The Ravens Feed Elijah
"So Elijah did what the LORD had told him, and he went and lived by the Brook of Cherith, east of the Jordan.
"The ravens would bring him bread and meat in the morning and evening, and he would drink from the brook.
"Some time later, however, the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land." - 1 Kings 17:5–7
Part of every boot camp experience is the grueling, grinding, and sometimes daunting obstacle course.
It is neither fun nor easy, but its demanding discipline prepares the recruit for whatever situations he or she may face in the future, particularly under enemy fire.
In the spiritual life, before we can truly benefit from "the hidden life" that God uses to prepare us for whatever future He has planned for us, we must overcome at least four major obstacles.
I think of them as four tough membranes of the flesh: pride, fear, resentment, and long-standing habits.
Conquering these layers of resistance will prepare us for the future and harden us for combat with the adversary.
In a very real sense, God has designed a boot camp for His children, but it doesn't last just eight weeks or ten weeks. 
Nor is it a weekend seminar we can take or a day-long workshop we can attend.
God's training course takes place periodically throughout the Christian life.
And there, in the very center of obstacles and pain and solitude, we come to realize how alive God is in our lives — how alive and in charge.
He will invade us, reduce us, break us, and crush us, so that we will become the people He intends us to be.
No matter how many years we walk with the Lord, we must still, at times, pass through our own Gethsemane.
It happens every time He sends us to the brook to live the hidden life.
It happens every time He disorients us as He displaces us; every time He pulls out all the props; every time He takes away more of the comforts; every time He removes most of the "rights" we once enjoyed.
And He does all this so that He can mold us into the person that we otherwise never would be. He knows what He's about.
Elijah went to Cherith as an energetic spokesman for God — a prophet.
He emerged from Cherith as a deeper man of God.
All this happened because he was left beside a brook that dried up.
Alone, but not forgotten.
Tested, but not abandoned.
Taken from Great Days with the Great Lives by Charles Swindoll.
by Pastor Chuck Swindoll
Insight for Today
Charles R. Swindoll has devoted his life to the accurate, practical teaching and application of God’s Word and His grace. A pastor at heart, Chuck has served as senior pastor to congregations in Texas, Massachusetts, and California. Since 1998, he has served as the founder and senior pastor-teacher of Stonebriar Community Church in Frisco, Texas, but Chuck’s listening audience extends far beyond a local church body. Chuck’s extensive writing ministry has also served the body of Christ worldwide and his leadership as president and now chancellor of Dallas Theological Seminary has helped prepare and equip a new generation for ministry. Chuck and Cynthia, his partner in life and ministry, have four grown children, ten grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren.
insight.org
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It happens every time He sends us to the brook to live the hidden life. 
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