Discernment: Reading the message on the "wall"

Discernment:  In the first reading of today’s liturgy,  1 Kings 17: 1-6, Elijah tells Ahab that as long as he was serving the people, “there shall be no dew or rain except at my word.”  Imagine the uproar once the people heard Elijah’s proclamation. And what might have been their reaction at hearing that Elijah was  nowhere to be found.  The author of 1 Kings tells us that the Lord commanded Elijah to leave and “go east and hide in the Wadi Cherith, east of the Jordan.” There, God tells him, “[y]ou shall drink of the stream, and I have commanded ravens to feed you there.”  Elijah follows God’s command. As he settled by the Wadi Cherith, ravens “brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening and he drank from the stream.”

What can we learn from Elijah about discernment of God’s will? Elijah is a man like any other!  Set apart as a prophet—yes. But by baptism, we all are prophets sent into the world to proclaim Christ,  to preach the Gospel. St. Francis tells us to do so by words only when necessary, as our lives are the proclamation of the Good News of our salvation.

Elijah is in trouble. And he knows it! He realizes that is it not safe for him to stay where he is. Something/Someone—we know as the Spirit within him, the quiet voice of God guiding him—directs him to hide, to leave.  He reads his environment accurately. It is not safe for him.  God speaks to us all day long: Do this! Don’t do that! Shelter in place! Go there! Don’t go there; it is not safe. Go; it’s safe now,” etc.

Discernment involves listening to our environment as well as paying attention to our feelings and our thoughts.  For Elijah, it did not feel right to stay where he was. He needed to relocate. No one would do this for him. No one would protect him. He had to do this for himself. He had to act alone! He had to be true to what “his gut”—translate, “the Spirit”--was telling him to do.

Putting this in the language of faith, theologizing about the situation, we would say exactly what the author of I Kings said:   “The Lord then said to Elijah: ‘Leave here, go east….’” In our words: I knew it was time for me to make a change. God is calling me to something different, to leave this place, this job, this whatever! I knew it was time for me to do something about my life and my well-being."