Follow His Lead

 DEVOTION

1^ST KINGS

FOLLOW HIS LEAD

1 Kings 17:7-16

7 Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. 8 Then the word of the LORD came to him: 9 "Go at once to Zarephath of Sidon and stay there. I have commanded a widow in that place to supply you with food." 10 So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, "Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?" 11 As she was going to get it, he called, "And bring me, please, a piece of bread." 12 "As surely as the LORD your God lives," she replied, "I don't have any bread — only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it — and die." 13 Elijah said to her, "Don't be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small cake of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. 14 For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD gives rain on the land.'" 15 She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. 16 For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the LORD spoken by Elijah.  

NIV

The direction of the LORD is always best to follow rather than trying to abide by our own thoughts or plans. Although the LORD directed Elijah to the Kerith Ravine because there was a brook, or stream, there, it became dry from the lack of rain, so the LORD directed him to another place that would prove to be more than a provision for Elijah, but also for a widow and her son. God always has a plan and purpose for each of our lives. If we are wise, in the least bit, we will listen to the voice of the Lord, either staying where he tells us to stay, or going to where he would have us go. Because Elijah obeyed the word of the LORD, he went to the place he was told, and now the widow and her son would be both the provision for Elijah and for the widow. Following the LORD's directions can apply to both our physical, mental, and spiritual lives. When we follow his leading to some physical place, it may be solely for our benefit, as when he led Elijah to the Kerith Ravine. His leading us to a specific place can also benefit others, as was the case with the widow whose flour and oil never ran out. The place where that can happen mostly for us believers is within the community of faith, the church. When God directs us to go to a specific church, it is twofold. We are to be there for our own benefit as well as for the benefit of others. When it comes to our mental or spiritual location in life, that is where we are in our spiritual life, which includes our mental state. The Lord has a plan and purpose for our growth, producing much fruit as we are connected to him, as in the vine and the branches. This is the one place he does not tell us to stay in the same place, but he directs our spiritual life so we will grow, increase in our faith, and walk with him. However, he will always see that the oil and flour, metaphorically his word, will never run dry. We will always have spiritual food to sustain our lives. Just as the word of the LORD that came to Elijah was always true, so it is with the word he speaks to us, either through his written word, the scriptures, an angelic visit, a dream, or a vision, or from his own lips, speaking to us in that small still voice. One thing we can be certain of is that we cannot put the Lord God Almighty in a box, wanting him to direct us in a specific manner. He will use whatever method of directing our path that suits him, for he is sovereign. He is our great shepherd, and we are his sheep. He leads, and we follow. He will lead us to the greenest pasture and the quietest waters, and he will always restore our souls. We just need to follow his lead.