This week I've been reading about another prophet by the name of Elijah. Quite an interesting story of faith and fear. Elijah was a prophet in the days of King Ahab. Ahab was a wicked king (1 Kings 16:30), controlled by his wife Jezebel who was even worse than her husband - still to this day calling someone a Jezebel is a major insult to their character... 1 Kings 16:33 actually says Ahab did more to provoke the Lord than ALL the kings of Israel who were before him.
God saw the wickedness in the land and called on Elijah to take a stand. Elijah went before Ahab and told him that it wouldn't rain again in the lands until Elijah called to the heavens for it - God kept his promise and the lands went 3 years without rain... When the time came for God to reveal himself Elijah went up to Mt Caramel and faced off vs 850 prophets of Baal and Asherah in a showdown of whose God is better...
This is the part of the story I love! The 450 prophets of Baal danced about for hours, they wailed, cried, tore their cloths, put on sackcloth... but alas all that didn't seem to be able to wake up their "sleeping" god... All day from morning till evening they begged and pleaded with their god to show...
Then comes Elijah... He built the alter to the Lord, then dug a trench around it deep enough for about 4 gallons of water... When he had placed the bull on the alter he called on the people to bring 4 jugs of water 3 times they did this till even the trench was full... (keep in mind this was in the midst of a 3 year drought water was scarce to be pouring it out on the ground like this would have seem mad!)
Then Elijah started praying -- when Elijah called out for God he answered in a mighty way and revealed his might to the crowds.... Fire fell from heaven, it consumed the bull, it consumed the wood, the stones, the dust, it even licked up the water from the trench....
God was not mocked - Elijah had faith that the God he served was the One True God, and while the rest of the people of Israel may have turned from God He (God) did not abandon them completely rather he let them suffer the fate of their own hand, Ahab ultimately suffered the fate of his own hand but we find something shocking! For all of his wickedness, for all the atrocities that he committed as King in 1 Kings 21 God pronounces that He would eliminate all the males from Ahab's line both slave and free... The dogs would lap his blood and prostitutes would bath in it... God wasn't kidding around.
But then something shocking happened something that we need to keep in mind even today (1 Kings 21:27-29) - When Ahab realized his wickedness he repented. Sackcloth, ashes, the whole bit - he humbled himself before the Lord! and God saw it and gave him a reprieve, there would still be consequences for a lifetime of wickedness but Ahab was forgiven.
This is important for us to recognize as well -- no matter how bad our lives have been God will still forgive us! We will still have to face the consequences of those sins - Ahab still had to die and his line removed but he was forgiven and so can you...
The same God who caused the fire to fall in righteous judgment also showers us with his forgiveness and mercy on those who are willing and able to recognize their failings and repent!
What a great promise for us today!
Then comes Elijah... He built the alter to the Lord, then dug a trench around it deep enough for about 4 gallons of water... When he had placed the bull on the alter he called on the people to bring 4 jugs of water 3 times they did this till even the trench was full... (keep in mind this was in the midst of a 3 year drought water was scarce to be pouring it out on the ground like this would have seem mad!)
Then Elijah started praying -- when Elijah called out for God he answered in a mighty way and revealed his might to the crowds.... Fire fell from heaven, it consumed the bull, it consumed the wood, the stones, the dust, it even licked up the water from the trench....
God was not mocked - Elijah had faith that the God he served was the One True God, and while the rest of the people of Israel may have turned from God He (God) did not abandon them completely rather he let them suffer the fate of their own hand, Ahab ultimately suffered the fate of his own hand but we find something shocking! For all of his wickedness, for all the atrocities that he committed as King in 1 Kings 21 God pronounces that He would eliminate all the males from Ahab's line both slave and free... The dogs would lap his blood and prostitutes would bath in it... God wasn't kidding around.
But then something shocking happened something that we need to keep in mind even today (1 Kings 21:27-29) - When Ahab realized his wickedness he repented. Sackcloth, ashes, the whole bit - he humbled himself before the Lord! and God saw it and gave him a reprieve, there would still be consequences for a lifetime of wickedness but Ahab was forgiven.
This is important for us to recognize as well -- no matter how bad our lives have been God will still forgive us! We will still have to face the consequences of those sins - Ahab still had to die and his line removed but he was forgiven and so can you...
The same God who caused the fire to fall in righteous judgment also showers us with his forgiveness and mercy on those who are willing and able to recognize their failings and repent!
What a great promise for us today!
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