Today’s passages contain one of my favorite stories from the Old Testament. The story of Elijah’s confrontation with the prophets of Baal. Elijah was in the minority, yet Elijah had the faith and determination to stand up for God. As the book of James says, Elijah was a man just as we are, yet he prayed that it would not rain and for three and a half years it did not rain. Then he prayed that it would rain and it rained. When the prophets of Baal held a worship service, they put on a great show and were wonderfully entertaining. Elijah was a “troublemaker” who wanted to spoil everyone’s fun, but when Elijah prayed God answered him. Let us not be afraid to be seen as troublemakers when we are following the commands of God.
I have been using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study for over a year. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I started writing this blog because the only way I can get myself to read the Bible everyday is to pretend that I am teaching someone about what it says to me. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them. I hope that the Spirit is moving in others through these posts as the Spirit has definitely been convicting me.
After three years of drought God told Elijah to tell Ahab that He was about to send rain. At the same time, Ahab sent his palace steward, named Obadiah, to search for water to save at least some of the royal horses and mules. Obadiah feared God. At one point, when Jezebel was persecuting God’s prophets he had hidden 100 prophets and provided them with food and water. Elijah approached Obadiah while he was out looking for water and told him to go and tell Ahab where he, Elijah, was. Obadiah was afraid to do so at first because he was sure that when Ahab got there, Elijah would be gone. Elijah assured Obadiah that he would be there when Ahab arrived. So Obadiah went and told Ahab. When Ahab arrived he greeted Elijah by calling him a troublemaker. Elijah responded that it was Ahab and his family who were the troublemakers, because they had refused to worship God and worshiped Baal instead. Elijah told Ahab to summon the people of Israel to Mount Carmel and to bring the prophets of Baal and Ashtoreth who received support from Jezebel (Ahab’s wife).
When the people had gathered, Elijah addressed them. Elijah told the people that it was time to choose, either worship God or worship Baal. The people did not respond to this challenge in any way. Just as Elijah called on the people of Israel to choose what god they would worship, God calls on us today to choose. And just as the people did not respond to Elijah’s initial challenge, so today people tend to act as if they don’t understand the question being asked. However, Elijah went on. Elijah proposed a contest to see which god had true power. He proposed that both he and the prophets of Baal would prepare an altar and a sacrifice, but neither would light their sacrifice. Whichever god answered by sending down fire to light the sacrifice, that god would be shown to be the true God. Elijah told the prophets of Baal to go first, since there were more of them.
The prophets of Baal took the bull for their sacrifice, cut it up and laid it on the altar. They called on Baal to answer them, dancing around the altar putting on quite a show from morning until noon. At noon, Elijah began to mock them saying that maybe they needed to call louder, after all Baal was certainly a god, perhaps he had stepped out or was in the bathroom, or maybe he was taking a nap. In response, the prophets of Baal got louder and began cutting themselves, putting on even more of a show. This went on until the early evening, but the prophets of Baal got no response. In the early evening, Elijah called the people to him. Elijah repaired the altar of God and dug a trench around it. He took the wood and the ox and placed them on the altar. He then turned to the people and told them to take jars of water and pour them over the offering, the wood and the altar. He had them repeat this until the trench around the altar was full of water. Then comes what to me is the best part. Just picture this, all day the prophets of Baal have been shouting and dancing and cutting themselves to summon Baal putting on quite a show. Now in the early evening, as the sun is going down in the sky, Elijah approaches the altar, which is clearly soaked so that he could not possibly light it himself at this point, and prays to God a simple prayer. He asks God to answer him so that the people know that God is the only true god and turn back to Him. As Elijah finishes praying, fire fell from heaven and consumed the offering, completely burning the sacrifice and the wood on the altar, but not only that it completely dried up all the water that Elijah had had the people pour over the altar. When the people saw this they responded by saying, “The Lord, He is God.” Elijah told them to take the prophets of Baal and execute them.
Every time I read this it strikes me how the prophets of Baal put on a big show, but Elijah took a low-key approach and merely prayed a simple prayer asking God to show His power. On Elijah’s side, it was God who put on the show.
The story does not end there. Elijah then told Ahab to go get something to eat and drink because a storm was coming. So Ahab went and got his meal. It is worth noting that at this point it had been over three years since the last time it rained in Israel. Elijah went back up the Mount and kneeled down to pray. He sent his servant to look out toward the sea. The servant returned and said he had seen nothing. Elijah sent his servant seven times to look. Finally on the seventh time the servant returned to say he saw a small cloud, about the size of a man’s hand rise out of the sea. Elijah urgently told his servant to tell Ahab that he should mount his chariot at once and head for home, or the rain would stop him. Elijah himself gathered his garment and ran for town. God gave Elijah special strength so that he got there before Ahab.
When Peter returned to Jerusalem from Caesarea, some of the Jewish believers challenged him for breaking the Jewish religious law by going into a Gentile’s house and eating with Gentiles. Peter recounted the events that led up to him going to Caesarea. Then he told the believers in Jerusalem about the Gentiles receiving the Holy Spirit in the same way that the first believers did on Pentecost. This reminded Peter of Jesus saying that while John baptized with water, they would be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Peter concluded that since God had given the Gentiles the same gift he had given the other believers, who was he to stand in their way? When they heard Peter’s account the other believers concluded that Peter had been correct and praised God.
Luke went on to tell us that the believers who had been scattered by the persecution that came in the wake of Stephen’s death had spread to Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch in Syria. In all of the places that they went, they restricted their preaching to the Jews. Except in Antioch where some of the believers began preaching to the Gentiles. When the Church in Jerusalem heard this news, they sent Barnabas to investigate. Barnabas saw evidence of God’s blessing and was filled with joy. He encouraged the believers to be true to the Lord. In response to his teaching, many more came to the Lord. Barnabas left Antioch and went to Tarsus looking for Saul. When he found Saul, he brought him back to Antioch with him and the two of them preached in Antioch for a year. Barnabas and Saul taught a considerable number of believers in Antioch. The passage does not tell us why Barnabas went to get Saul. However, I believe that part of the reason was that Saul was one of the few early believers who had been thoroughly taught to be a teacher of traditional Judaism. This meant that Saul was able to teach the new Gentile believers the things they needed to know in order to be faithful Christians (a term that was first coined in Antioch).
Near the end of the year, some prophets arrived in Antioch. One of them predicted by the Spirit that a famine was coming to the Roman world. The believers in Antioch decided to send some aid to the believers in Judea. Everyone gave as much as they could and they sent their contributions in charge of Barnabas and Saul.
Let us praise the Lord as the psalmist recommends!
And that our Lord is above all gods.(NIV)
The psalmist goes on the describe the wonderful things that God has done. He then gives a warning:
The work of man’s hands.
They have mouths, but they do not speak;
They have eyes, but they do not see;
They have ears, but they do not hear,
Nor is there any breath at all in their mouths.
Those who make them will be like them,
Yes, everyone who trusts in them.(NIV)
The psalmist warns us that those who trust in idols will have eyes, but will not see what is right in front of them, and ears, but will not hear what is plainly said to them. They will refuse to believe the evidence of their senses when it points to the true God. I have known such people and will continue to pray that God will open their eyes so that they might see His wonderful works and open their ears so that they might hear His commands and be saved.
We have all heard about the danger of coming between a mother bear and her cubs. There is even a very cute video of some people who use a creative method to rescue some cubs caught in a dumpster while avoiding getting attacked by their mother. This proverb tells us that it is even more dangerous to confront a fool when we catch him in his foolish behavior.
The second proverb warns us that if we do evil to those who have done good to us, evil will haunt us for the rest of our days.