Right where you belong - even in the desert (1 Kgs 17:2-7)

The gauntlet was boldly and abruptly thrown by Elijah in verse 1. In his dramatic appearance before Ahab, Elijah confronted the center of Baal worship, proclaiming Ahab and Jezebel and their prophets will watch helplessly as the living Elohîm, Yahweh, controls the weather and makes a “public spectacle” (c.f. Col 2:15) of all the perceived strengths of Baal.

Given the unprecedented wickedness of Ahab and Jezebel, and considering the followers of Yahweh were being systematically hunted down and slaughtered (1 Kgs 18:4), what would be the expected outcome of such a slap-in-your-face declaration? How long does such an individual get to keep their head on their shoulders? No doubt Elijah well understood his message would be received as well as a Zionist declaration in front of al-Qaeda. He was likely fully aware of what Ahab was capable of doing to such a messenger, but Elijah shows he feared Yahweh far more than he feared the reprisals of Ahab. When Yahweh said, “Go and speak to Ahab,” Elijah did just that.

Oswald Chambers captures this proper calibration of fear: “When you fear the Lord, you’ll fear nothing else. If you don’t fear the Lord, you’ll fear everything else.”

Psa 3:6 “I will not fear the tens of thousands drawn up against me on every side.”

Psa 27:3 “Though an army deploys against me, my heart is not afraid; though a war breaks out against me, still I am confident.”

Pro 28:1 “The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion.”

Let’s pick back up with Elijah at verse two: “Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying,” (1 Kgs 17:2).

“Then the word of the Lord came to him…” When is this “Then”? Note how it wasn’t until after Elijah had delivered his bold message to Ahab that he was given his next set of instructions. In other words, the Lord had told him to appear before the court of the most wicked king of Israel, who was married to an even more wicked queen, to identify himself as a servant of Yahweh, the type of individual they were slaughtering, and then deliver a message they surely wouldn’t take kindly, to put it very mildly. That’s it. That’s the mission.

Now how many of us would have wanted a few more details – upfront? Like, after he had completed his mission, then what? Would he be chopped up into a thousand pieces? Would he be thrown into some dungeon or pit filled with lions or snakes? Would he be fleeing for his life, for the rest of his life? Or would Ahab actually let him walk out on his own power after delivering such a message? These aren’t trifling questions – they’re pretty important. If someone’s on a need-to-know basis, these are clearly need-to-know, right?

What happened after the mission wasn’t to be his concern. He was given a task by the Lord, and that was sufficient. No matter how frightening or suicidal the mission may have seemed, he was simply to carry it out as instructed, with the aftermath to be left to the Lord. Only after he had completed his task, the Lord spoke to him again, instructing him where to go next. He wasn’t going to lose his head, nor was he going to be thrown into any prison. He was to go east. How long would he be there? What would he do there? Where was he supposed to go after that? What about Ahab, or worse, Jezebel? Who, what, where, when, how or why? We have so many questions!

An important lesson we find here is that need-to-know is redefined by faith. What is it that we truly need to know if we have faith in the Lord? We’ve all heard the adage, “What you know is not as important as who you know.” While there is clearly an element of truth in that statement, here the “who you know” is trumped by “in whom or what have you placed your faith?” This is a vital lesson for us to fully grasp and to be able to live out, so let’s take a brief leave of Elijah to dig into this truth more fully. Consider Paul’s words to Timothy:

“for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day” (2 Tim 1:12, NASB) or

“for I know the one in whom I trust, and I am sure that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until the day of His return” (NLT).

There are six key words in this meaning sentence:

eidō or oída (AY-doe), suggests fullness of knowledge, to perceive or to see, understand

In the Greek there are two terms for “know” – ginóskō (ghin-OCE-koh) and eidō. In contrast with eidō, ginóskō relates to experiential knowledge, knowing something or someone through personal experience. Spouses can ginóskō or know each other more deeply and intimately (as in the KJV Old Testament euphemism, “Adam knew his wife, Eve”) through experiencing each other and living the ups and downs of life together. This experiential knowledge can ultimately lead to a deep understanding of each other, or more a fullness of knowledge of each other, eventually enabling each other to truly see the other as they are, as they become one. That knowledge is eidō.

