to trust in God. God loves and cares for his people, and he always wants what is best for us. But we often like to do things our own way—so instead we disobey God, and that leads to trouble and eventually to ruin, unless God rescues us.

In 1 Kings 17, Elijah demonstrated complete trust in God, even when it didn’t seem to make sense. God told Elijah to go to a place that was unfamiliar to him, and Elijah trusted that God would provide for him there—even though it wouldn’t have seemed possible in the midst of a drought. But, amazingly, Elijah was able to drink from a fresh stream, and he ate bread and meat brought to him each day by ravens—birds that the Israelites were taught to view as unclean and off limits! As strange as it was, Elijah received the gift of bread and good care by trusting that God would sustain him.

Can you trust that God will provide for you even in ways that may seem surprising?

Can you recognize God’s call in your life, prompting you to do right instead of wrong, to obey his Word and follow his way instead of going your own way?

Lord, guide our hearts to trust that you will provide for us in ways that we would not even imagine. Amen.