Quarantine Devotional #6 - "Go Hide Yourself"
Dear Manna Family:
As part of the strategy to combat the coronavirus, we have been told to practice social distancing and to shelter in place.
About 850 B.C. the prophet Elijah was told to do the same thing.
As a result of Israels’ refusal to repent from their wicked ways, God told His prophet Elijah to go to King Ahab and tell him that God was sending a drought on the entire land.
For an agricultural economy, drought meant famine which meant starvation and death.
We have recently experienced long lines at the grocery stores as people rush to stock up on supplies.
Back then, there were no grocery stores; if you didn’t grow it, you didn’t eat.
I Kings 17
Vs 1 Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the LORD, the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, surely there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.”
Vs 2 Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying,
Vs 3 “Go away from here and turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan.
Vs 4 It shall be that you will drink of the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to provide for you there.”
Vs 5 So he went and did according to the word of the LORD, for he went and lived by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan.
Vs 6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he would drink from the brook.
After Elijah went to the palace and pronounced God’s judgment to King Ahab’s face, God told him to practice social isolation.
Go hide yourself, all by yourself, so that Ahab cannot find you.
He was to get out of the country and camp outdoors by a brook, with zero human contact.
No phone calls, emails, texts, tweets, television, or even the Pony Express.
The only communication he had was with God Himself.
He was to depend on God alone.
God commanded to ravens to bring him food, and the raven was an unclean bird according to the Mosaic Law.
Ravens often scavenged seeds from dung, and God commanded these birds to bring him bread and meat twice a day. The meat was probably carrion, which we would call ‘road kill.’
God provides what we need, not always what we want.
I think I need to stop complaining about the restaurants being closed!
God may want you to self quarantine for spiritual reasons, not just for medical reasons.
Maybe God wants time alone with you, because He loves you and wants to reveal Himself and His will to you.
When you are home alone, consider turning off all the electronic devices, so you can ‘be still and know that I am God.’ ( Psalm 46:10)
Remember, God designed us to “do life together!”
Brad
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