Look at how these two terms are intertwined and related in the following verses:

Matt 6:8 “your Father knows what you need before you ask Him” – here the Father has the fullness of knowledge and understanding of who we are and what we need: eidō.

John 8:55 “and you have not come to know [ginóskō] Him, but I know [eidō] Him; and if I say that I do not know [eidō] Him, I will be a liar like you, but I do know [eidō] Him and keep His word” – here we see both words. The unbelieving Jews did not know the Father, they had not yet experienced a relationship with Him. In contrast, Jesus had full knowledge and understanding of the Father, being one with the Father.

John 13:7 “Jesus answered him, ‘What I’m doing you don’t understand [eidō] now, but afterward you will know’ [ginóskō]” – here Jesus is speaking to Peter, and His words reveal that while Peter currently lacked understanding, he would ultimately achieve that, as he gained knowledge through experiencing the Christian life and the adventures he would encounter.

Jer 9:23-24 “Thus says the LORD, ‘Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who exercises loving-kindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,’ declares the LORD.”

Here we see the Hebrew equivalents for eidō and ginóskō: ‏śākal (saw-KAHL) and ‏yāda‘ (yaw-DAH). These verses underscore the significance God places upon our understanding and knowing Him. We are to take refuge in and gain our strength and confidence in Him, and nothing else. This spiritual development and maturation are the fruit of an ever growing and deepening relationship, as we experience and know who He is and who we are in Him. The knowledge and understanding of these truths will free us (John 8:32) from fear and doubt – the manifestations of ignorance and a lack of faith. That is the foundation for “in whom do we place our trust?”

“for I know the one in whom I trust, and I am sure that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until the day of His return”

The second key word in Paul’s phrase to Timothy is “trust.” This comes from the Greek term pisteuō (pist-YOO-oh), which is derived from pistis (PIS-tis), the Greek for “faith;” means to believe with the idea of hope and certain expectation. Ours is not to be a blind faith, but an expectant belief and trust firmly rooted in knowledge. Paul’s trust is written in the perfect tense to emphasize that he had “permanently put his trust and confidence in Him, has been trusting Him all along, and is trusting Him now in the face of impending death.”

“for I know the one in whom I trust, and I am sure that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until the day of His return”

The next key term, “sure,” is peithō (PAY-tho), which means “to persuade, convince” – “I am convinced.”

“for I know the one in whom I trust, and I am sure that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until the day of His return”

Our modern English translation does terrible justice to the meaning of “able.” The Greek dynatos (doo-nah-TOSS) is our basis for “dynamite” or “dynamic” or “dynamo,” and carries the emphasis of might and power. Consider the explosive power of dynamite to obliterate anything in its path, and yet that is mere firecrackers to the omnipotent power wielded by God in “He is able.”

“for I know the one in whom I trust, and I am sure that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until the day of His return”

The Greek phylassō (foo-LAH-so) means “kept in safety, to keep, preserve.”

“for I know the one in whom I trust, and I am sure that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until the day of His return”

Paul used an idiom literally rendered “my deposit.” The Greek parathēkē (par-ah-THAY-kay) carries the sense of “a trust or thing committed to one’s faithful keeping.” Paul draws upon the metaphor of a man going away on a long journey, who deposits with a trusted friend his most precious and valued possessions, to be held for him, safe and without harm. “To the ancient world there was nothing more sacred than the duty to return that which had been entrusted, and to return it in safety” (Barclay). What was Paul’s deposit that he had committed to the Lord? His life, his salvation, his work and purpose, the fruits of his labor, in short, everything.

Taking the literal translations of these six key words, this verse could be rendered, “for I am able to clearly see and fully understand the One whom I know personally from experience, having once-and-for-all placed my complete and expectant trust in who He is, for I am utterly convinced in His omnipotent power and ability to keep and preserve my soul to be with Him forever in His glorious kingdom.”

