Now Elijah, who was from Tishbe in Gilead, told King Ahab, "As surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives--the God whom I worship and serve--there will be no dew or rain during the next few years unless I give the word!" Then the LORD said to Elijah, "Go to the east and hide by Kerith Brook at a place east of where it enters the Jordan River. Drink from the brook and eat what the ravens bring you, for I have commanded them to bring you food."

I Kings 17:1-4

We like attention. We like for people to acknowledge what we do and to applaud our successes. We love to strive for bigger and better accomplisments and to call more attention to ourselves, or at least to whatever idea or cause we are parading. The Bible clearly states that we are to honor to those who deserve it (Romans 13:7), though Jesus does provide the caveat that we should not do things in order to be seen by others (Matthew 6:5-24).

If anyone was deserving of attention or honor, it was the prophet Elijah. Here was man from a place we're not even sure where to find with no known credentials or titles to his name who breezed into the presence of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel, the two most evil yet two of the most powerful monarchs in the history of Israel, and calls their idolatry into questons ("... 'As surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives..."). Then, in what could be contrived as a far more decimating cut to the king's ego, Elijah stripped both he and his god of supposed control over the prosperity of the nation by declaring that until he, and he being Elijah, gave the word, there would be no rain in the entire nation. If you've ever been to a desert, which is essentially what most of Israel is, then you know just how precious water is. On top of this, Baal, whom Ahab and Jezebel had firmly replaced God with as the object of worship in Israel, was supposed to be the god of fertility and rain. Obviously, Elijah's words would have struck a major chord.

But then something inexplicable happens. Instead of being praised by anyone or receiving any sort of acclaim for his valiant stand for the One God, Elijah receives one clear message: "Go to the east and hide by Kerith Brook at a place east of where it enters the Jordan River. Drink from the brook and eat what the ravens bring you, for I have commanded them to bring you food." That's it. Essentially, God was telling his prophet to get out of town in a hurry- he wasn't even supposed to take any food with him. He was just supposed to hit the road and hike some thirty miles away to a ravine and hang out with the ravens there.

Why would God, who had used Elijah in such a powerful way to strike such a major blow to such a wicked pair of rulers, sideline him? Some have theorized that this was for Elijah's own safety; he had, afterall, just made two extremely powerful enemies who had no compunctions about killing those who got in their way (see I Kings 21 for all about that). There is definately some credence to that, but I believe there is, in fact, a more basic reason for why God sent Elijah to the Kerith Brook.

Elijah had been used in a mighty way by God, but God, in His infinite wisdom, knows that humans have a tendency to attribute their victories and gifts to themselves and not to God. Perhaps God sent Elijah to Kerith to prove that it was He, not Elijah, who was the one calling the shots. Charismatic leaders come and go, but it is God who puts those leaders into place at just the right time. To drive this point home, God told Elijah that he would have to depend on God entirely for his sustenance. He wouldn't have any food or water besides what God allowed him to have. How humbling would it be to suddenly be yanked out of a place you feel you are most useful and placed somewhere where, in all likelihood, you aren't being used at all?

I believe that sometimes we can become far too centered on our own successes. We have so many awesome opportunities. God has blessed us immeasureably. But if we aren't careful, we can easily move the focus from what God wants to what we want. How easy would it be to place our own names as the main attraction instead of God's name. How easy would it be for the Honors College to be about accolades and the accomplisments instead of the towel and basin?

Perhaps we, myself included, need a Kerith Experience, a time of "removal" from the place we have been set in order to better examine our focus and our usefulness. Perhaps we need to take a good hard look at the priority we place on what we think or what we want to happen in whatever ministry we are involved in. And perhaps, just perhaps, we need to be willing to let the ravens be the ones to feed us instead of packing our own lunches.