Amen. Please be seated and turn to 1 Kings 17. 1 Kings 17 looking especially in verses 2 to 7. We began our new series on the life of Elijah the Tishbite last week. We first considered the times of Elijah. He ministers to the northern kingdom of Israel where Ahab is on the throne. And Ahab is presented as the most wicked king in the history of Israel. Although Israel is politically prosperous at this time, it's filled with spiritual corruption and declension. Ahab has married a Phoenician woman who serves the false gods of Baal and Astera. And therefore, when she has come into land, she is not desiring some private chapel to worship her gods, but she desires the removal of Jehovah and the public worship of these false gods. But Ahab is a weak man. And Jezebel stirs up Ahab. And Ahab has built a house to Baal in the new capital, Samaria, and built up Astaragros throughout the nation. All is dark. It seems there is no hope. But there is always hope with the Lord. Because God has lifted up a standard with the sudden appearance of Elijah. He is from a very obscure place east of the River Jordan. He is from an unknown town called Tishbe in the region of Gilead. He's a rough man, a blunt man, a bold man, a man of unbending conviction and zeal for the Lord. Exactly the kind of man that God uses in Reformation. But Elijah knows the will of the Lord. He knows the word. He knows the Deuteronomy, curses and blessings and promises and warnings. And as he surveys the land, rivers of waters run down his eyes because they keep not his law. So he prays fervently for God's judgment to come on Israel with drought. No rain, no dew, famine, suffering, death. And he fervently prays for this for two reasons. One, the glory of God. Baal is the storm god. And by demonstrating there is no rain, even though the people will pray to Baal, it reveals Baal is false, Jehovah is true. And the second reason is to awaken and convict and grant repentance to Israel. If they were to see the falsehood of Baal and the judgment of the Lord, will they not surely turn and worship the one true God? Well, here we are, Elijah comes to Ahab, revealing his prayer. No Jew and no rain will come upon the land according to my word. We pick up the narrative in verses two to seven. And in this section, I want us to consider three things. One, the Lord's word comes to Elijah. Two, the Lord's provision for Elijah. And three, the Lord's preparation of Elijah. First of all then, the Lord's word comes to Elijah. In verses two to seven, it reveals The effectual, fervent prayer of this righteous man has indeed availed. His prophecy to Ahab has been fulfilled. God has shut up the windows of heaven and there is no dew and no rain in the land. This is another reminder, God answers prayers. God answers prayers. This is the truth we all know, but we all need reminding. Because we all come to a stage when we're praying for something and we become discouraged and it feels like heaven is as brass and God's not hearing us. But Elijah, praying for drought and receiving drought, God answers prayers. I like the way the Puritans often spoke of prayer like this, the return of prayers. Your prayers go up and then the answers come down. In the Bible, prayer is not a spiritual Frisbee. You throw it away and it doesn't come back. But prayer is a spiritual boomerang. You cast into the heavens in the name of Jesus Christ. And the boomerang returns. It's not always according to our ways. It's not according to our timeline. But God returns our prayers. Has Jesus not promised you this, brother and sister? Has Jesus not promised in John 15, 16, Whatsoever ye ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you? And what is the disciple's response and attitude towards prayer? 1 John 5, 14. This is the confidence that we have in him. then if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us. Are your prayers confident? Is the spiritual attitude of your heart confident? It should be. You're praying in the name of Jesus, according to his will, you will receive the return of prayers. So when you pray, say to yourself, Micah 7 7, I will look unto the Lord. I will wait for God. My God will hear me. And when he does return your prayer, Return back, Psalm 116, I love the Lord because my prayers he has heard. The return of prayers as evidenced in the drought. But here, as drought and famine sets in, God speaks to Elijah, verse two. And the word of the Lord came unto him saying, there's a beautiful picture here. Verse one, I stand before the Lord, I'm faithful, I will not compromise, I serve, I obey. The word of the Lord came to him. Remember there's a lot of falsehood, false prophets of Jehovah at this time, as we'll see in other chapters. But he is faithful. And because he's faithful, the Lord communicates with his servant. But when it says the word of the Lord here, it's revealing God himself. God is a God who is not silent, nor dumb, but who speaks and communicates to his people. And that is because of who God is. God is eternally the Word. God is Trinity. God is the Father, and the Son is revealed as the Word, the utterance, the discourse, the speech of God. And when we read these phrases in the prophets, the Word of the Lord came to