Duel in the Sun, or Trial by Fire

   Has your spiritual life hit a drought where you don't feel the touch of God on your life at the moment? Do you feel like you have been limping along and bouncing back and forth between a working relationship to God and one that doesn't seem to be going anywhere? This is not the first time nor will it be the last. But there is a great story that relates to this dilemma found in 1 Kings 18 with Elijah the prophet.

   The nation of Israel was split in two. The two smaller tribes remained faithful to the King in Jerusalem the 10 northern tribes went off and formed their own nation and appointed their own king. Around 875 BC God warned the ten northern tribes that they were drifting away from the right attitudes and worship and to help them realize they were following the wrong deity, God would keep rain from falling on their land until they saw their mistake.

   This was in part to see if they would discover that the Baal they were worshipping, who was a god known for weather and crops and fertility, could over come the God who created the world, and the rain and the crops. They went three years without a drop. the Baal god was not doing so well.

   Elijah heard from God and was told he should help fix the problem by getting King Ahab of the northern kingdom to gather all the priests of Baal at Mt. Carmel for a show down, God to god. Ahab managed to get 450 priests to gather with Elijah.

   Elijah challenged them to a duel of sorts, a test to see who the real God was. The opportunity to prove once and for all who should be worshipped and followed. Elijah proposed that two bulls be prepared for sacrifice. The 450 could choose their bull and prepare it for the altar. And Elijah would take the other bull and prepare it for sacrifice as well. The first God who responded with fire for the altar would be the one true God. The Baal priests gladly accepted.

   All morning long and into the early afternoon they danced and sang and called out to Baal to come and bring fire on the altar. By noon Elijah was beginning to challenge them, maybe even taunt them a little. Where is he? Maybe you should scream a little louder, maybe he is away, maybe he is occupied and needs a reminder? The Baal priests began to dance and shout even louder and some began to cut themselves ceremonially to prove their urgency to Baal. But by 2 there was still no fire.

   Elijah saw that the regular hour for the sacrifice, 3 pm, was coming, so he rebuilt the fallen altar. He took 12 large stones, to represent the 12 tribes of Israel, the united kingdom, and built an altar to the God who delivered them from slavery and gave them the land. He put fire wood on the altar, he cut up the bull and placed it on the altar as well. Then he asked for water to douse the wood and the altar. He even dug a channel around the altar to catch the water which they poured on the sacrifice three times in total.

   At 3 pm, the official time for the evening sacrifice, Elijah called out to God, and fire descended from heaven, consumed the bull, the wet wood and soaked up all the water, even in the trench around the altar. God was God. The people who witnessed this shouted their allegiance to the one true God.

   Then Elijah had the 450 false priests killed for misguiding the people with their false worship. And lo and behold a cloud came up from the west, and eventually it poured, ending the draught, and restoring the land for crops to grow. God is God.

   Now we may not get to see such a challenge for ourselves. But we can be blessed that God has done that before and we should stop vacillating from one spiritual idea to another, and put our allegiance in the one true God. We will be so much better for it, and won't find ourselves in a draught of doubt, or unanswered prayers. God is giving us a new chance to see that God is God and can do what needs to be done, when we put our allegiance in the one true God.

   Don't limp along between ideas of godliness or qualifications to get God's attention. Come and worship the one who is able to supply your needs, and give thanks.

Blessings

Pastor Jeff