1 Kings 17:2-4 Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, 3 Get away from here and turn eastward, and hide by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. 4 And it will be that you shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.”
God’s servants must learn to walk by faith–one step at a time. This is a simple lesson, yet one that challenges even the most faithful. Consider Elijah: before he left his quiet home in Thisbe to stand before King Ahab with the word of the Lord, how many questions must have stirred his heart!
What would happen after he delivered his message? How would Jezebel, known for slaying God’s prophets, respond? Where could he go to be safe? If Elijah had waited for answers to all these questions, he would never have begun the journey.
But this is not how our loving Father leads His children. He does not show us the entire path at once. He reveals only the next step and invites us to take it in faith. And if we ask, “Lord, what will happen next? Won’t this path lead to difficulty?” He often gives no other reply than this: “Take the step, and trust Me.”
And so it was with Elijah. After he obeyed and delivered God’s word to Ahab, then the next direction came: “Get thee hence…hide thyself by the brook Cherith.” Later, only after the brook ran dry, did the Lord speak again: “Arise, get thee to Zarephath.” Each instruction came at the right time, no sooner, no later.
Notice this: Elijah did not need to search for God’s word; it came to him. And so it will come to you. Whether through Scripture, the quiet voice of the Holy Spirit, or the unfolding of circumstances — God’s direction will find you. Like Saul on the road to Damascus, we must simply ask, “Lord, what will you have me to do?” and trust that He will reveal it.
Perhaps you have long sensed God urging you toward a particular act of obedience, but you have hesitated because the next step is unclear. Do not delay. Step forward in faith. What appears to be mud will become solid ground beneath your feet. With each step, God will provide a firm place to stand, a new word, a fresh supply. The bread is given daily. The manna comes each morning. The strength arrives at the moment of need.
God gives no more than we can bear at once. He teaches us, little by little, to walk in the peace of obedience and the joy of trust. So take the step before you today. He is faithful. The next stepping stone will appear just when you need it.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy Devotions. This devotional was originally published on Worthy Devotions and was reproduced with permission.
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There’s an old adage, “Have the heart of a lion!” Hearing it, we think, “courage”. This recalls a quote I once heard; “Courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are often stiffened”. I doubt there’s a single hero story in which the fearless leader fails to inspire the righteous determination of his army or people. The voice of the captain resounds through the ranks evoking the fierce cry of every warrior ready to face death or worse, for the cause. Courage truly is contagious.
The Hebrew word for “face” is “panim”, (the Hebrew letters, peh-nun-yud-mem), literally “faces”, a plural word. Normally, when we think about God, we focus only upon one of His “faces” at a time. God is “love” – or He is “holy”– or He is “just”— or He’s a God of “wrath”. Yet, of course, ALL these “faces” are His at once; and so the word “panim” accurately reflects the truth of God’s multifaceted being. As we get to know Him better we begin to appreciate the complexity of His nature and the fact that our focus on one “face” is a very limited view, since there’s so much more going on in His amazing “Personality”.
The book of Isaiah, often called the Old Testament Gospel, reveals that a child was to be born and his name called “The Mighty God, and the Everlasting Father”. We know that this Child was Yeshua (Jesus) of Nazareth, that He is the unique Son of God, the express image of the invisible God. The throne of David was to be given to Him and He now holds its “key”, a symbol of the right and authority of His reign, which will be consummated when He returns to this world and restores the Kingdom to Israel [Acts 1:6-7].
Patience is one of those things… so hard to learn it… so hard to practice it faithfully in our daily walk. It’s one of of those things I truly wish we didn’t have to learn — but God requires it of us! As I was reading through this passage again in Exodus, it dawned on me that Moses sat on the mountain for six entire days before the Lord spoke to him. He had to patiently wait for the Lord for six days!
When I studied Isaiah 53 earnestly in the ancient Hebrew, I was taken back by the Hebrew word for “afflicted” (me-u-neh). In modern Hebrew this word means “tortured”. When I was young, and first learned what torture actually involved, my soul was shocked that this could happen to people; in fact that it was happening to people. That a person could be kept alive for the purpose of intentionally causing him intense agonizing pain was an astounding enigma for my young soul. It really frightened me; and I think that fear of torture is probably the greatest fear that humans can experience. We read about people who have been tortured, with a kind of horrified awe. And quietly we wonder inside, “How can this be?” And, “Could this ever happen to me?”
I love this story! Peter was sitting between two guards and suddenly an angel of the Lord comes to him and frees him — and he thinks it’s a vision! He’s not sure if he truly believes it.
“Exhausted but still in pursuit…” Well, now we know why the angel of YHVH addressed Gideon the way he did. With his small three hundred man army he had just decimated the army of Midian — but the victory wasn’t complete, and so the Jewish general and his small, exhausted, hungry, band were determined to cross the Jordan and take care of 15,000 additional Midanite enemies and their leaders, Zebah and Zalmunna.