REFLECTIONS
October 24, 2010
 
 
Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will direct your paths.
Proverbs 3:5-6
 
 
Bad Days into Good
 
It was a bad day. In his mind it overshadowed all of the good ones that preceded it—and there had been lots of those. Indeed, they were remarkably good. God had always provided for Elijah’s basic needs—but that must have been easy for him to forget.
It must have been easy for Elijah to forget that when God promised a severe drought, he was led to a shelter with a brook nearby to provide water. And he had two meals a day delivered to him by ravens. It must have been easy for him to forget that when the brook went dry, God led him to the home of a widow who would provide food and shelter, and whose jars of flour and oil would always be full.
It must have been easy for him to forget how God had used him to restore life to the widow’s young son. And it must have been easy for him to forget that God had used him to bring rain that exposed the prophets of Baal. It must have been easy for Elijah to forget these blessings because he did forget.
When the evil Jezebel promised to kill him, Elijah “…left his servant while he himself went a day’s journey into the desert. He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. ‘I have had enough, Lord,’ he said. ‘Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.’ Then he lay down under the tree and fell asleep.”[1] But even as Elijah forgot his faith, God remembered Elijah and turned his bad day into a good one.
Elijah was awakened by the gentle touch of an angel of the Lord. By his head, the angel left a cake of bread cooked over hot coals and a jar of water. After he ate and drank, he fell asleep again. The angel came back a second time to awaken and nourish him and Elijah was strengthened. Then in a gentle whisper, he heard God’s instructions to overcome the enemy. And Elijah’s bad day faded into the blessing of a good one.
How easily we allow our bad days to overshadow the blessings of our good ones. How easily we fail to rely on the Lord to provide our needs. How easily we come to fear the wrath of men and abandon our faith.  But trust in the Lord with all your heart and watch bad days fade into the blessings of good ones.
 
“You are the light of the world.”
RichardÌ

[1] 1 Kings 19:3-5


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