Our Great Provider

“The Lord always keeps his promises . . . The eyes of all look to you in hope; you give them their food as they need it . . . You satisfy the hunger and thirst of every living thing.” Psalm 145:13b,15,16b (NLT) Sometimes God provides for us in unusual ways. I shouldn’t have been surprised because I knew this story about Elijah. The Lord had told him to camp near a brook. His food supply was the unusual part—God told birds to bring him food! “The ravens brought him bread and meat each morning and evening, and he drank from the brook” (1 Kings 17:6). After the brook dried up, the Lord told Elijah to go to a certain village where a certain widow would feed him. However, the poor woman said, “I swear by the Lord your God that I don’t have a single piece of bread . . . I was just gathering a few sticks to cook this last meal, and then my son and I will die” (1 Kings 17:12). The Lord told Elijah to say, “Make a little bread for me first. Then use what’s left to prepare a meal for yourself and your son . . . the God of Israel says: There will always be flour and olive oil left in your containers until the time when the Lord sends rain and the crops grow again” (1 Kings 17:13b,14). She did as Elijah said, and from then on, there was always enough flour and olive oil left over! It was at Snowdrift, NWT, that I was out walking. I was shocked when a good-sized fish jumped out of the water onto the ice right in front of me! I picked it up, brought it back to where I was staying, and it provided a good-sized meal. For Elijah, God provided food using birds— for me, it was a fish. And, as with Elijah, God can also use unlikely people to provide our needs. That is the way of God, our great Provider! – Gilbert Bekkatla   Council Fire is a collaboration with Intertribal Life Ministries and Native Evangelical Fellowship of Canada. The Council Fire Daily Devotional Book Set is available on the Intertribal Life Ministries website. Learn more about Council Fire at councilfire365.org