Elijah, the Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, the Word of the Lord came to this and that prophet, don't just think the Lord, divine, the Word, some sort of created thing. because the Scriptures reveal the Word of the Lord is the second person of the Trinity. The Old Testament hints at that by personifying, especially in the Hebrew, the actions of the Word. Psalm 336, by the Word of the Lord were the heavens made. So it's not just the Lord who creates, it's saying the word, emphasis, word of the Lord created. As we sang earlier, Psalm 107 20, he sent his word, and it's the word that heals, delivers, and saves. And the apostle John knows this filled with the spirit. In the beginning was the word. The word was with God, and the word was God. Because when God spoke and the Word created, it was the second person of the Trinity. When the Word is sent to save and deliver, that is the second person of the Trinity. So always remember that. When you hear the Word of the Lord, it's revealing something of the person and work of Jesus pre-incarnation. But here the word of the Lord comes to Elijah and the word's alive and powerful and active. And in this whole chapter, we see repeated relation between Elijah and the word of the Lord. In verse 2 to 3, the Word is going to guide and direct Elijah to the brook. In verse 5, Elijah's going to obey the Word. In verse 7, the Word is going to redirect Elijah to Sidon. In verse 14, the Word of the Lord assures the widow to feed Elijah with the little food that she has. In verse 16, the widow discovers that God is faithful to his word. And in the last verse, 24, the word of the Lord is reliable even with the death of a son. The theme here is the word of the Lord, the word of the Lord, the word of the Lord. You can believe the word. You can trust the word. You can follow the word. The word is powerful. The word is God. In fact, how do you know someone's a man of God? Because he will be a man of the word. Is that not what verse 17 says? And it came to pass after these things, the son of the woman, the mistress of the house fell sick and the sickness was so sore that there was now no bread left in him. So it was the wrong verse. Well, she says later, she says that now I know who you are because of the word of the Lord is true and her son is raised from the dead. In 2 Kings 3.12, Jehoshaphat knows Elisha is a man of God. How? Because Jehoshaphat says of him that he is a man of the Word. The Word of the Lord is with him. So it's the same for saints in the New Testament. How do you know a man or a woman is a man or woman of God? Because he will be a man of the Word and she will be a woman of the Word. Now we don't have the supernatural special revelation here, but we have something better. As Hebrew 1 tells us, as God spoke in times past through sundry times and divers manners has spoken to us now in the New Testament through his son. And as Peter says, oh, let me tell you of the excellent glory that I saw with mine own eyes on the Mount of Transfiguration. But we have a more sure word of prophecy in the scriptures. Because the scriptures are powerful. Hebrews chapter 4 verse 12, we know the verse, the word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit. That's the word. The Word of God regenerates, 1 Peter chapter 1. The Word of God converts and brings faith, Romans 10, 17. The Word of God teaches you and instructs you. The Word of God quickens you. The Word of God enlightens you. The Word of God rebukes you. The Word of God encourages you. The Word of God sanctifies you. The Word of God powerfully transforms you. And how does someone know they're a man or woman of God? Because they're men and women of the word. They know everything I've just said, not just in propositions and statements and agreements, but in real life reality and experience. Are you a man of God? Are you a woman of God? then you're a man of the word and you're a woman of the word. But the word of the Lord comes to Elijah with a particular message, verse three. Get thee hence and turn thee eastward and hide thyself by the brook Cherith that is before Jordan. Elijah's here in Samaria and the word of the Lord and says now travel south and east and cross the river Jordan into Gilead region, that's wilderness and desert and rough pasture. And where the river Jordan is, there's little streams and brooks and territories, tributaries, that in the dry season are just dry, there's nothing there. But in the rainy season, they fill up with water. And he says, go to a particular brook east of the Jordan, a brook called Cherith. Why is God sending Elijah all the way to the east of the Jordan to this brook Cherith? We know why. Hide thyself. Go there to hide thyself. From whom? Two answers. Hide thyself from Ahab. Hide thyself from Israel. First of all, hide thyself from Ahab. How do you think Ahab responded when this rough prophet from Gilead came to him and said, God's angry at you, your false worship. May there be drought and famine on the land. We tried to persecute him and kill him, of course. Chapter 18, verse 10 reveals that. What has Ahab been doing during the three and a half years of the famine? Obadiah, who is in the court of Ahab, but a true believer, says, Ahab, As