Listen

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.” Elijah got up, ate and drank, and went refreshed by that food for forty days and nights until he arrived at Horeb, God’s mountain.

1 Kings 19:5-8

Think

Elijah might have been content to just stay under the shade of that bush and sleep his problems away. Sometimes, when faced with circumstances that are too much to handle, we might want to do that, too. We might ignore or just pull the covers over our head and hope to wake to a new reality.

Elijah was awakened to something we need to hear when facing difficult circumstances. The road ahead is long and sometimes difficult. It requires that we care for the body God has given us.

How can you care for your body when you’ve reached your limit? For Elijah, it was rest, some flatbread and a little water. Your body is no less precious. Listen to your body when you’re worn down. How is it that God is encouraging you to care for this precious, God-given gift?

Byron Vance

Pray

Re-creating God, I don’t always listen when I’ve hit my limit. I sometimes push until I hear my spirit – and body – beginning to break. Give me the wisdom to notice when I need to hear your call to care for my body before I get too run-down. Amen.

Go

Stay awake that you may see the many ways God is with you each day.