THE LORD – HE IS GOD!

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah. When he saw Elijah, he said to him, "Is that you, you troubler of Israel?"

"I have not made trouble for Israel," Elijah replied. "But you and your father's family have. You have abandoned the Lord's commands and have followed the Baals. Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. And bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel's table."

So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. Elijah went before the people and said, "How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him."

But the people said nothing.

Then Elijah said to them, "I am the only one of the Lord's prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets. Get two bulls for us. Let them choose one for themselves, and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by fire—he is God."

Then all the people said, "What you say is good."

Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, "Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire." So they took the bull given them and prepared it.

Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. "O Baal, answer us!" they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made.

At noon Elijah began to taunt them. "Shout louder!" he said. "Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened." So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.

Then Elijah said to all the people, "Come here to me." They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord, which was in ruins. Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, "Your name shall be Israel." With the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seahs of seed. He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, "Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood."

"Do it again," he said, and they did it again. "Do it a third time," he ordered, and they did it the third time. The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench.

At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: "O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again."

Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.

When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, "The Lord - He is God! The Lord - He is God!"

Then Elijah commanded them, "Seize the prophets of Baal. Don't let anyone get away!" They seized them, and Elijah had them brought down to the Kishon Valley and slaughtered there.

And Elijah said to Ahab, "Go, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain." So Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees.

"Go and look toward the sea," he told his servant. And he went up and looked.

"There is nothing there," he said.

Seven times Elijah said, "Go back."

The seventh time the servant reported, "A cloud as small as a man's hand is rising from the sea."

So Elijah said, "Go and tell Ahab, 'Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.' "

Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy rain came on and Ahab rode off to Jezreel. The power of the Lord came upon Elijah and, tucking his cloak into his belt, he ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel.

1 Kings 18:16-46

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

How many people today walk through life doubting the existence of God or feeling they follow a god who is equal to or over God? All this despite the ways that God shows daily that He is alive and moving in His creation.

Well, as Chapter 18 of 1st Kings opened, we found Elijah traveling and meeting Obadiah, a man who was a devout believer of the Lord and had invested a lot of time to protect prophets from the hand of the murderous Jezebel.

You’ll recall that Elijah asked Obadiah to go and tell the evil King Ahab to come and meet with him…a request that led Obadiah to become panic-stricken and afraid…afraid that Elijah was sending him to his death, particularly if Obadiah brought Ahab and Elijah would not be where he said he would be. In his words, we had examined how Obadiah’s faith had turned to doubt.

Elijah assured Obadiah that he would “surely present myself to Ahab” as “the Lord Almighty lives”.

And so we read where “Obadiah went to meet Ahab” telling him about Elijah’s request and Ahab took Elijah up on his offer, going to meet him. As Ahab came to Elijah, scripture tells us he scoffed, “Is that you, you troubler of Israel?" to which Elijah replied, “I have not made trouble for Israel…But you and your father's family have. You have abandoned the Lord's commands and have followed the Baals. Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. And bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel's table."

So Ahab did as Elijah requested. He “sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel” and Elijah addressed them saying, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him." He received no feedback because “the people said nothing”. And so Elijah offered a holy challenge.

What was the challenge?

We see where Elijah told the 450 prophets of Baal to get two bulls…one for them and one for Elijah. The Baal prophets were then supposed to cut their bull into pieces and “put it on the wood but not set fire to it”. Elijah would do likewise with his bull. And after the preparation, each would call on the name of their god…the Ball prophets calling on Baal while Elijah would call on the one true God…the God of Israel…and whichever god responded by fire…then that god would be God.

The Baal prophets accepted and the challenge was on.

The prophets of Baal took a bull and prepared it as Elijah had instructed. They then “called on the name of Baal from morning till noon” but received no response. So they continued to dance around the altar in hope that their god would answer. Things began to drag out so much that Elijah taunted the Baal prophets saying, “Shout louder!…Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened."

And so the Baal prophets began to shout even “louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed”. Scripture tells us that “midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice” but to no avail. Their god was not responding…because their god didn’t exist.

Finally, Elijah had seen enough. It was his turn now and so he called the people to him. They watched him repair “the altar of the Lord, which was in ruins”, taking “twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob” and building “an altar in the name of the Lord”. He then “dug a trench” around the altar and “arranged the wood” before he “cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood”.

Elijah was nearly ready to summon his God…the true God…to respond but there was one more thing he needed to do to make what was about to happen be even more spectacular.

For he ordered the people to “fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood." And he didn’t just have them do it once. He had them do it three times until the “water ran down around the altar” and “filled the trench”.

“Huh?”, the people had to be thinking. “Wet wood is never going to burn. This prophet is truly crazy.”

So the scene was set and the time had come for Elijah to call on God. Everyone had to be looking on with curious anticipation and maybe just a hint of doubt. After all, the wood and offering were drenched in water. No one had ever seen wet matter like that burn. Not at least until now.

For “at the time of sacrifice”, we read where “Elijah stepped forward and prayed” the following:

"O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again."

And with his last word, “the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench”. Not a drop of water…a piece of wood…or any of the bull were left unconsumed.

Can you imagine what this must have been like? How incredibly amazing it had to be for all those who bore witness to it?

Surely, no one at that point could doubt that Elijah’s God…the one true God of Israel…was indeed God.

The people present couldn’t that’s for sure because after seeing God’s power and might displayed, “they fell prostrate” and cried out, "The Lord - He is God! The Lord - He is God!"

The prophets who refused to acknowledge God and instead drove people toward Baal were seized and slaughtered in the Kishon Valley…executed for following a false god and leading the people astray.

For the others, the end of the drought was soon to come. Their testimony to God at the altar brought His grace, mercy and forgiveness on them. Relief was on the way.

Friends, isn’t this what happens to us when we allow ourselves to turn away from God? Don’t we find ourselves in the midst of our own drought…a spiritual drought that begins to dry up our very souls?

Well, the good news in today’s scripture is that there is relief for the dried out, parched soul…and that relief is God, the giver of every good and perfect thing from above (James 1:17). All we need to do is turn to Him and confess just as the former Baal worshippers did professing and confessing, "The Lord - He is God! The Lord - He is God!"

And when we do this with all our heart and mind and soul and strength…God answers and brings us spiritual rain to quench our thirst and restore us spiritually unto Him.

Are you in need of a little spiritual rain today? Or do you know someone who is in need?

The Lord…our God…awaits.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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