the Lord thy God liveth, there is no nation or kingdom whether my Lord hath not sent to seek thee. And when they said he is not there, he took an oath of the kingdom and nation that they found, that they found thee not. So what's Ahab been doing? Using all his power and resources to find this man and kill him. Who does he think he is coming to me, bringing this judgment upon the land? I want him dead. So God says, hide yourself for safety and protection, go out of the region of his general rule and protection, east of the Jordan to the brook in Gareth in the barren wilderness. This teaches us When our life is at threat, it is lawful to flee. When our life is at stake, it is lawful to flee. This is the truth of wisdom, Proverbs 22.3. A prudent man foreseeth the evil and hideth himself. but the simple pass on and are punished. And if you want to know what wisdom looks like, read Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Because there are many times when Jesus had his life on the line and he hid away. For example, John 8, 59. The people are offended that he makes himself equal with God. Before Abraham was, I am. And it says, On Matthew chapter 12 verse 14, where again the Pharisees and the people, they seek to kill Jesus. And it says in Matthew 12, 14, then the Pharisees went out and held a council against him, how they might destroy him. But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself from thence. And therefore Jesus instructs his people, for example, in Matthew 10, 23, but when they persecute you, flee to another city. And this was a big question during the Reformation time. What do you do when you're being persecuted? Do you just stand and face martyrdom or do you flee for your life and safety? Fleeing for your life and safety is not an act of cowardice. It's keeping the commandment, thou shalt not kill. And John Knox himself put himself in a very much a conscious terror because he was like, here's all my friends and all the Protestants of England staying and being literally burnt to the stake under Bloody Mary and here I am in Strasbourg and here I am in Geneva. Here's me writing about reformation in Scotland and writing to nobles and writing to men, be faithful. And they are being persecuted and here I am in the most perfect school of Christ since the days of the apostles. And he had a bad conscience about it, but he didn't. Sometimes there is a time to stay, there's a time to be persecuted, there's a time to be imprisoned, or a time to be put in death. But where you can, without compromising your loyalty to Jesus, you may, and ought, protect life and flee for the good of your family. And so God sending Elijah to the brook is simply replicating Jesus' own example and Jesus' own instruction and the testimony of many saints throughout church history. So if we have someone from Saudi Arabia or Iran or North Korea come, they're not cowards. They're honouring the word and they're fleeing for safety. But there's a second reason. He is hiding from Israel. Again, chapter 18 reveals. In chapter 18, verse 45, as Ahab has been going throughout the land, he's not just looking for Elijah, any prophet of Jehovah. And it says in verse 4, So before the famine Jezebel was doing this and it of course continued. If you were a prophet of Jehovah the monarchy, the Ahab, the Jezebel were seeking to kill the prophets and all the prophets are now in hiding underground. And when God sends Elijah out of the land east of the Jordan, that means there's no prophet of the Lord preaching in the land. That means God has stopped speaking to his own people in Israel. The great famine in the days of Elijah is not the famine that is caused by drought. The great famine in the days of Elijah is the famine of the word of the Lord. The great famine is that God has providentially sent the last prophet away. so that for three and a half years, God is not speaking to his own people in Israel. And one of the great judgments of the Bible is exactly this. Amos, who was also a prophet to the Northern Kingdom, Amos chapter 8, 11 to 12. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. And they shall wander from sea to sea and from the north even to the east. They shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord and shall not find it. So the famine of the Word is one of two ways. Number one, it is the hearing of the Word. So the Word is present, but people are not hearing it. Or the Word itself has been taken away and there is no sign of the Word in the land. God's done this throughout generations. If a church or a people start disobeying and worshipping false gods or denying the Lord Jesus Christ, He will either have the people no longer hear the word, or he'll remove that word, or remove the preachers of the word in the land. Just look at Europe. Just look at the home of the Protestant Reformation. None are spiritually good. All have rejected the Lord. Ministers and preachers are often absent, and people will not hear the word. The words on their coat of arms, the words on all their architectural buildings, the words in all their governmental ceremonies, the words part of certain sections of society, and there's a famine of the word. Now we have to be careful