Bible Passage: 1 Kings 17:1-6
Pastor: Joel Jenswold
Sermon Date: August 2, 2026

Bulletin – August 2, 2026

In the name of, and to the eternal glory of, Jesus,

Do you trust the Lord for your daily bread?  Before you reflexively answer, “Of course I do,” really think about that for a moment.  Most of you are gainfully employed, or are being raised by parents who are gainfully employed.  There is a predictable, steady “cash flow” in your household.  You know when pay-day is or when the pension check arrives and you know how much is supposed to be coming.  In addition to the regular cash flow, you likely have a “reserve.”  You’ve got a bank account or two.  You’ve got investments.  You likely have a “net worth” that is really rather impressive.  It can be easy to speak about “trusting” God when we already enjoy a super-abundance of provision.  Sometimes we mistake “financial security” with “trust.”

What if all of that goes away?  Your job, your income, your investments.  Now there is nothing you can see.  Now there is nothing you can touch.  Now we are in the realm of faith!  For faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)  In our text this morning there is a man who learns an important lesson about trust and God’s gracious provision.  In our text, Elijah learns The Birds will Bring Your Supper…if the Lord Tells Them to.

Our text jumps right into a conversation a man named Elijah had with another man named Ahab.  Elijah is identified as Elijah from Tishbe, one of the settlers in Gilead. (v. 1)  Thus Scripture introduces us to the man who would become one of the most famous of the Old Testament prophets.  And Elijah is talking to Ahab.  Ahab has become king of the northern kingdom of Israel.  Here is the way Ahab is described in the verses just before our text:  Ahab son of Omri committed more evil in the eyes of the LORD than all those who had gone before him…He married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians.  He served Baal and bowed down to him.  He erected an altar to Baal in the house of Baal which he built in Samaria. (1 Kings 17:30-32)

Baal was the fertility god of the Canaanites and Baal worship was a fertility cult.  The Canaanites believed Baal sent the necessary early and late rains they needed for their crops to grow.  They also believed he sent the heavy dew the crops needed between the rainy seasons.  So how do you make a fertility god like and be nice to you?  You degrade yourself and fornicate with one another – you do “fertility stuff – and you call it “worship.”   The LORD was disgusted with Ahab and Israel!  This is why we find Elijah delivering the message he does.  As surely as the LORD lives, the God of Israel before whom I stand, there will be no dew or rain during the coming years except at my word. (v. 1)  By withholding rain and dew the LORD was going to show Ahab and all those who worshipped Baal how truly impotent their choice of god truly was!

But the LORD had special plans for Elijah, his prophet.  Leave this place and turn east.  Hide yourself by the Kerith Ravine, east of Jordan.  You will drink from the stream, and I will command the ravens to provide for you there. (v. 2-4)  “Elijah, go to this deserted spot, and the birds will bring your supper!”  Elijah does what the LORD commanded him to do.  And sure enough, The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and in the evening, and he drank from the stream. (v. 6)

So maybe at this point you are thinking, “You know, I’m going to test this!  I’m going to go out to Wyoming and live off the grid and see if the birds will bring my supper!”  Should you do that?  Should you sit down at the dinner table tonight and expect the birds to bring your supper?  Maybe!  The birds WILL bring your supper…IF the Lord commands them to!  You see, that is the point of this story.  Elijah is in the “Word-of-the-LORD business.”  He will make a career now of proclaiming the Word of the LORD to others.  But, now the question:  “Elijah, do YOU trust the Word of the LORD?”  The LORD has just told you, let’s be honest,  a silly thing!  Ravens are going to bring you breakfast and supper.  Ravens!  They are scavengers!  Ravens are known to be thieves!  They will steal food off picnic tables.  They have been observed opening zippers on backpacks to steal food.  Now, Elijah is supposed to believe that this greedy scavenger is going to come twice a day and open its beak and give Elijah precious meat and bread?  That’s exactly what Elijah is supposed to believe…because the LORD commanded the ravens to do just that!

Now, as far as I know, the LORD has not said to any one of us that he has given a command to the birds to bring you breakfast and supper.  So we do not have that Word of God to go on.  Martin Luther once remarked that it is tempting God to expect a fried chicken to fly into our mouth for supper.  But we do have different words and promises from our God that speak to our daily provisions.  First of all, we might remember what Paul wrote to the Thessalonians:  If a man will not work, he shall not eat. (2 Thessalonians 3:10)  Those who are able should work and earn.  That is not an unrealistic expectation from people.  But then, the Lord does not want you to stress and obsess about your daily bread, either.  Jesus said, Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.  Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? (Matthew 6:25)  Let’s answer Jesus’ question!  Life IS more than food!  The body IS more important than clothes!  Life is about following Jesus!  This body has been redeemed by his blood and is dignified, clothed in his righteousness!

So Jesus concludes this portion of the Sermon on the Mount by saying, But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things [food and clothes] will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:33)  How do I know?  How can I know that the Lord really cares about my breakfast and supper?  He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things. (Romans 8:32)  God did not withhold his Son from you.  God has given you the Bread of Life that gives eternal life.  He will certainly give you the “lesser” bread you need…even if he must command the birds to bring it!  Trust him!

Amen.