THE TURKEY HAS LANDED

Houston. Houston. The Turkey has landed! Oops, sorry. It was an Eagle that landed, wasn't it?

Do you remember where you were when every television set in the world showed Neil Armstrong stepping off the ladder of the Lunar Landing Craft onto the surface of the moon in the late 1960's? Eagles are noble and strong. They adorn the faces of our coins and bills. They are on flags and state seals. When we go to a zoo we always want to see the eagles instead of the turkeys. Strangely the turkey almost became our national bird and symbol. Would we feature roast eagle for our Thanksgiving Day dinners if "the turkey" had prevailed. I think not. An eagle is tough and sinewy so it can soar high, see far, and swoop swiftly. On the other hand, a turkey can be meaty, even fat, because it flies seldom or not at all. Even a wild turkey flies below the tree tops.

Isaiah says that "those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint." If you had to be a bird, most of us would want to be an eagle. God uses all animals, including birds, to do His will. He once used ravens to miraculously sustain His prophet Elijah. Nobody really likes ravens, do they? I mean ravens are like crows. Edgar Allen Poe had this creepy story about "quoth the Raven nevermore" and stuff like that.

As the flood of Biblical times receded, Noah sent a dove (pretty and cute and eats grain) out of the ark, and the dove came back again (like a nice trained dog). But, when he sent out a raven (kind of ugly and eats things we don't like to think about), the raven kept on going and never came back, like a wild, untamed raven. But, God uses ravens too. He sent the prophet Elijah to King Ahab to say that, "there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word." Providentially, God then suggested to Elijah that he remove his body from the presence of Ahab and head for the country. God said, "you shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there."

Elijah did as he was told and "The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the brook." You know, this is awesome when you think about it. First, Elijah tells the king that it will be dry as sand with no rain in sight unless and until Elijah says so. Folks, he just told the king that the tax collecting branch of his government and his military forces were going to be in deep trouble, and that the food on the king's table was going to be oatmeal without milk instead of sirloin steak. And then, God tells the ravens to become Elijah's personal waiters and waitresses for breakfast and dinner. I have often wondered where the ravens obtained the "bread and meat." Was it from God's special kitchen in heaven, prepared like Jonah's fish, especially for God's servant? Or was it stolen from Ahab's own kitchens? Did the ravens swoop down like attack helicopters and steal delicate morsels meant for Ahab's own mouth? Or, was the "bread and meat" scavenged from things we would rather not think about? Well, wherever the food came from, Elijah was happy to get it. Incredibly, God commanded ravens to feed Gods prophet and servant.

Wow! It just reminds us that God can make his creation do whatever he tells it to do, whenever he wants. He says "jump" and his creation "jumps" and doesn't even ask "how far." Have you ever tried to train a bird like a raven? Do you know how small his little brain is? How do you program a bunch of ravens to fly around and grab bread and meat, day after day after day, and then fly to Elijah's campground at the Brook Cherith and pretend they are angels delivering his daily meal. After a while the brook dried up because Elijah's statement to Ahab was proving too true. There was no dew or rain in the kingdom. Did Elijah think about praying in a little thunderstorm or two to get the old brook to flow again. But, it was time to move on, and meet a widow from Zarephath who was also suffering from Elijah's promise to Ahab. The very man who brought this woman pain and suffering was about to bring to her the blessing and benefit of God. The widow was gathering some sticks to cook her handful of flour into a cake for her son and herself. It was all they had left. She had nothing to eat after that. It was her everything, and Elijah asked her to give him some of her last meal. As you know, she obeyed and "the bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry, according to the word of the Lord which he spoke by Elijah" (I Kings 17:16).

This is some kind of guy. At God's direction, Elijah shuts up the heavens so there is no dew or rain for three years. This causes drought and famine and starvation among the people. Among these suffering people are little old widows from Zarephath with small children, Obadiah who feared the Lord greatly and had hidden from Ahab 100 prophets of God and some additional 7,000 people in Israel whose knees had not bowed down to Baal. God feeds him by ravens (I Kings 17:6), then God feeds him through the widow of Zarephath (I Kings 17:16), and then God feeds him by an angel (I Kings 19:5). If you shut up heaven for three years, appear on Mount Carmel to bring down fire, open the floodgates of heaven, and are taken up into the heavens by a chariot of fire, then God may also feed you along the journey. I like what James says of Elijah. James 5:13-20 tells us to pray for each other, and specifically for healing. He says that "the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much." And he then says that Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, i.e, Elijah was just like you and me, the same 200 pounds of bone, water, blood, and chemicals. Yet Elijah prayed earnestly and it did not rain for three years; then he prayed earnestly and the skies produced a gully-whumper.

And he was just like you and me.