because we think there's so much of the word in the United States of America, therefore there's not a famine. It is true, there's more word than ever in America. Physical Bibles, Bibles on your apps, Bibles on your phone, Bibles on your laptop. There's sermon audio. There's church buildings here, there, and everywhere. But is it healthy preaching? Is it gospel preaching? Is it faithful preaching? Are there people hearing and it's powerful and being transformed? Like I said this morning, you could put all reformed Christians in the world, number them together, and it's still less than the amount of Seventh-day Adventists in the USA alone. You can think of the size of the Mormon church, so-called church. And in the largest conservative Presbyterian church, the PCA, the numbers are not even comparable. How many pulpits are preaching health, wealth, and prosperity? How many are preaching works, legalistic righteousness? How many faithful churches, there are many, many, many faithful churches here. But let's not assume just because the word is present that there's not a famine of the hearing of the word. If there's not a famine of the hearing word in the United States of America, then this is a warning that there could be if the church and the people hear the word but don't respond with faith and obedience. but it can also be individual. If we're individually full of idolatry, if we're denying the Lord for a time, even as true born again believers, we're falling into sin, we can have the preaching of the word every Sabbath, we can read the Bible every day, but we're not hearing the word. So this is a warning. If God's speaking to us, just like he's speaking to Israel, And we're not listening to his word, and by listening I don't just mean audibly, I mean responding in faith, love, and obedience. And we are seeking after other gods in our life, and it continues, one judgment may be the famine of the hearing of the Lord. And this is why we should regularly ask ourselves, how am I receiving the word? How am I receiving the word when I read my Bible daily? How do I receive the word when it comes to me at family worship? How am I receiving the word when I come to public worship? Am I receiving with faith, love and obedience? Am I receiving the word with meekness? When I'm being convicted, am I doing something about it? When I'm being strengthened, am I responding with thankfulness and praise? How am I hearing the word? May none of us be experiencing the famine of the word. But it was being experienced in Israel in Elijah's day. Secondly, the Lord's provision for Elijah. As God sends Elijah to the brook east of Jordan, he gives a particular promise of provision. Verse four. And it shall be that thou shalt drink of the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there. It's a beautiful verse. It's just simply wonderful. Let's just say four things about this. This is a sovereign provision. And this is a theme that will extend throughout the rest of the chapter. God has absolute control over everything. a brook, ravens, a little bit of oil in a widow's pot. He controls everything. He commands the wind and the rain. He commands everything around you. And he uses these things for the good of his people because he cares for us. When it seems there's scarcity, God's sovereignty comes in because he cares for you and provides. Secondly, this is an ecclesiastical provision or a provision for the church. Think about the land of Israel right now. No clouds. No rain. Wake up in the morning, look to see the grass. No dew. The hot, scorching sun dries the land. No food now for the animals. Crops are perishing. It's getting worse and worse. It's been a week, two weeks, three weeks, four weeks, a month, two months, three months. People are hungry. Inflation. Lack of goods. And yet, here's the prophet of the Lord. Here's the faithful. Here's the church. Here's Elijah. Morning and evening, morning and evening, morning and evening. Here's water, here's food, here's bread. Water, food, bread. There's a picture of this in Revelation chapter 12. The woman is the church, the son is the Lord Jesus Christ. And it uses the language and the time span. It says in Revelation 12, 6, the woman fled into the wilderness where she hath a place prepared of God that they should feed her 1,203 score days. Verse 14, and the woman was given two wings of great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness into her place where she is nourished for time and times and half a time. Picture the church. being persecuted, and God just takes away to the brook sheriff, metaphorically speaking, and out there in the wilderness, where it's all barren and nothingness, God provides. God provides. Because that's what he does. Sometimes he takes you to the wilderness, he takes you to the brook sheriff, and he's protecting you. And even though there's scarcity all around you, he'll provide for you. 2 Chronicles 16, 9. The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong in behalf of them whose heart is perfect towards him. This is called God's special providence. His general providence in this situation simply means he's good to all, he provides for all, rain and sun, but he especially cares for his church. As