Welcome to the Daily Blade. The Word of God is described as the Sword of the Spirit, the primary spiritual weapon in the Christian's armor against the forces of evil. Your hosts are Joby Martin and Kyle Thompson, and they stand ready to equip men for the fight. Let's sharpen up.

Alright, guys, happy to have you back today. All week, my goal is to sharpen your hunger for the word of God. So we already crave plenty of earthly things as men, but this is about redirecting that appetite toward knowing God through his word. And we'll do that by walking through biblical stories that show why scripture isn't optional but essential. So today we'll be looking at the story of Elijah from 1 Kings. But to set the stage for today, after King David's death, Solomon becomes the king of Israel. So God grants Solomon wealth and peace and wisdom and all the things. But Solomon turns away from God, marries a bunch of women, and then gets pulled into idolatry. And because of this disobedience, God divides Solomon's kingdom up after he dies. And so as you can imagine, this leads to a big mess and a bunch of darkness. And it really sets in motion a pattern of wicked kings in Israel. And this leads to the eventual rise and reign of King Ahab. And so Baal worship was being started at this time. Ahab marries Jezebel. She's awful and evil. And this leads to the worship of God being openly challenged and suppressed. And the kingdom is in open defiance to God. But then God raises up a prophet named Elijah, who's literally one of the baddest dudes in scripture. I just love this guy. And we actually see the story of Elijah begin in Scripture in 1 Kings 17. I'll start reading in verse one. Now Elijah the Tishbite of Tishbi in Gilead said to Ahab, As the Lord, the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rains these years except by my word. And the word of the Lord came to him, Depart from here, turn eastward and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. Ye shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there. So he went and did according to the word of the Lord. He went and lived by the brook Cherith, in that is east of the Jordan, and the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook, and after a while the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land. So God raises up Elijah to defy a king in a kingdom, right? Elijah delivers a bold rebuke to Ahab, and he does it in a very bold fashion. And then God gave Elijah a direct command, a word. And as we saw in verse 5, he went and did according to the word of the Lord. So we don't see recorded here that Elijah questioned God or delayed or openly wondered what the people would think if he followed this command. He just did what God told him to do. And then we get to the brook, and we see that God provided in the exact way that he said he would. He feeds Elijah just in time. He feeds Elijah just enough, no surplus, nothing to store up, but enough. So you see, I mean, we actually saw this with Exodus 16 yesterday. Men want surplus. But our God does a lot with a little. Why? Because he is to be glorified. I mean, look at the apostles that Jesus called. I mean, these weren't well-to-do folks. I mean, they weren't community leaders. These, you know, weren't people with lots of followers on Instagram. These were fishermen. There was a zealot in there, a tax collector, right? But how is God able to do a lot with a little? Because he guides the steps of those that are subservient to his will. God builds nations from scarcity. God raises up prophets from scarcity. And God can do much more with you being a slave to his word than he can with your white-knuckle determination, you know, and desire for surplus. I mean, let's go back to the desert where Jesus was directly tempted by the devil for forty days and forty nights. So we see this in Luke 4, starting in verse 2. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. The devil said to him, If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread. And Jesus answered him, It is written, man shall not live by bread alone. But think about how all of us have reacted at one time or another. Okay, so think about the things that we have said out loud as we lament. But God, I just don't have enough. But God, you know, what am I supposed to do now? But God, I don't know what tomorrow will bring, right? But guys, listen to me. Our hunger actually trains us for obedience. Again, what did Jesus say back to Satan? It is written. Now, how can you respond in that way if you don't know what is written? I mean, how can you respond in that way if you only take care of your hunger that's going on in your fleshly belly? I mean, how can you respond in that way if you just get a little bit of Bible here and a little bit of Bible there with long stretches of nothing in between? I mean, men, we get our sustenance from God and He leads us with His Word. So if you are not in His Word every day, then how can you expect to be ready for the day of trouble? I mean, the reality is that you can't be ready. So if you're not ready, get ready. Study His Word like your life depends on it. See you back here tomorrow.

Thank you for listening to today's episode. Before you go, if you want to help equip other men for the fight, share this podcast around and leave us a five star rating and review. Stay sharp.