If this is your unshakeable belief, expectation and understanding, what else is there? What “need-to-know” is beyond this scope? What is there that is bigger than an immoveable faith in the omnipotent and loving God that we serve and call “Father?” Elijah undoubtedly knew what Ahab was capable of doing, but he also knew what Yahweh was capable of doing. With that perspective in mind, what else did he need to know?

The Lord had given him a message to deliver to Ahab. God didn't give Elijah a three-year schedule to follow. Instead, He gave directions step-by-step, at each critical juncture in his journey. “God does not grant fresh revelations until there has been a compliance with those already received” (A. W. Pink). We see throughout the Bible that it is not the Lord’s way to reveal to us the entire course He has laid out for us. I wonder how many of us would actually take His prescribed course if we knew the full ramifications? Wouldn’t we rather find ourselves trying to short-circuit the route we were to take? No doubt we would try to re-direct our paths, guided by our fears, insecurities and limited understanding.

Pro 3:5-6 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”

Elijah obeyed by faith. He had delivered the message. Now the Lord was directing him on to his next step. When the timing was right, the Lord would direct him again.

Verse three has just about as many renderings as there are translations:

“Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan.” (NIV)

“Depart from here and turn eastward and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan.” (ESV)

“Get away from here and turn eastward, and hide by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan.” (NKJV)

“Go to the east and hide by Kerith Brook, near where it enters the Jordan River.” (NLT)

“Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the torrent Cherith, which is before the Jordan.” (Darby)

“Get thee hence, and go towards the east and hide thyself by the torrent of Carith, which is over against the Jordan.” (Douay-Rheims)

The first part is pretty self-explanatory: the Message translation reads, “Get out of here, and fast.” He had delivered the message. He had fulfilled his mission. Now he needed to get out of Dodge, that is, Samaria, fast, before someone decided there needed to be some distance between his neck and his head.

The direction was pretty specific as well – “go towards the east.” He was to head east towards the Jordan, to a brook or more literally, a wadi (wady) or torrent. The noun nahal (NAKH-al), meaning “cutting or ravine,” refers to a ravine or valley cut into the hills or rocks, during which water runs during the rainy season, sometimes even rushing down in a raging torrent in a violent but brief period. Occasionally this word may refer to a stream that is around all year, but it generally referred to one of the many streams that flowed during the rainy season but dried up when the weather turned hot.

Despite countless attempts, the exact location of this wadi Cherith or Kerith (ker-EETH) is not known, and it is mentioned nowhere else in the Bible or in any other writings. The brook emptied into the Jordan, but whether from the eastern or the western side of that river is uncertain. The ambiguity of the text results in a couple of variant renderings, which could be “to the east of” or “in the face of,” that is, before or towards. Accordingly, it is impossible to determine with certainty the brook’s location.

Some hold it is the Wadi Qilt (Kelt), south of Jericho, which is at the intersection of many streams flowing from the mountains west of Jericho. It is dry during the summer, and it is described as being one of the wildest ravines in the region – an ideal location for someone wanting to hide, perhaps in a cave. Given the directive to head east from Samaria to hide from Ahab, possibly outside of Ahab’s jurisdiction (as we’ll see later with the widow), it’s likely he was east of the Jordan River, into the Transjordan region, perhaps in the ravines of Gilead. Some consider Wadi Yabis, a small winter torrent, a little below the ford opposite Beth-shean (Beth-Shan), but clearly nothing has been evidenced thus far to allow any certainty as to the exact location of Elijah’s hideout.

The verb sātar (saw-THAR), meaning “hide oneself” or “take refuge,” lends wings to the speed in which Elijah was to exit Samaria and Ahab’s presence. As David was forced to hide from Saul, so here the same verb indicates Elijah was hiding from Ahab, who would be soon hunting high and low for him, tearing the countryside apart and even hunting for him in the surrounding nations (1 Kgs 18:10). “Because of the temper of the time, any man who took such a daring stand of faith in God was marked for liquidation” (W. Phillip Keller).