our confession, chapter five, section seven says, as the providence of God does in general reach to all creatures, so after a more special manner, takes care of his church and disposes all things to the good thereof. God has a special eye on you, brother, and you, sister. and he is controlling all providence for you. And sometimes you have to go to the cherith and he will provide for you. Thirdly, a multifaceted provision. God doesn't only abundantly supply, sometimes he gives you sufferings. Elijah's not the only faithful prophet of the Lord. There are others, as we already read in chapter 18, verse four. These are faithful prophets. They have not bowed the knee to Baal. And where are they? They are being hidden in a cave. And they don't have constant stream of food. They're only fed with bread and water. just enough to survive. Elijah's prospering, but the other faithful prophets are just surviving. It's wrong to look at Elijah and say, therefore God at all times makes us always to prosper in our lives. That doesn't happen. Sometimes he does. Other times we're chapter 18, verse four, bread and water, hidden in a cave. This is because God often brings a providence where we must suffer. If God judges a nation, sometimes we need to suffer with the nation. Imagine God judges this nation and brings a famine in the land. That's not an automatic, you're gonna have a table full of food. You might have to suffer with the unbelievers and have bread and water for a time. But in the suffering, he'll provide that little bit of bread and that little bit of water, and he'll cause your soul to prosper in holiness and dependence and trust and prayerfulness. Remember, a multifaceted provision. Sometimes it's like Elijah. Sometimes it's like the other faithful prophets. Finally, an unexpected provision. He commands the ravens. Ravens are unclean birds. According to the law, they were forbidden to be eaten. And these particular birds eat carrion. And we don't know the exact nature of this, but somehow they're able to get bread and food, and God is supernaturally and extraordinarily bringing it right to the fruit sheriff for Elijah to eat. God does that to us at times, maybe not in the miraculous literal way right here, but in the substance, the unexpected way. Has there not been situations in your life where it seems there can be no help whatsoever? There's no reason, no rhyme, no, you can't see, there's nothing. And then boom, in the most unexpected manner, the Lord God comes and provides. God does that. Luke chapter 12 says, verse 22, take no thought for your life. Don't worry about your life. Don't be anxious about your life. Why? Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, neither have storehouse or barn, and God feeds them. How much more are ye better than the fowls? You're more precious to me than a raven. And yet, who do you think provides for this raven? Don't think natural means. Think God using the natural means. I and my providence, who upholds all things by the word of my power, provide food for these ravens. You're of more worth than they. Trust in me. God sends ravens to us all the time. And so often, we're just not aware because we're not looking. But look. He sends you ravens at the sheriff. Unexpected blessings, unexpected provisions, unexpected help. Therefore do not worry, trust in him. Thirdly, the Lord's test for Elijah. How does Elijah respond? God says, go. and Elijah in verse five, so he went and did according to the word of the Lord. For he went and dwelt at the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. See, Elijah's a man of faith. Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God. Faith believes the word is God speaking. Faith responds with cheerful obedience. Elijah's just acting like Abraham here. God says to Abraham, go! And he doesn't give him a destination. But Abraham goes. Hebrews 11, 8. By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed, and he went out not knowing whether he went. God says go, he tells him where he's going to go, to the wilderness. He gives an added promise of provision at the wilderness, and then responds in faith and obeys. So that's what true faith does. True faith, hears the word of the Lord, believes what God says, and responds fittingly with obedience. But as many commentators have noted, if you just look at the themes of what's happening here, God is not simply sending Elijah to protect him or to judge Israel, but also to test and prepare him. Where has he been sent to? The wilderness. What does God do in the wilderness in the Bible? God kept Israel in the wilderness to test them. What did the Spirit of the Lord do to Jesus after he was baptized? He drove him into the wilderness for what? To be tested. And so here in the wilderness, Elijah's faith is being tested. How is it being tested? to see if he trusts in the Lord. He's going to a barren place where he must depend on God to provide through ravens and a brook that dries up in the dry season. But it's always gonna be dry season during this famine. He must trust in the Lord by truly looking to the Lord for his daily bread. Will these ravens come? Will the brook still flow with water, though there's a drought in the whole land? Will