The function performed by “Elijah’s ravens” was to take food to him while he was in hiding in the Cherith Ravine.  This was a regular activity.  They brought to Elijah bread and meat twice a day every day for a prolonged period of time.  Somewhere these ravens had a source of food.  Wherever that source was, the ravens were able to go to the source twice a day for the allotment of food for Elijah.  Assuming the meat was cooked that means the ravens “took” it from humans who probably knew nothing about what was going on.  The ravens, under the influence of some guiding power, went to various places and took adequate portions of bread and meat from those places to Elijah to keep him fed.  The loss of bread and meat in those places was not so significant as to be noticed by the people there as far as we can tell.  Otherwise, they would have taken precautions to avoid the thefts by the pesky ravens.  Therefore there must have been quite a few of these sources but the single destination.

What a remarkable thing!  These birds are noteworthy for their intelligence but it is not likely they understood who Elijah was or why they were providing for him.  They just did what the Spirit of God motivated them to do.  They didn’t take the food for themselves, which is what we would expect them to do.  They “faithfully” took it from wherever they found it to the prophet and did so twice a day.  That is a remarkable thing.  It indicates the motivation of God because such a behavior could in no way be expected from the ravens.  These scavengers would normally take only for themselves and for the young who might be in their nests.  That would be the extent of their sharing behavior.  I wonder what Elijah thought of this remarkable thing as it went on for many months.

What did they bring to Elijah?  At one level, we would say they brought bread and meat.  At another level we would say they brought what was necessary to nourish the “man of God” who was hidden in the ravine by the command of God.  Natural nourishment for the man for as long as needed was the mission given to the ravens and the one they fulfilled.

Scripture is replete with nourishment for the sons of God.  It is sometimes necessary to bring the nourishment from the place of its preparation in the Word of God and carry it to the son of God.  We blogged earlier that the mission of Raven’s Food was to do just that.

There are plenty of very rich deposits of spiritual nourishment all through scripture that have gone un-noticed for a very long time.  We have chosen, though, to begin the mission by studying the Patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  To that end, a two-volume examination of their lives is in production.  The first volume will be available by about February 2015.  It is very near to being printed.  It will be available from Raven’s Food or another publishing entity known as eGenCo.  It will also be available in e-book format.  The second volume will be out probably in summer 2015.

These two volumes take the unique view that the history of these men was carefully orchestrated by the Spirit of God to produce exactly the outcome God intended.  I invite you to join us in looking at these fascinating characters.  More precise release information will be found here as it becomes available.

Also be looking for other works that address individual topics in a series to be called the “Divine Standards” (tentatively).  These smaller works will also begin to be published in 2015.  They should be fun as well.