The location to which Elijah was directed would not only provide a good source of concealment, but it would be where the Lord would provide him with sustenance – food and water. The water was from a natural source, while the food would be catered by an unusual source:

“You shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.” (ESV)

The Lord, the Creator of the universe and all living beings, instructed the ravens to supply Elijah with his daily food. Every morning and every evening, Raven Catering delivered the freshest and finest in bread and meat to a hungry Elijah. Just as the Lord had provided manna in the morning and quail in the evening for the Israelites while they were in the desert (Ex 16:8), here the Lord commands His feathered messengers to meet Elijah’s needs. In a nation that was required by law to care for its prophets, it is ironic that God turned to ravens to help sustain the life of his servant. From a human perspective, ravens certainly would not have been first on the list to be selected to deliver food. They were carrion scavengers, largely feeding on the carcasses of dead animals, known to neglect their young and considered “unclean” and “detestable” on the Mosaic list of forbidden foods (Deut 14:11-14):

Lev 11:13-15 “You are to detest these birds. They must not be eaten because they are detestable: the eagle, the bearded vulture, the black vulture, the kite, any kind of falcon, every kind of raven.”

Ravens were considered to be an omen of misfortune, tragedy, and death. “It was a bird so fierce . . . that we have fashioned one of our most forceful and repulsive words out of it – ravenous. That bird has a passion for picking out the eyes of men and animals. It loves to maul the sick and the dying, it swallows…everything it can put its beak on; and yet all the food Elijah gets for six months to a year, is from the ravens” (T. DeWitt Talmage).

The Israelites were rendered unclean by coming into contact with any dead animals (Lev 11:8), so therefore accepting the flesh of a dead animal, from the hands, er, beak of an unclean bird, would have been doubly contaminating to the strict Jew. So why ravens? Why not one of the 7,000 men who had not bowed the knee to Baal (19:18)? Surely they would have been more than honored to provide assistance to such a prophet as Elijah? For that matter, God could have sent angels to tend to Elijah, as He does later (19:5), but here He chooses to send provisions by winged messengers of another nature. The regular pattern of a man or men carrying food into the desert would have ultimately led to the disclosure of Elijah’s hiding place, but birds of prey would have gone unnoticed. Birds flying with flesh into the desert would arouse no suspicion, as everyone has seen birds taking food to their nest and young.

Elijah may not have dined as sumptuously as the false prophets who ate at Jezebel’s table (18:19), but because he was faithful to the Lord’s directives and stayed where the Lord had him, he found provision for what he needed, though clearly in an unconventional and horrifically unorthodox manner. Isn’t that the Lord’s way? It has well been said that the will of God will never lead us where the grace of God cannot keep us, and Elijah learned this firsthand. If we go where He leads, we can be certain that He will provide all that we need: “I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.” We may discover along the way what we think we need truly is not what we need, and though He may not direct literal ravens to sustain us, we can always have complete confidence in the Lord to provide. Have His words of promise ever failed? Heaven and earth shall pass away, but not so the very least of His promises:

Psa 34:7-10 “The Angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and rescues them. Taste and see that the Lord is good. How happy is the man who takes refuge in Him! You who are His holy ones, fear Yahweh, for those who fear Him lack nothing. Young lions lack food and go hungry, but those who seek the Lord will not lack any good thing.”

Isa 33:15-16 “He who walks righteously…his bread will be given him, his water will be sure.”

Matt 6:33 “But seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.”

Phil 4:19 “My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”

Through this miracle (which unbelievers and the learned reject, because they do not acknowledge a living God, by whom, as the Creator and Lord of all creatures, even the voracious ravens obey His voice and act contrary to their natural dispositions in order to supply the needs of His servant), Elijah was protected and kept hidden from contact with other people, who might have betrayed his place of abode to the king. Moreover, he was also sustained and strengthened through this time of solitude, with a twice-daily reminder to look to the heavens for his sustenance.

