Delivered Through Weird Means
Henry Omotayo
Delivered Through Weird Means (1 Samuel 6:1-16)
Message No. 0511 | Twitter @GodandUs |
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If God is able to raise up stones to praise Him (Luke 19:40) and if He is able to raise up children unto Abraham from stones (Matthew 3:9), then certainly, He is able to do even more through living beings. In 1 Kings 17:1-6, the Bible records that as soon as Elijah pronounced the stoppage of rain to Ahab the king, God knew that Elijah’s life was in danger, so He immediately instructed him to go and hide by the Brook Cherith. I could imagine Elijah thinking, for how long, Lord, and how will I eat during the period of hiding? Before he could finish his thoughts, God informed him, oh, by the way, I have commanded the ravens to feed you there and you shall drink from the brook.
According to the Word of the Lord, the Bible records in verse 6, the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and Elijah drank from the brook. The questions are: how many ravens were on assignment, because you probably would need a few, for them to be able to carry enough food for the man of God; where did the ravens find the food from and how did they know the way to Elijah’s hiding place? How did the ravens know what time of the day to bring the food? Was it the same ravens that brought the food day after day or were there different teams? You probably could ask more questions.
As you would agree, the totality of the circumstances surrounding the feeding of Elijah at the Brook Cherith is, altogether, weird. However, this is only an indication that God is never constrained when it comes to delivering solutions to His children, nor is He handicapped in using whatever means when He needs to deliver a message. If human beings are not available or aren’t suitable for the assignment, He will use other means.
In 1 Samuel chapter 4, the Philistines captured the ark of God during a battle with Israel, and took it home to Ashdod. When evil befell Dagon, their God, by reason of the ark, they moved it to Gath and from Gath to Ekron (all major cities in Palestine), suffering casualties and fatalities all the way, until they consulted their priests and diviners, who advised them to return the ark to Israel. The instructions were to create a new cart, grab two cows, with new calves, set the ark on the cart and the cart on the cows and take the calves away from the cows, thereby creating an almost impossible situation for the cows to want to go anywhere, and to see if the cows would head towards Beth Shemesh (in Israel, about 32 kilometers from Ekron). True enough, the cows, though lowing all the way, in protest, headed to Beth Shemesh, without any guidance, and on arrival, stopped by a large stone in the field of Joshua.
We could ask the same questions as we did when the ravens took food to Elijah: how did the cows know where to go? Why did they even embark on the journey, considering that their calves were taken from them? How did they know where to stop? The Lords of the Philistines were following at a distance behind the cows, to see what would happen. When they saw that the cows stopped upon arrival in Beth Shemesh, there was zero doubt in them that the evil that befell them was from the God of Israel. From that moment, they returned from following the cows.
In Isaiah 59:1, the Bible says:
Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear
Your prayer point may not have been addressed yet, but there is no constraint with God. You should never get to a point where you believe that you request was too big for Him to answer. Most times we pray and we use our limited minds to try to figure out how God would answer our prayers. This makes us to sometimes look at one direction for solution, but God is capable of using completely weird means to deliver our requests. In Matthew 17:24-27, Jesus and His disciples arrived in Capernaum and Peter was confronted by the temple tax collectors who asked if Jesus was not paying the temple tax. Jesus told Peter to go to the lake, throw his hook and, from the mouth of the first fish caught, there would be a coin to pay the tax for both Peter and Jesus.
There is not a single method used by God to answer prayers. Sometimes He would touch the eyes of the blind, sometimes He would only speak and sometimes He would spit on the ground and use the clay to touch the eyelids. God is a master of an unlimited number of means of delivering solutions. When He recovers something held by your enemies, He does it with a premium. When Israel left Egypt, they left with items of gold, and other precious stones, given to them freely by the Egyptians. When God recovered the ark from the Philistines, He did so, along with two cows (which the people of Beth Shemesh sacrificed to the Lord) and items of gold as trespass offering. When He recovers what is being held by your enemies, He will do so with lots of extras, to compensate for time lost. Continue to trust God and keep an open mind. He will surprise you with your own answer soon. Please keep safe, enjoy your week and God bless you!
PLEASE ACT NOW:
If you are yet to give your life to Christ, you do not have a covenant with God and His promises do not apply to you. To come under these promises, please surrender your life to Christ today, by praying this prayer:
Lord I know that I am a sinner and I am unable to save myself. I am sorry for my sins and I pray that you please forgive me. I am aware that Your Son Jesus died for my sins and I accept Him as my Lord and savior. I surrender my life unto you from this moment. Please take control of my entire being and help me to be obedient to your Word, going forward. Thank you, Lord, for hearing me. I have prayed in Jesus’ name. Amen.
If you prayed the foregoing prayer, you have just been born again. Please find a Bible believing church in your area and ask to see the pastor. Let him or her know that you have just given your life to Christ and s/he will guide you on next steps in your journey as a child of God. The Lord bless you!
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