I trust in the Lord to provide for me? We don't really know what it's like in the Western world to give us a stay our daily bread. And we're not depending on daily provisions because we've bought our shopping for the month. But there are some times God brings you to a place where literally you can't look beyond today. It's just today. Will God provide for you, whether that's materially, physically, or spiritually? That's the best place to be. Because when we are looking at next week, and the week after that, and the month after that, and the year after that, we're not really that dependent. But if you're like, I cannot go through today except the Lord is with me and providing for me, that's a place we need to be. Elijah, is that you? Day in and day out, weekend and week out, completely dependent on your daily bread from a raven and a water brook. But also to trust in God's wisdom. Romans 3, 5 to 6 is very easy to quote, isn't it? Easy to quote, truly difficult to apply. Here I am, being faithful, not falling into idolatry, not sinning, and I'm sent to a wilderness and barrenness and isolation and loneliness. No public worship, no fellowship, no iron sharpening iron, all alone in the wilderness. Is this right? So Elijah's been tested. Can you trust in the wisdom of God to have a difficult, lonely providence for a time? Or will you complain and grumble and mumble and say, God, it's not fair. I should be in my homeland of Tishbe with my family, with my friends and at the synagogue. Well, God, you're sovereign. I've been faithful, but I must suffer in the wilderness with isolation and loneliness. For what purpose is he being prepared? What's he gonna do? He's gonna do great things. He's been prepared for the ministry of Carmel, which means he must learn to hide himself in God. Psalm 32, seven, thou art my hiding place. Thou shalt preserve me from all trouble. Thou shalt compass me about with deliverance. Because once he goes to Carmel, he's really going to feel the fire of persecution. And if he trusts in himself, or his bold nature, or his blunt spirit, he will fail. But by hiding at the Brook Cherith, and trusting in the Lord alone, his soul will hide in the Lord. but also humility. When God is going to do a mighty work through people, he humbles them, because if he doesn't, pride enters the heart. Remember the 70 in Luke chapter 10? Jesus Christ says, I give you power over devils, over sicknesses, now go. they came back full of pride. Look chapter 10, sorry, look chapter 10, verse 17. And the 70 returned again with joy saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us. What does Jesus say? Jesus says, rejoice not that the spirits are subject unto you. Rejoice because your names are written in heaven. Be humble. Don't start being glorious about, oh look, in the name of Jesus power, cause it's always to the glory of God alone, of course, we all know the words. But I'm doing this and this powerful thing through me. Pride. Just be happy that your name's written in heaven and you're justified and saved. So he must keep Elijah humble of what is before him. And so God's going to do this to me and to you at times. He's going to take you to the brook sheriff and he's going to take you out of the way and he's going to say, I'm preparing you or testing you. Are you really looking to me for your daily bread? Are you really looking for me and I'm wise, or do you want to control your own life and design it? And if I use you, will you be saying to the glory of God alone, but in the heart, look at me? Or will you be humble and truly to the glory of God alone? Will Elijah's isolation, will Elijah's loneliness, But in the Hebrew, it means the end of days. End of days can either be the week or the year. But if you look at the timeline of three years and six months, he is one year all alone at the Brook Sheriff, and the Lord's dealing with the soul. This is a good place for us. This is a good place for us. This is a good place for us. when the Lord takes us and humbles us and magnifies himself and says, you can put your whole trust in me, my power, my wisdom, my goodness, my care, my provision. And when we're under the shadow of his wings in this spiritual state, oh, we are men and women full of faith. But the brook dried up, verse seven. There's drought. God did not stop the effects of the drought effecting the brook Cherith. The ravens were miracles, but the water was not. The water came to an end. How will I survive? Where will I go? The word of the Lord comes again, and he sends them somewhere else, even to Gentile lands. We'll pick that up next week, Lord willing. Let's pray. Father in heaven, oh, help us always to hear the word of the Lord. Help us always to have the ears of our heart listening. And Father, we are thankful for the general promise of caring and providing for thy people. But help us to know that if we must be like the prophets in a cave of bread and water, or were sent to a brook in the wilderness, where ravens feed us, help us at all times to trust in the goodness and wisdom of the Lord, and lean not unto our own understanding. but help us always to seek thy face and follow thy word. Quicken us, enlighten us, and enable us every day. In Jesus' name, amen.