1 Kings 17:4-7

The Food of the Saints.

We have just seen the prophet in his solitude. Let us now consider the manner in which he was sustained there. His needs were supplied in two ways, partly by natural, partly by supernatural means. No miracle was wrought to give him water. He must make his home in the wady and drink of the rivulet that flowed past his feet. It was there, and he must help himself to it. But with his food it was quite different. He could not find that, and so it was brought to him; it was provided him by God. For even if it was not laid at his feet morning and evening by ravens—and we have seen reason to think that it was not—even flit was furnished him by the villagers of Orbo, his tribesmen and friends, or by the loyal and hospitable Arabs who roamed over the adjoining region, still it was supplied by the ordering and special Providence of God. For it is as much a supernatural work to control, by an unseen Power, the minds of men as the instincts or habits of birds. If we get rid of the ravens we do not get rid of the miracle. It is clear, consequently, that he was sustained in part by natural, in part by superhuman agency. Now our food, like his, is, though in a different way, natural and supernatural. We use the terms in the popular sense, for who shall say that all food is not supernatural. True, it comes to us by what we call "natural processes," in what we call the "order of Nature;" but it is obvious that the so called "laws of Nature" are only "statements of the observed course of Nature, or the uniform results of known physical causes ending in some prime cause or causes not merely physical" (Sir E. Beckett, "Origin of the Laws of Nature"). Nature only means what is fixed, settled, uniform (Bp. Butler). But, using the words as they are used in common parlance, part of our sustenance, the supply of our bodily wants is, for the most part natural; and another part, the satisfaction of our spiritual necessities, is for the most part supernatural. Our needs, that is to say, are supplied something like Elijah's were. Let us trace the resemblance a little more in detail, and let us see first how it holds good of our

I. BODILY SUSTENANCE . We learn from this history—

1. That we must use the means within our reacts . Not even for His elect messenger, the greatest of the prophets, does God work an unnecessary miracle. "Dieu n'agit pas par des volontes particulieres" (Malebranche). No doubt God could have supplied his drink just as easily as his daily bread, in an extraordinary way, but He would not. No; in a valley debouching into the Jordan was a stream, fed from some hidden source, such as the snows of Hermon, or springing from the roots of the hills of Gilead, and the prophet must seek it, and take up his abode near it. What do we learn from this but that God "will have our endeavours concur to our preservation," a truth somewhat roughly, but strikingly, put in the Puritan mot d'ordre, "Trust in God, and keep your powder dry." It is no real kindness to do for Elijah what he can do for himself. There are lands where daily bread is to be had without care or labour; where a man has but to put forth his hand and take the bread-tree fruit and eat and be satisfied, but that is said to be a doubtful boon. It is found that the natives of those lands will not work, and their life, which should be full of high endeavour, which should aim, if at nothing more, at "making two blades of grass grow where only one grew before," is wasted in basking in the eternal sunshine. The primaeval law, "In the sweat of thy brow thou shalt eat bread," though we call it a curse, is really a blessing. "Six days shalt thou labour" is as much a Divine command as the command to rest on the seventh. It is God decrees, "If any man will not work, neither shall he eat" ( 2 Thessalonians 3:10 ). The imperious necessity to provide our daily bread is one of the springs which keeps the world in motion: it is the salt which keeps our life from stagnation and corruption. It is in vain we cry to Jupiter for help. God has given us fields and seed. He gives us rain and sunshine; it is for our good that we should do the rest.

2. That then God will supply what is lacking . When we have done our best we may justly look to Him to give what we cannot get. And this He will do. "Thy bread shall be given thee, and thy waters shall be sure" ( Isaiah 33:16 ). "Never have I seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging their bread" ( Psalms 37:25 ). In the barren wilderness, He gave bread from heaven. "In the days of famine, they shall be satisfied" ( Psalms 37:19 ). What a commentary on these words does this history furnish l Elijah had "called for a famine on the land" ( 1 Kings 18:2 ; Luke 4:25 ), and had "broken the whole staff of bread" ( Psalms 105:16 ); but he himself had enough and to spare. God spreads for him "a table in the wilderness" ( Psalms 78:16 ), and almost "in the presence of his enemies" ( Psalms 2:5 ). The stars shall fall from their courses, but he shall have enough. It has been thought by some that the ravens brought him bread and flesh from Ahab's own table. It would have been so, had it been necessary. If he was with food by human instrumentality, it was none the less by God's command. And this is God's ordinary way of hearing "the prayer of the poor destitute;" he puts it into the hearts of others to help. "God works by means, and the chief means is man" (Bossuet).