Throughout the Bible we see examples of where God led His servants into the desert for a period of time, away from the hustle and bustle, away from “where the action was,” to prepare them to be used in ways they could have never imagined. Whether Moses or Elijah or Paul, and even Jesus Himself, all spent time in the literal desert, before the Lord used them for their greatest ministry. Joseph, Gideon and David were hardly in the spotlight when they were called upon to their greatest work. Furthermore, consider how when the disciples came back to Jesus flush with the miracles and their accomplishments, His response was: “Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while” (Mark 6:31).

There are few who seek out solitude, and we all struggle at times with a sense of purpose or direction, or wanting to be someplace else or doing something else, yet if we truly want to accomplish the greatest purpose with our lives, then we need to faithfully stay the course the Lord has for us, even if it means we feel like we’re hiding out in the desert by the brook Cherith.

Back to the birds: ravens are frequently mentioned in the Bible, and are specifically singled out as being themselves fed by God:

Job 38:41 “Who makes provision for the raven when his little ones cry out to God craning their necks in search of food?”

Psa 147:9 “He gives to the beasts their food, and to the young ravens that cry.”

Pro 30:17 “The eye that mocks a father and scorns to obey a mother will be picked out by the ravens of the valley and eaten by the vultures.”

Luke 12:24 “Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap; they have no storeroom nor barn, and yet God feeds them; how much more valuable you are than the birds!”

The idea of such unclean and voracious birds being employed by God to feed the prophet has appeared to many so strange and so abhorrent that they have worked overtime to render this passage “suitable” for interpretation and understanding. Fully ignoring the Lord’s supremacy over all creation and that “Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did He in Heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places” (Psa 135:6), these scholars and religious leaders have gone to great lengths to avoid the literal, though best, interpretation.

Surely such ravenous and devouring birds of prey would not voluntarily give up the flesh they themselves craved? Some hold these ravens likely stored their excess food in the rocky crags of the desolate ravines of the wadi, where Elijah could observe where they were hoarding, and then retrieve the food for himself while the vicious birds were out on one of their forays.

Some rabbis and orthodox Jews struggle with their greatest prophet eating unclean meat from unclean birds. They have accordingly convinced themselves that the food delivered by the ravens was levitically clean food (kosher), either from the 7,000 in Israel who had not bent the knee to Baal, or perhaps from the table of a good Jew in Judah, who had not yet succumbed to the idolatrous practices of Baal. Here we see once again vain attempts for the strictest adherence to the letter of the Law, while tragically blind to the omnipotent God and Spirit behind the Law.

Perhaps “one of the strangest freaks of criticism” has been to take the Hebrew ‘ōrēb (o-RABE) and attempt to substitute instead ‘ārab (awe-ROB):



While it is not uncommon in various languages for a meaning of a word to be completely altered by the tiniest stroke of a pen, as in the difference in Spanish between papa and papá (dad vs. potato), clearly the context should drive the meaning. The term ‘ōrēb is consistently used in the Old Testament to refer literally to ravens (Gen 8:7; Lev 11:15; Deut 14:14; Isa 34:11), and Song of Solomon 5:11 refers to the dark hair of the woman's lover being as black as a raven's.

The term ‘ārab means “merchandise” and refers to merchants or traders. In vain attempts to explain away the supernatural, some have claimed that it was actually traveling merchants or stretching even further, ethnic Arabs (an odd attempt to take the Hebrew spelling of ārab, which is read right-to-left, with the English definition of what looks to be the same word, arab, though read left-to-right) that provided Elijah with his daily bread and meat. Even worse, others have tried to explain that the “Orebites,” from the nearby town of Oreb, were the ones who sustained Elijah. No such town has ever been referenced in any historical writings. Once again, we see that the best interpretation is the literal one. If this miracle causes some to stumble, they must really have fits with Joshua’s sun standing still…

As we have already noted, Elijah’s seclusion kept him safe from Ahab, and it provided him with a time of isolation and supernatural provisioning. A third key element in Elijah’s departure is judgment from God. His absence would be a living testimony of divine displeasure. By leaving his public ministry, Elijah created a second drought in the land – the absence of the Word of the Lord. God's Word to the Jewish people was frequently likened to the rain from heaven. It was essential to their spiritual lives. It was evidence of their heritage as the nation specifically chosen by God. The silence of God's servant was a judgment from God, for not to hear God's living Word is to forfeit life itself.

