Faith Never Asks "How?"

 •  2 min. read  •  grade level: 6
 
Leave such words alone as how, when, why; they are not for a Christian.
If we are walking in the path of obedience, we need have no anxieties about the future; for God is above all difficulties.
How beautifully this is illustrated in the life of Elijah. God said to him, "Get thee hence... and hide thyself by the brook Cherith" (1 Kings 17:33Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. (1 Kings 17:3)). Elijah implicitly obeyed the command. At that moment his path was a thorny one, his very life was in danger.
How wonderful the care God takes over one solitary servant of His; none are too obscure for His intense interest. He does not test Elijah's faith too far, but comforts him by telling him exactly how his daily needs are going to be supplied, and even works a miracle to send the necessary food to His servant. "I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there" (v. 4). Who but God could command birds and be obeyed! Thus God uses one of the least of His creatures to fulfill His will; He is never without resource.
How often have we felt anxious about some event in our pathway, and doubts have arisen in our minds as to what the result of it will be. Why these cares with such a God as ours? If, like Elijah, we have listened to God's voice and have taken a step in faith in obedience to it, we can surely trust Him with the result.
Another impossibility according to man's reckoning follows. A widow woman is next to provide for the daily needs of Elijah. "I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee" (v. 9). The human heart would at once say, "It is useless to go to such a home for provision; how can that poor woman find food for another mouth, when she cannot find enough for herself and son?"
"With God all things are possible." Elijah's first step in faith brings the blessing to himself; and there by the brook, in the quietness and solitude of his concealment, he is being taught by God alone. The second step in faith brings others into the blessing with himself; the widow and her son, besides Elijah, are sustained throughout the years of famine by another miracle of God: "The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail" (v. 14).
Elijah went through his testing times in confidence in God, and found Him always sufficient. May we, like him, implicitly obey God's voice, taking the step He indicates to us in faith, leaving the results to Him; and we too, like Elijah, shall receive blessing to our own souls, which will extend in blessing to others.