GET UP AND EAT

May 5
3 min read

In the Bible, eating isn’t always literal food. Eating can be used symbolically to represent fellowship, relationship and being in the presence of God. Revelation 3:20 says, “I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” This shows relationship, not that God will come and eat McDonald’s or rice with you. For the sake of the angle of today’s blog, we will look at eating from a relationship point of view.

Our story will be taken from 1 Kings 19:5–8, a very interesting passage. As a backstory, Elijah was a prophet who spoke for it not to rain for three and a half years. After that, he came back to pray for the rain to return. But before that happened, there was a contest between the prophets of Baal and Asherah versus Elijah, to show who truly is God. So after the contest, God showed His power and it became evidently clear to them that there is no one greater than God. Elijah ordered all the prophets to be killed and they were. Jezebel wasn’t happy with this and threatened to kill Elijah (1 Kings 18).

Now Elijah was running away in fear that Jezebel would kill him. So he went under a tree and slept, and the Bible says an angel touched him and told him, “Get up and eat!” He looked around, and there beside him was some bread baked on hot stones and a jar of water. So he ate and drank and lay down again. Then the angel of the Lord came again and touched him and said, “Get up and eat some more, or the journey ahead will be too much for you.” So he got up and ate and drank, and the food gave him enough strength to travel forty days and forty nights to Mount Sinai, the mountain of God (1 Kings 19:5–8 NLT).

“Get up and eat.”

From the angle in which I am approaching today’s blog, I want us to understand that sometimes we have to get up and eat. But other times, we don’t just get up and eat, we have to eat enough to sustain us for the journey we are going on. Hear me out. Sometimes it’s okay to pray for 5 minutes, but there are other occasions that require you to pray longer than that. Elijah, in this moment, may have thought, “Let me eat the portion I normally eat.” However, the angel made him understand that today, he needed to go beyond his normal limit and eat more, because what was ahead of him required more.

We need to understand that sometimes the fire that is lit for a bedroom will not be the same fire needed in a stadium. What I mean is that a room is a smaller place and requires only a small amount of light. A stadium, however, would need much more light, so you cannot expect the light used for a room to be enough for a stadium. There are times when you need to stay longer with the Lord. In certain seasons, you need to remain in His presence longer: for more clarity, for more understanding, for more preparation, and to know the direction on which path take. If you pop in and out of prayer, you might miss what God wants to say. If you read only the verse of the day and choose not to mediate on it or seek further understanding and revelation from it, you might miss the word you need. Some information requires time and consistency to receive. You need to eat more. May God bless you!

Prayer: God, we exalt Your name. Our prayer today is that we grow to love being in Your presence. Give us the grace to stay longer at times, so we can clearly hear from you. We thank you, in Jesus’ name, amen.