Pray the word with David Platt is a resource from Radical.net.

1 Kings 17, verse 3 and 4. Depart from here, and turn eastward and hide yourself by the

Brook Carath, which is east of the Jordan. You shall drink from the Brook, and I have commanded

the Ravens to feed you there. Thus begins one of my favorite stories in the Old Testament,

the story of Elijah. 1 Kings 17 tells us that Elijah comes on the scene as a prophet of God

in the middle of a dark time among God's people. King Ahab has led the people of God to worship

many different gods, namely the Canaanite reign god, Baal. And there is so much work to be done

to confront the King and the people who were giving themselves over to idolatry. But what I

love about the way Elijah's story begins is the first thing God tells him to do after he proclaims.

There won't be rain in the land that God's going to show who brings the rain, and it's not

the Canaanite reign god, Baal. God immediately says to Elijah, depart from here, go hide yourself

by the Brook Carath, which is east of the Jordan, drink from the Brook, and I have commanded

the Ravens to feed you there. There is so much work to be done, confronting idolatry among God's

people. Yet the first thing God tells Elijah to do is to get alone with him. And I think there's

a major lesson here for all of us amidst all the things that need to be done in our lives.

And it's all the things that need to be done in the world like there's so much

evil to oppose. There's so much justice to be done. There's so many people in places where the

gospel must be proclaimed. There's so much work to do. Yet the most important thing to do

is to be alone with God in the middle of it all. I think about this is

I'm studying through and we're walking as a church family where I pastor through the book of

Mark. And we're seeing Jesus surrounded by needs all the time. And yet he goes to spend time

alone with the Father. This is the greatest need in your life and in my life is to be alone with

...