Advent, day 10. The Broom Tree and the Bread.

After the spectacle and drama of victory in the LORD, the prophet begins to "come down from the mountaintop" figuratively. And his exhaustion weighs on him. His emotions reflect his physical condition. Depression is likely if someone does not take things in hand. Sometimes we don't have the wherewithal in ourselves. Sometimes we simply do not care any more.

Being used by the LORD is encouraging on many levels, but can cause our thinking to be hazy. Being with the LORD surpasses being useful to Him, and in the end, if we are not with Him, we become less useful. Thus Elijah's interesting restorative process is good for us to take to heart. God isn't finished until He's finished.

Advent, day 10. The Broom Tree and the Bread.

1 Ki 19:4b-5 “I have had enough, LORD,” he said. “Take my life. I am no better than my ancestors.” Then he lay down under a tree and fell asleep.

“It’s the waiting—the not knowing—and the wondering if You’re there.

It’s uncertainty that suffocates my breath.

Beneath a curséd broom tree, I cannot feel Your care,

And the desert is encroaching with my death.”

The prophet left his servant going deep in isolation,

Sheer exhaustion ripped his desperate soul apart.

What he never had expected was from God this separation—

Fuelling self-recrimination in his heart.

Distorting shame within him flamed, vicious and intense.

By hope forsaken, faith now shaken; despair’s in residence.

First he faces, then embraces his mortality:

Praying death with every breath, he sleeps beneath the tree.

Healing sleep is ever deep and soothes the wounded soul.

Angel-bakers brought him bread and water in a jar,

Touched his shoulder, made him bolder—helping him be whole.

He ate and drank, then slept again: next journey would be far.

Again the baker-angel wakes the prophet of the LORD.

“Come drink the water, eat the still-warm bread:”

Preparing for the training that his soul may be restored
Then forty days into the wasteland led.