Welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread.

I'm Amy Boucher Pie and I titled our reading, Scraped Butter.

In J.R.R. Tolkien's book, The Fellowship of the Ring, Bill Bow Bagan starts showing the effects of carrying for six decades, a magical ring with dark powers.

Way down by its slowly corrosive nature, he says to the wizard Gandalf,

Why? I feel all thin, sort of stretched, if you know what I mean,

like butter that has been scraped over too much bread.

He decides to leave his home in search of rest,

somewhere in peace and quiet, without a lot of relatives prying around.

This aspect of Tolkien's story reminds me of an Old Testament prophet's experience.

On the run from Jezebel and rung out after his battle with false prophets,

Elijah badly needed some rest. Feeling depleted, he asked God to let him die,

saying in First Kings chapter 19, verse four, I have had enough, Lord. After he fell asleep,

God's angel woke him so he could eat and drink. He slept again and then ate more of the

food provided by the angel. Revitalized, he had enough energy for the 40-day walk to the

mountain of God. When we feel scraped thin, we too can look to God for true refreshment.

We might need to care for our bodies while we also ask him to fill us with his hope, peace, and rest.

Even as the angel tended to Elijah, we can trust that God will impart his refreshing

presence on us.

Our passage from Scripture today is from 1st Kings chapter 19, verses 1 through 8.

Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with a sword.

So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say,

May the gods deal with me be it ever so severely,

...