Arise and Eat

I’m about to do something CRAZY in this blog post. I am going to tell you about a time when God taught me a lesson using both the Old Testament prophet Elijah and Carrie Bradshaw from Sex and the City.

Hear me out.

I’m sure most of you haven’t seen the Sex and the City movie. Or at least won’t admit to it. I watched it on TV in a moment of weakness a few years ago. And in the movie, there’s a scene where the main character, Carrie, is stood up at the altar. Her friends take her on a vacation to ease her broken heart. And for the first few days, Carrie is so devastated she won’t leave the bed.

But then, one of her friends comes into the room with a cup of yogurt. And she helps Carrie sit up. And she doesn’t lecture her. Or tell her how terrible men are. How she needs to “buck up.”

She just feeds her yogurt.

That scene has stuck with me over the years. And a few months ago, it came to mind again when I heard a sermon about Elijah. In 1 Kings 19, Elijah runs for his life from Jezebel. He sat down under a tree and quite literally prayed “I have had enough, Lord. Take my life.” The depression he feels seems bottomless.

But then an angel appears to Elijah. The angel touches him and says “Get up and eat.” And the angel gives Elijah a loaf of bread and a jar of water.

The angel doesn’t lecture Elijah. Doesn’t question his faith and tell him he should know better. Doesn’t reprimand him for running away.

The angel just feeds him bread.

In our lives, it can be very easy to offer help in the form of unsolicited advice. To tell a person who has lost his job to just look harder. To tell a friend suffering from depression to pray harder. To judge a homeless person for the bad choices we assume they’ve made.

What I’m trying to do is stop judging and start giving.

I want to be the person who kneels in front of one who feels broken and beyond repair and offer them nourishment and love.

A cup of yogurt. A loaf of bread.

Arise and eat.