Days of Elijah 4

Summary, left off with Elijah with the widow.

1 Kings 18:1 “After many days the word of the Lord came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, “Go, show yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth.””

Elijah gets the word from the Lord that it is time to show himself and bring rain to the people. Elijah has been in hiding all this time and he is now commanded to just step out and show himself to the man that would like to kill him. Yet we see that God had been continually preparing Elijah for this day through the stories we saw earlier and Elijah obeys without question.

Obadiah

at this time King Ahab and one of the governors essentially of Israel named Obadiah were out looking for grass to feed the animals with. Obadiah we are told feared the Lord and hid away and cared for 100 prophets of God when Jezebel began hunting them. He did all of this in secret though and worshipped God in secret. Well Elijah shows himself to obadiah and tells him to go let Ahab know that he has found Elijah. Obadiah reacts with fear and worry. He asks why would Elijah tell him to do this. It was a death sentence because as soon as he left to do so God would take him somewhere else.

1 Kings 18:15-16 “And Elijah said, “As the Lord of hosts lives, before whom I stand, I will surely show myself to him today.” So Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and told him. And Ahab went to meet Elijah.”

When we stand firm in our faith and encourage others to do so then we embolden those around us to take a stand for God.

1 Kings 18:17-19 “When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is it you, you troubler of Israel?” And he answered, “I have not troubled Israel, but you have, and your father’s house, because you have abandoned the commandments of the Lord and followed the Baals. Now therefore send and gather all Israel to me at Mount Carmel, and the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.””

Elijah reminds Ahab of his original statement and reminds him that this is not Elijahs fault but his for bringing in the worship of a false god into Israel. Then Elijah asks for an audience. He wants to bring everyone together for something big. Well Ahab is in no place to refuse since Elijah is the man who says he can bring the rain back so Ahab agrees and gathers everyone to mount carmel.

1 Kings 18:21 “And Elijah came near to all the people and said, “How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” And the people did not answer him a word.”

Once everyone is gathered Elijah says to them essentially it is time to pick a side. If the God of Israel is true then follow Him but if Baal is true then follow him. God does not like people to ride the fence so you must decide are you going to serve him or serve something else. It is all or nothing with our God.

1 Kings 18:23-24 “Let two bulls be given to us, and let them choose one bull for themselves and cut it in pieces and lay it on the wood, but put no fire to it. And I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood and put no fire to it. And you call upon the name of your god, and I will call upon the name of the Lord, and the God who answers by fire, he is God.” And all the people answered, “It is well spoken.””

Elijah issues a challenge. If you guys are having a hard time deciding who is the real God then let me make it clear for you. He even then lets the prophets of Baal have the first choice on the bull and lets them go first.

The prophets build their alter and lay out their bull after it had been butchered and then begged Baal to bring fire down onto the alter. But nothing happened.

1 Kings 18:27 “And at noon Elijah mocked them, saying, “Cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is musing, or he is relieving himself, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.””

This part I have always though was funny. Elijah begins making fun of the prophets of Baal. He is sarcastically saying maybe their god is busy and that they should try a little harder. I am not advocating for making fun of people and neither is scripture, but what scripture does advocate for is calling out false doctirine and idol worship. We are to be very passionate in getting wrong teachings out of our lives.

Now it is Elijahs turn.

1 Kings 18:33-35 “And he put the wood in order and cut the bull in pieces and laid it on the wood. And he said, “Fill four jars with water and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood.” And he said, “Do it a second time.” And they did it a second time. And he said, “Do it a third time.” And they did it a third time. And the water ran around the altar and filled the trench also with water.”

Elijah wants to make it very clear that if this alter catches on fire that it is no trick like they see often from the false prophets. He wants them to know that it is clearly a work that only God can do.

1 Kings 18:38-40 “Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, “The Lord, he is God; the Lord, he is God.” And Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape.” And they seized them. And Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon and slaughtered them there.”

God shows up in a big way and blazed through the alter burning up the offering and evaporating the water with how hot the fire is. Immediately the people realize who the real God is and they turn back to them falling on their faces to show their humility and recognize their mistakes. Notice the very next thing that they do though. Elijah orders them to kill all the prophets of Baal and to not let a single one survive. This seems harsh. But Elijah knows that the people are weak. Even if they are repenting now they failed once, they will fail again. We are the same way. We fail constantly and then we repent but do we do anything different? Most of the time no. We don’t finish the job and totally expel the evil and temptation from our lives thinking that we are healed now and won’t fail again. None of us are that strong. If you failed once then you can fail again. Be thourough in your cleansing.

After the prophets are slaughtered and the people return to God Elijah looks to Ahab and tells him to go celebrate because rain is on the way. So Ahab goes off to start the celebration, but look at what Elijah does.

1 Kings 18:42 “So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Mount Carmel. And he bowed himself down on the earth and put his face between his knees.”

Elijah who had just had an incredible success is now on the ground with his head tucked between his knees. In human culture that is not the posture of a victiorious man yet that is what we see from Elijah. I would argue that it is exactly the posture of a victorious man. It is a man who won the victory and is now giving the glory to the won who actually did the work. To many times do we win the victory and forget to give the glory to God. By human nature we are prideful people who love to feel as though we have accomplished something on our own.

I was watching a television show the other day and was reminded of one of my favorite quotes by C.S. Lewis

According to Christian teachers, the essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride. Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere fleabites in comparison: it was through Pride that the devil became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind. -C.S. Lewis

The quickest way to fall back into sin and to have your life spiral after a victory is through pride. If we feel like we are so great that we can do anything then we start to no longer feel like we need God. We stop asking for His help and apart from Him we can do nothing. This leads to the entire process starting over. When we see great success in our lives remember to humble yourself and give the glory to the one who really deserves it.