06/10/2026
Devotion June 10 2026
Taking Sunday into Your Week
Scripture: 1 Kings 17:1-6
Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.” Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah: “Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. You will drink from the brook, and I have directed the ravens to supply you with food there.” So he did what the Lord had told him. He went to the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan, and stayed there. The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.
2 Kings 4:32-37
When Elisha reached the house, there was the boy lying dead on his couch. He went in, shut the door on the two of them and prayed to the Lord. Then he got on the bed and lay on the boy, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands. As he stretched himself out on him, the boy’s body grew warm. Elisha turned away and walked back and forth in the room and then got on the bed and stretched out on him once more. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes. Elisha summoned Gehazi and said, “Call the Shunammite.” And he did. When she came, he said, “Take your son.” She came in, fell at his feet and bowed to the ground. Then she took her son and went out.
The Sustaining Power of Faith
Today we took a few minutes and looked at a couple of short pieces from the Old Testament, and I am hoping that we can use both of them to give us our message for today. Before we go ahead, though, I want to encourage you to read the entire 4th chapter of 2 Kings and the entire 17th chapter of 1 Kings, in order to give you a more complete picture of what was taking place at that time in history.
Let us first look at the piece in 2 Kings. Elisha was an Old Testament prophet who succeeded Elijah. His ministry was marked by acts of restoration and divine encounters and focused on helping others. As he traveled the countryside it was not unusual to see him staying with people and more often than not, he was led to them by God to help them with something. We see that happening in the piece today.
Of all life's joys, few come close to holding your child in your arms. And of all life's griefs, few cut as deep as losing one. The Shunammite woman knew both, and how she responded to the second teaches us something powerful about running to God when everything's falling apart.
She was wealthy, generous, and deeply devoted to God. She'd opened her home to the prophet Elisha, offering real hospitality without expecting anything back. When Elisha realized she had no son, he prayed for her and a boy was born. She hadn't asked for him. He was a gift that showed up before she even knew she needed it.
Then the unthinkable happened. The boy got sick and he died in her lap.
What she did next says everything. She didn't send a messenger. She didn't pause to explain. She got on a donkey and rode straight to Elisha, urgently, personally. When he asked if things were OK, she just said yes and kept going. She knew where she needed to be before she had any words to say.
There's something raw and honest in that moment. She didn't arrive with polished theology or a carefully crafted prayer. She showed up carrying grief, loss and a dead son back home, but also a fierce determination to reach the man who had access to God. That was enough.
Elisha went back with her. He prayed over the boy. And life returned.
Here's the truth buried in this story:
The God who'd given her that son was the same God who could bring him back. The blessings He’s placed in your life haven't drifted beyond His reach. The God who gives is the same God who protects, sustains, and restores what looks permanently lost.
As we move into our second piece of scripture, let us recall something that we may have learned in science when we were in school. In the scientific process, one of the things that you do after you have completed an experiment is to repeat the experiment to see if you can come up with comparable results. If you can, then that is an indication that your results and conclusions are probably accurate. Well, the same thing is true here. We take a look at our second story to prove to us that this faith that we carry with us is powerful and it can sustain us.
This piece introduces to us the prophet Elijah. We see here how different he was from Elisha in that he could be very confrontational with the ruling people of his time. He did not pull any punches when he thought people were out of line and that God was not being listened to.
As we search this piece to glean a lesson, I ask you to picture the scene: a prophet alone, hidden by a brook, being fed by ravens. It's not exactly the image of glory we'd expect when we think of serving God, but it's precisely there, in that unlikely hidden place that God's faithfulness shines brightest.
Elijah had just done something audacious. He'd stood before the most powerful king in Israel and declared that the sky would stay shut until he said otherwise. No rain, no dew. Nothing. By human standards, it was reckless. But Elijah wasn't improvising. He knew the God who'd called him, and he was certain that the word of the Lord was solid enough to hold his weight.
And then after that confrontation with Ahab, God didn't reward Elijah with prestige or public safety. He told him to hide. And there, far from the noise, far from anyone watching, God provided in a way that defies explanation. Ravens, creatures that ordinarily serve no one, became daily messengers of divine care.
There's a lesson here about how faith actually works. It doesn't need favorable circumstances to function. Elijah's confidence wasn't built on what was happening around him. It was built on the character of the God who'd spoken to him. And that's exactly the kind of faith Scripture wants to grow in us. Not a faith that only holds when everything's going smoothly, but a faith that stands firm even when ravens are the only proof that God hasn't forgotten you.
Paul tells us that faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the Word of God. Elijah listened, and that listening sustained him day after day, meal after meal, through an impossible season. When your own circumstances feel unworkable, the most important question isn't “What am I going to do?” It's “What has God said?”
So, what do these two Old Testament stories teach us today? The faith that God's building in you doesn't depend on things going your way. It rests on the character of the One who's made the promise, not on what's swirling around you. Whatever's pressing down on you today, whatever feels gone or slipping away, it hasn't moved past God's ability to act. So go back to the Word. As Scripture tells us, bring things to Him just the way that Shunammite woman did. You don't need elegant words. You don't need airtight theology. Just go back and listen to what He has spoken. Come with the honesty of someone who knows where help actually lives. Let your confidence be anchored there instead of in outcomes that you can't control. Today, don't just ask yourself what you need to do next, ask what God has already said. Then take your next step. Standing on that word alone. He's fed prophets with ravens. He can certainly sustain you. Don't burn time trying to patch up what only God can fix. Go to Him yourself, directly, today. He's the same God who gave in the first place, and He's the same God who can give again.
Now you might not be able to see yourself hiding in a ravine by a river with birds feeding you. Or trying to figure out what to do after your life has been turned upside down when you’ve been asked to deal with unmeasurable sorrow --- but let us work to envision the faith these two people had in God that allowed them to persevere and not just throw in the towel. Faith, when seated in God, is powerful and can sustain us through anything and everything. Elijah had it. Elisha had it. The Shunammite woman had it. Each and every day go to the Word and allow it to grow your faith as well.
Please pray with me: Lord Jesus, we praise you for the care you always have for us. Thank you for your protection and for your help. Help us to love Your Word more and more so that we may know you better, love and serve you more faithfully, and grow in firmer faith each day. Do not let problems diminish our faith. Rather, may every difficulty be an opportunity to be proven faithful before You. We want a living and effective faith, Lord. In Jesus name, Amen.
