About 1 Kings 18:20-40

THIS WEEK there has been one chapter in particular which I have enjoyed discussing with my friends. We talked about it both at Bible Study on Wednesday and at FISH club on Thursday. It's 1 Kings 18, a wonderful story about how awesome God is.

I don't know why I thought about this story. I think I must have heard it at church once upon a time, and for some reason it was on my mind earlier this week. I looked in the dictionary in the back of my Bible under "Elijah" to find where it might be, and I found that he was performing miracles in 1 Kings, so I looked around in there and I found it.

The part that really got my attention was 1 Kings 18:20-40. Elijah was the only prophet of God left among the children of Israel, and everybody was following the prophets of a false god named Baal. God gave Elijah boldness and guided him in what to do. Elijah challenged the 450 prophets of Baal, to decide who is the real God.

v. 23-24 "[23] 'Therefore let them give us two bulls; and let them choose one bull for themselves, cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it; and I will prepare the other bull, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it. [24] The you call on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord; and the God who answers by fire, He is God.' So all the people answered and said, 'It is well spoken.'"

So the two sides would set up sacrifices, and the real God - the only one who should be worshipped - would set His sacrifice on fire. So the prophets of Baal go first, yelling all morning until noon and trying again in the evening, begging their deaf god to answer them. v. 27 "And so it was, at noon, that Elijah mocked them and said 'Cry aloud, for he is a god; either he is meditating, or he is busy, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened.'" So the prophets of Baal cut themselves and they prophesied all afternoon and begged again in the evening, and at the end of the day Elijah told the people to put buckets and buckets of water on the other sacrifice - the one God would light on fire. They poured twelve waterpots on the altar and then filled a trench around it with water.

Elijah prayed once to God in asking Him to light the fire. He did not have to pray all day long like the others, because his God heard him. v. 36-37, "[36] And it came to pass, at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said, 'Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word. [37] Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that You are the Lord God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again."

v. 38 "Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench."

And all the people of Israel worshipped God, and the prophets of Baal were executed on the Brook Kishon.

Isn't that amazing, that this is the God we worship even today? He is the same now as He was then. What I learned from this is that when we pray within His will, full of faith and without doubt, He will answer. That sacrifice was completely drenched in water. Elijah's faith was so strong that he knew God could catch this wet sacrifice on fire - He could catch the ocean on fire if He wanted to! But what He wanted to do was bring these people back to Him, by doing what no false god could ever do. If a god besides this God cannot even catch a sacrifice on fire when his worshippers ask him, beg him to - even a dry sacrifice - then certainly that god cannot save souls like this God can.

God wanted his people to understand that He is the only one who should be worshipped, and to stop wasting their devotion on someone who could not bless them like He wants to do. The worshippers of Baal cut themselves and yelled, while the worshippers of God do not have to do these things to be heard. We need only present to Him humble and repentant hearts, full of devotion and reverence toward Him, willing to be corrected and to serve. That's what the children of Israel did when they saw what the true God had done. v. 39 "Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said 'The Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God!'"

And how wonderful that He wanted them back, even though they had turned from Him to follow their passions and pleasures with a god who couldn't see them and correct them. That's what He is doing, even today! He shows us who He is, how He can do the impossible and turn hearts around, by giving the life of His precious Son Jesus Christ for our sakes, and by resurrecting Him from death with many witnesses to see it. And He calls us back to Him by showing us that He loves us enough to do that. All He wants for us is what is good for us, and all He wants from us is a humble heart, a willingness to serve Him instead of somebody else. He will never disappoint.