FOOD FOR THE JOURNEY
Text: First Kings 17:19
"The familiar orange box and the slogan "The Breakfast of Champions" have become more than just advertising symbols. They have become a metaphor for sports greatness and success. Many athletes, at the pinnacle of their success, have shared their childhood dreams about someday joining the legends who have had their picture on a Wheaties box. And, indeed, Wheaties is a delicious, healthy product that has helped fuel and inspire many a champion. But the legend and lore of this famous orange box - and the many champions it has featured over the years - is a story in itself.
Like many great inventions, Wheaties was discovered by accident. In 1921, a health clinician in Minneapolis was mixing a batch of bran gruel for his patients when he spilled some of the mix on a hot stove. The gruel crackled and sizzled into a crisp flake. Tasting the very first Wheaties prototype, he decided this delicious accident had promise. He took the crisped gruel to the people at the Washburn Crosby Company. The head miller, George Cormack, took on the task of trying to strengthen the flakes to keep them from turning to dust inside a cereal box. Cormack tested 36 varieties of wheat before he developed the perfect flake. …One of the most popular slogans in advertising history was penned … in 1933. General Mills’ contract for sponsorship of the broadcasts of Minneapolis Millers games on WCCO radio included a large advertising signboard at the ball park. Knox Reeves, an advertising executive for Wheaties’ Minneapolis-based agency, was asked what should be printed on the sign. He took out a pad and pencil, sketched a Wheaties box, thought for a moment, and then printed "Wheaties - The Breakfast of Champions." (Quoted from the following Internet source: http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/story048.htm). The rest of the story is history. Later, athletes whose pictures were on the cereal boxes became associated with both athletic success and health.
If Wheaties had existed back in the days of Elijah, then Elijah was surely in need of its benefits. Elijah was asking God to let him quit. He was losing hope. He felt both defeated and sorry for himself. Elijah felt alone and depressed. He was a champion. In fact, Elijah was God’s champion for God’s purposes. It was in Elijah’s period of despondence that God provided Elijah with food for the journey ahead. And the angel of the Lord came again the second time, and touched him, and said, "Arise and eat for the journey is too great for thee" (First Kings 19:7 KJV).
OPPOSITION TO THE TASK
Elijah who had been God’s fearless prophet was now weary. Elijah’s strength was spent. He felt like he was at the end of his rope. The opposition from without was beginning to take it’s toll on the inner person of who Elijah was. Elijah who had been victorious over and against the prophets of Baal was now struggling to keep his perspective. Jezebel had threatened Elijah’s life. Elijah then went into hiding. Elijah was becoming traumatized by his loneliness. He was beginning to feel sorry for himself and depressed.
"A victim of mental depression, once went to consult a skilled physician regarding his condition. The doctor prescribed some lively amusement, and told him of a celebrated clown, who was entertaining great companies in a certain place of amusement in the town. With an expression of despair on his haggard face, the visitor exclaimed, "I am that clown." The man who was moving thousands to laughter each night, was a victim of depression himself." (John Ritchie. 500 Gospel Sermon Illustrations. Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 1987, p. 131). Elijah must have felt a lot like this clown.
It has been said that "fear breeds lonelieness". (Robert H. Spain. How To Stay Alive As Long As You Live. Nashville: Dimensions for living, 1992, p. 88). In Elijah’s case loneliness was breeding fear and hopelessness. Consider First Kings 19:1-5: "And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and withal how he had slain all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time. And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beersheba, which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there. But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, it is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers. And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched him, and said unto him, Arise and eat" (KJV). Elijah had fled the scene because he was afraid for his life. He had a task to fulfill but Elijah was beginning to feel that the completion of the task was beyond his grasp. His fear was breeding loneliness and his loneliness was magnifying his fear.
HIS FOOD FOR THE JOURNEY AHEAD
Elijah needed food for his journey. Without this food, the journey was going to be too great for Elijah. He needed this food because this food would sustain him physically and God was going to sustain his spirit. "And he looked, and, behold, there was a cake baken on the coals, and a cruse of water at his head. And he did eat and drink, and laid him down again" First Kings 19:6 KJV). It was through a miracle that God provided this food for Elijah. It was the breakfast for a champion, indeed! But, the way that the food came about was no accident. It was a miracle of God.
Jesus is our food for the journey that is ahead of us. Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst" (John 6:31-35 KJV). It has been said that "God’s grace was not given to free us from service but to equip us for service". (John Frederick Jansen. Guests Of God. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1956, p. 58).
"It is said that Albert Scweitzer once stated, "I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know; the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve". (Herb Miller. Actions Speak Louder Than Verbs. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1989, p. 120). Jesus gives us the food that we need for the journey because without Jesus in our lives we will not accomplish anything with lasting success and fulfillment(John 15:5).
Our success and fulfillment is in our service and Jesus, the bread of heaven, gives us the food that we need for the journey. Like Elijah, when we find that we are almost running on empty, we will find that the food that the Lord provides for us will revitalize and revive us because Jesus keeps His promise. That is why Jesus evermore gives us this bread that makes us His champions. Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst" (John 6:34-35 KJV). When we eat the bread that Jesus gives us, He makes us whole and fills up our cups.
