One of the results of the COVID lockdown was the rise in delivery services. Groceries, fast-food, clothing, shoes, electronics and just about anything you want or need can still be delivered to your doorstep with the click of a few buttons on your phone or computer. No need to go out and travel to the grocery store, restaurant or shopping center to get what need. It can all be brought to you. I have noticed a lot more delivery trucks on the roads these days as a consequence.
What causes this desire for delivery living? My first thought is that it is driven by our quest for convenience. Another reason might be a want to keep away from people. I know I sort of enjoyed getting a “touchless delivery” of a pizza a few times so I did not have to interact with anyone, but just grabbed the pizza off my porch. Or it all might be an excuse to stay inside our homes and “cocoon” or “hibernate” in a safe space.
The idea of this makes me think of Elijah and a time when he was just done with people and his work and going out into the world anymore:
But [Elijah] himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he asked that he might die, saying, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.” And he lay down and slept under a broom tree. (1 Kings 19:4-5)
But guess what? God brought him delivery—food and drink to sustain him:
[Elijah] looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. (1 Kings 19:6)
But God did not want Elijah to stay in delivery living mode. God sent an angel who said to Elijah, “Arise!” So that is what Elijah did:
And he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God. (1 Kings 19:8)
Elijah got back out there and did the work of the prophet. Which is what God calls us to do as his messengers. There might be a time when it is good to have things delivered to us, but there comes a time when we must get back out there and deliver the Good News to others. It might not always be easy or convenient or safe, but be God’s delivery service today. And watch for other members of God’s Good News delivery service out on the roads as well.