"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways," says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." (Isaiah 55:8-9).
There are always things God knows that we don’t. There are many reasons for God leading Elijah to Cherith. Many of these purposes he did not understand. There are some that we can decipher from the events the Scripture tells us.
Jezebel is going to soon begin killing prophets (1 Kings 18:4). Ahab will begin a search for him and become so angry that he will make nations themselves swear that he is not there. Elijah doesn’t know that. He likely didn’t until meeting with Ahab and God’s servant in the palace Obadiah.
The people of the land are soon going to be starving. Was God protecting His prophet from seeing their need for food? Elijah may be bold toward Ahab, but what about the appeals of the innocent people who were hungry? Could Elijah stand if he daily heard the cries of the emaciated? Many bold people can withstand pain themselves but quickly succumb when forced to witness another suffer. Would such a situation tempt Elijah to do something in the flesh? Only God knew the secrets of his heart.
The absence of Elijah will speak louder than his presence will. Sometimes God sends prophets when He is angry. Other times He keeps them away. "We do not see our signs; there is no longer any prophet; nor is there any among us who know how long." (Psalm 74:10). "Behold the days are coming, says the Lord God, ’That I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, not a thirst for water, but a hearing of the words of the Lord (Amos 8:11).
Elijah is not only being sheltered from others. He is being protected from himself. In addition to the works God is doing in the land, God is also preparing a work in the life and heart of Elijah. He is shaping him for future labour for which Elijah is not yet ready.
When God leads us in a new direction, there are usually many reasons for it. We likely will not understand all of them. In the midst of what we go through we can be certain that the Lord knows all the details and keeps from us many of the dangers we know nothing about. His ways are higher than ours.
