Listen

Elijah was terrified. He got up and ran for his life. He arrived at Beer-sheba in Judah and left his assistant there. He himself went farther on into the desert a day’s journey. He finally sat down under a solitary broom bush. He longed for his own death: “It’s more than enough, Lord! Take my life because I’m no better than my ancestors.” He lay down and slept under the solitary broom bush.

Then suddenly a messenger tapped him and said to him, “Get up! Eat something!” Elijah opened his eyes and saw flatbread baked on glowing coals and a jar of water right by his head. He ate and drank, and then went back to sleep. The Lord’s messenger returned a second time and tapped him. “Get up!” the messenger said. “Eat something, because you have a difficult road ahead of you.”

1 Kings 19:3-7

Think

When the news of self-quarantining and social distancing first entered our lives, we were faced with emotions ranging from anxiety, anger, and sadness. Plans for weddings, graduations, and vacations were postponed or cancelled. When the structure and order of our lives fall apart and we feel helpless, what do we have left?

When Elijah felt similar emotions of panic and fear, he fled into the desert to distance himself from what he feared would hurt him. In an act of total humiliation, he laid down in the desert and relinquished any hope for returning to the life he once knew. When he woke up, he looked and saw God provided food for him to sustain him. It was in this moment of surrendering himself that Elijah experienced the bountiful provision of God.

Jon Chacko

Pray

Creator God, help me to be still so that I may experience your loving presence in my life. Amen.

Go

God, let my seeing and hearing, my words and my actions be rooted like a strong tree in a silent certainty of your presence. Amen.

Adapted from a Celtic benediction by J. Phillip Newell.