Hello friends, welcome to In Bolden. I'm Chris Shatter, an ordinary Christian living with and learning about an extraordinary God. Hello friends, welcome back to my podcast In Bolden, Living a Bold Christian Life. Haven't been on here in a while and I wanted to do a little introduction to my new series that's coming up, Lessons from Curin.
Let's start out today with a verse from Psalm 119, it's verses 116-117. Sustain me, my God, according to your promise, and I will live. Do not let my hopes be dashed. Uphold me, and I will be delivered.
I will always have regard for your decrees. So like I said next week, I actually begin the new series, Lessons from Curin. For those of you unfamiliar with Curin, which is spelled sometimes with a C-A, sometimes with a K, here's a brief look in the first King, 17, 2 through 6. The Lord God had called Elijah out of his home and to the throne of Ahab.
While there, he had the audacity to speak God's words to the King, telling him there would be neither due nor rain for the next few years, because of the kingdoms all into paganism. That's thanks to Jezebel, by the way. Then the Lord told Elijah to leave the King, head eastward, and hide in curith ravine, and he obeyed. He obeyed in spite of the fact that the drought meant the brook and the ravine was almost devoid of water.
And the desert-like landscape, which was so different from the land he had come from, meant no food was available. His trust meant God could continue to work miracles in Elijah's life. First King 17 to 6 says, 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, it's estimated Elijah stayed in this barren, dry place for almost two years, and during that time he learned a lot of valuable lessons before his journey was to continue.
For one, the Jews listed ravens among the most despised of birds. That's in Leviticus 11. They were greedy yet tenacious, but of course God used the most unlikely of sources to bring Elijah food. These birds were unclean and repulsive to the Jews, yet Elijah had to rely on them, foreshadowing his next God-directed move to rely on an unclean and unworthy widow.
You know, Elijah's lessons learned may not all be ones that you or I need to learn, and during my own trip to curith this year, when I too was separated from my quiet and comfortable life, I learned lessons that you may or may not need to hear. But the one lesson we can all learn from Elijah is unequivocal trust in the Lord. No matter what the Lord is trying to weed out, burn out, destroy from our thoughts and hearts, he needs us first to trust in him. And like Elijah and his ravens, he will do more than just sustain us.
He will surprise us. He will work to heal our hearts in ways we can't even imagine. I hope you will join me in this next series as I go back at a journey of remembrance from my time, even my own dry reveal, and watch to see how God surprises us, heals us, and loves us. Have a wonderful day.
I hope you enjoyed this episode of The Embolden Podcast. Be sure to follow along so you don't miss any episode, and check out my blog at Embolden.net.