1 Kings 19:4-8 (NRSV)
Read 1 Kings 19:4-8 on biblegateway.com
Verse 4But 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." Verse 5Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, "Get up and eat." Verse 6He 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. Verse 7The angel of the Lord came a second time, touched him, and said, "Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you." Verse 8He 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.
Devotion
It tastes like paper, remarked Spencer as he ate his first wafer in First Communion class. There is nothing particularly special about the wafer, except the cross stamped on the top. It is just a thin wafer of flour and water. How can it be enough?
"Get up and eat," says the angel to Elijah. The prophet needs food for his journey as he flees the wrath of Queen Jezebel. Under the broom tree, he has spent all his energy and faith. There is nothing left.
"Get up and eat," says the angel – not once, but twice. Get up and eat the simple but nourishing meal provided by God; a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. How can it be enough? And yet it will be nourishment for the days ahead; a floury, flowing sign of grace in the wilderness. It will be enough.
Prayer
Gracious God, you provide bread and wine for us, the gifts of your Son’s body and blood. Strengthen us through those gifts for the journey ahead, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.