Deut 32:2 “May my teaching drop as the rain, my speech distill as the dew, like gentle rain upon the tender grass, and like showers upon the herb.”

Psa 28:1 “Lord, I call to You; my rock, do not be deaf to me. If You remain silent to me, I will be like those going down to the Pit.”

Psa 74:1, 9 “Why have you rejected us forever, O God? Why does your anger smolder against the sheep of your pasture...We are given no miraculous signs; no prophets are left, and none of us knows how long this will be.”

‏Isa 55:10-11 “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goes out from My mouth; it shall not return to Me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”

As one writer penned, “there is no surer and more solemn proof that God is hiding His face from a people or nation than for Him to deprive them of the inestimable blessing of those who faithfully minister His holy Word to them.” All dew and rain was to be withheld from Ahab's land, not only literally so, but spiritually so as well. We see that the deprivation of God’s word and His ministers was a judgment that far exceeded physical privations:

Isa 30:20-21 “Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it’.”

For the Lord to remove His teachers from the land was a dire judgment and loss for His people. Not only would there be physical famine during Elijah’s absence, but there would be a spiritual famine as well:

Amos 8:11-12 “Behold, days are coming,’ declares the Lord GOD, ‘When I will send a famine on the land, not a famine for bread or a thirst for water, but rather for hearing the words of the LORD. People will stagger from sea to sea and from the north even to the east; they will go to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, but they will not find it’.”

Good, solid teaching and preaching is a great blessing from the Lord, and it is a great curse upon any nation when God hides teachers and ministers from them. The presence of those through whom God speaks is vital for the spiritual health of any society. When their voices are silenced or absent, great is the spiritual drought upon the land!

Let’s continue with our story: 1 Kgs 17:7 “It happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.”

Water had been supplied by the way of nature, or ordinary providence, but the course of nature was altered, as Elijah’s prophecy of no dew or rain was taking hold on the land. The sentence structure indicates the drying up was normal and gradual, so Elijah would have clearly seen that his source of water was slowly evaporating. Why did the brook dry up? Why didn’t the Lord cause water to appear? It wouldn’t have been the first time He caused water to come forth out of the very rocks (Ex 17:6; Num 20:11).

The Lord had provided for Elijah at Cherith, and clearly His purpose there or perhaps someplace else was accomplished. Either way, it was time for His prophet to move on to the next step and task. The Lord uses a wide variety of ways to bring His purposes to fruition. He sometimes works one way and sometimes another, employing this means today and that tomorrow, in accomplishing His will. God is sovereign and does not follow any prescribed rules or blueprints. He acts according to His divine plan, but we can be certain that when He closes one door, He opens another.

Why did God let the brook dry up? Perhaps He was continuing to teach Elijah, and by extension, us, to trust in Him, and not in His gifts. To rely on Him, and not to take for granted His blessings. Sometimes, and perhaps frequently, we need reminders of how dependent we are upon Him. How often do we think we are trusting in the Lord, when really we are resting on comfortable circumstances; and when they become uncomfortable, how then does our faith stack up? The purpose of God was accomplished and the time of Elijah’s departure to another place had arrived. The drying up of the brook was a visible reminder for Elijah how transient and dependent our lives are.

As the drought grew worse, the brook gradually dried up, leaving the prophet without water; but we see that he never made a move until the Word of the Lord came to tell him what to do. When the brook dried up, God closed the miracle supply of food, only to provide it in a new locality.

It’s estimated that Elijah stayed by the brook anywhere from six months to one year. During this whole time, what did Elijah really do? What active role doles he actually play in the narrative? Nothing. He learned to abide. This narrative wasn’t about Elijah and his actions, it was about God and His work. It wasn’t about Elijah – it was about God. May we so learn to abide and acknowledge it’s not about us, it’s about God.