3. That God gives us our bread daily . Elijah only received a small supply of food at once. Though he had no lack, he had no profusion. He had "daily bread"—for "morning and evening are one day" ( Genesis 1:5 )—and no more. Even he must walk by faith and learn to "take no thought for the morrow." And daily bread is all that is promised us; all that we are taught to pray for ( Matthew 6:11 ). And that, perhaps, because a day is a life in miniature; each day is rounded by dawn and dusk, by sleep and darkness, into a perfect little life. Whether the birds brought him food or not, he and they received it alike, τὸν ἐπιούσιον ἄρτον , the bread of a day in its day. The lesson of the manna ( Exodus 16:20 ) is taught us again by the brook Cherith.

4. That God guarantees us necessaries, not luxuries . Elijah's fare was frugal. "Water, bread, and flesh" (cf. Isaiah 33:16 ). As a rule, He gives us food "exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think." How prodigious is the variety of our food, how lavish its supply! What rich provision has the Eternal Goodness made for the gratification of our tastes. Fish, flesh, fowl, fruits,—the list is endless. And of the flesh or fruits, again, how many genera, and in the genera how many species, and in the species what countless varieties . Lavish profusion marks His gifts. But all the same he covenants to give us less than the fare of Cherith, even bread and water. "God gives order for competency, not for wantonness" (Hall).

II. SPIRITUAL FOOD . But we are now to consider that "man doth not live by bread alone, but by every word," etc. ( Deuteronomy 8:3 ; Matthew 4:4 ). The saints have meat to eat of which the world knows nothing ( John 4:1-54 :84). Elijah had other food than that which the ravens brought him. In giving" daily bread," God does not forget man's spiritual part, even if he forgets it in his prayer for bread. And God supplies the soul's needs by laws not unlike those which govern the supply of material food.

1 . We must use the means of grace . The treasury of the Church contains an abundant provision. There are" living waters," there is" super substantial bread," there is word and sacrament, prayer and psalm But we must come to the waters and drink ( John 7:37 ; Revelation 22:17 ). Our faith needs something to feed upon, and it is in vain we ask for miracles, so long as we do not use means. If we want to love God more, we must seek to know God, through His word and works, better. If we want to be more like Christ, we must be more with Christ, in His word and ordinances, for it is "association produces assimilation." There is a tendency to decry the means of grace. There is a religion which is wholly subjective, which seeks its growth and expansion in everlasting self-introspection or mystical contemplation of the Divine perfections. But "Thou shalt drink of the brook." True, the channel is nothing —Annus non ager, facit fructum, —but a channel. It is God must fill it, but if God has dug it, it is presumption to discard it. "The means that Heaven yields must be embraced, And not neglected; else if Heaven would And we will not, Heaven's offers we refuse."

2. If we are debarred from the means of grace, God will give grace without means . It is a blessed truth, gratis non ligatur mediis . We may not dispense with them, but God can, and does. He did so in the oft-cited instance of the dying thief. He was saved without sacraments, but St. Paul was not ( Acts 22:16 ). And how often have the saints and martyrs, cut off, Amid fierce persecutions, from the communion of the saints, found their deserts or their cells glorified by direct communion with God. Matthew Henry quaintly says that "if we cannot go to the house of the Lord, we can go to the Lord of the house." The Church of England proclaims that there may be a true Eucharist without the elements ( vide The Communion of the Sick, 3rd Rubric). But it is only when we are deprived of the means that we can justly expect God to dispense with them. He has commanded His ministers to feed His Church ( Acts 20:28 ; 1 Peter 5:2 ); He has given them word and sacrament, bread and wine, wherewith to nourish it; but He is independent both of means and ministers.

3. Supplies of grace are granted day by day . Our soul's bread is a daily bread. Every day we ask for forgiveness, for grace ( Matthew 6:11 ); and as our days, so our strength shall be ( Deuteronomy 33:25 ). If we have not morning and evening prayer in the Church, we may have it in the house. And morning and evening may be sanctified by the Word of God and prayer, in private. Each may find a Cherith in the closet; each receive there his portion of meat in due season.

4. Grace is given without measure . God does not promise luxuries, because they are often hurtful. But there is no over indulgence here. It is significant how excess in wine is contrasted with being filled with the Spirit ( Ephesians 5:18 ). One cannot drink too deep of the living waters ( John 7:38 ). They are given freely ( Revelation 22:17 ).