Ravens

Photo courtesy of rogerpaw.blogspot.com

It is interesting...sometimes "birds" are depicted in the Scriptures as being bad things--

           Abram shoos them away from the sacrifice he is cutting with the Lord (Gen 15 ).

           The birds are the ones that pick up the seeds that fall on the path, analogous to Satan snatching up God's Word before it is sown into our hearts (Matthew 13).

In other passages, birds are meant to show us something good--

A dove returns to Noah with an olive branch in its beak, showing a sign of hope that the waters are beginning to recede (Gen 8).

Birds teach us that God cares for us and our needs, as He takes care of the birds (Matthew 6).

But there is one unique place in the Scriptures where birds are used to supply someone with his daily food; that was the prophet Elijah and we see it in 1 Kings 17:6-7, before he goes on to find the widow with the endless supply of oil and flour...

"And the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.  And after a while the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land."

Last winter, I was in this same situation.  A time of drought.  I was overwhelmed.  I had hit some hard spots with homeschooling my first grader.  She was withdrawn and depressed, frustrated with piano lessons and her schoolwork.  Math was proving to be quite difficult and I was at a loss at how best to teach some increasingly challenging concepts to her.

And then a beautiful thing began to happen....

I met for coffee with a friend who just happened to tell me about a homeschool art class that she felt would be a great fit for my daughter.  And even though the class was in conflict with my pick-up time for preschool, she'd be able to pick up and drop off my daughter for me.

And then I contacted the art teacher and there happened to be an opening.

And then I found a great teacher worksheet website with helpful and innovative ways to teach adding and subtracting double digits.

And then I stumbled upon some new craft ideas to do with the kids.

And then I received an encouraging text from a friend.

And then I read a well-timed verse from the Scriptures.

And it continued on and on like this...small and subtle little steps of guidance, direction, encouragment, and peace.

And then I knew.

These were ravens.  Sent by God straight to me.

These were the ways the Lord was feeding me and strengthening me day by day.

And I made a list of these ravens.

And I saw that they filled an entire page.

And I just praised God.

And when I'd be driving in the car (oftentimes a place of stress for me), I'd look up to see birds way overhead, circling in the sky.  Perhaps they were hawks.  But whatever they were, they looked quite dark to me, and I could picture them as black ravens--a reminder of the ways the Lord provides for my needs in small and big ways, to strengthen and encourage me.

And our God is just.like.that.

He provides just what you and I need...right when we need it.  And if we don't have something...well then, I'd argue that perhaps we don't really need it (and how we are so apt to confuse wants with needs!)

And it is a walk of faith...as we don't necessarily see the next morsel coming.

But it does--that raven will come--in God's perfect timing.  To strengthen.  To nourish.

It is a beautiful, and humbling, thing.