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Hello my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
So…when is the last time there was a genuine opportunity for God to demonstrate His unique power in a crisis situation in your part of the world? Maybe it was a private but powerful encounter between you and Jesus at just the right time, when you needed a miracle in your life. Maybe it was a jaw dropping, eye popping, stunning miracle, and with hundreds, maybe thousands of eye witnesses, most of whom were skeptical about God?
Let’s join the old prophet Elijah, and king Ahab and 850 false prophets, and thousands of skeptical Jewish spectators, including many of the leaders of Israel, all on the top of Mount Carmel. Off to the west, on a clear day, you can easily see the Mediterranean Sea. Spread out below is the valley of Megiddo (Armageddon). Off in the distance, Mount Tabor and over there, in the far distance, the town of Nazareth.
Let Elijah explain to us what brought all these people here on this day: “…king Ahab met Elijah and said ‘Is that you, you troubler of Israel?’ But Elijah replied, ‘I have not made trouble for Israel, but you and your father’s family have. You have abandoned the LORD’s commands and followed the Baals. Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. And bring the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel’s table.’
So Ahab sent word throughout Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. Elijah stood before the people and shouted “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him, but if Baal is god, then follow him. But the people said nothing.” (I Kings 18:17-21)
Can you put yourself in the crowd my friends? These were desperate times, not unlike what it’s been all around our world in 2020. It had been 3 years since a drop of rain had fallen anywhere in greater Palestine. Likely, if you had any animals, they’ve long since died. Perhaps even some people in your extended family have died in the famine resulting from the horrific drought. Proper worship of the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, Samuel, David…the God of Israel, had dwindled to virtually nothing in Jerusalem. Idols of all kinds were on almost every street corner in Jerusalem, and everyone knew king Ahab and queen Jezebel wished the Name and worship of Jehovah God would be eliminated from Israel. It was a dreadful time to be alive in Israel, especially if you believed in and were still a worshiper of God.
Two bulls for sacrificing… one for old, stubborn Elijah, and one for the 850 prophets of Baal and Asherah. Two freshly built altars, piled high with dry wood. The challenge is given by Elijah: “…you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the LORD. The god who answers by fire, He is the true God.” Go ahead my friends, read 1 Kings 18. It is amazing! All day the false Baal and Asherah prophets cried out to their supposed gods, even cutting themselves with their knives till their own blood flowed. But nothing… no response of any kind, the gods were silent!
Finally, late in the day, Elijah not only cut up his bull for sacrifice, and placed it on his altar, he dug a trench around his altar and from the small creek at the base of Mount Carmel they carried enough water to soak the sacrifice, the wood, and fill the trench… and then Elijah lifted his arms toward heaven and prayed in a loud voice: “O LORD God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am Your servant, and I have done all these things at Your command. Answer me, O LORD, so these people will know that You, O LORD, are God and that You are turning their hearts back again.“
What a powerful moment. Everyone held their breath… everything was on the line. If nothing happens, old Elijah is a dead man. Stand there my friends and look around… at the dry wasteland that hasn’t tasted rain in 3 years. Look at the desperation, the confusion in the eyes of dejected people and their leaders who have so badly failed them and led them away from the God of Israel, who so many times in the past had done the spectacular, the miraculous, for His people. Israel was now nothing like those great days of the past. Israel was in desperation and near anarchy. Can you feel the despair? Look around where-ever you live in our world. . . it’s very similar today, isn’t it?
But wait a minute. God hasn’t changed, and God is always listening, always looking to see and hear if there are a few voices calling upon Him, for help in desperate times. Listen… do you hear thunder, do you see lightning? Look at 1 Kings 18:38!
“Then the fire of the LORD fell from heaven and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and even the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench! When all the people saw this they fell prostrate and cried “The LORD, He is God!” (1 Kings 18:38)
What will it take in our day, my friends, where-ever you live in the world, for the power of God to be seen so dramatically that repentance and revival happens, maybe starting in your life, then in people young and old, affluent and poor, the influential, the leaders, maybe even the media!! People all bowing in submission to Jesus Christ, the Sovereign Savior who holds all our lives, our nations, and our world in His hands?
Do you notice Elijah saw himself as a servant of God, willing to do and say whatever God told him to do and say, even at the risk of his life? Could it be God is waiting for that level of courage in us His people? Is there anyplace in our world, where God’s people will lead the way now, in our day… and worship, calling upon God to do something spectacular, miraculous in the face of COVID-19? Or might we soon find the rain may stop falling, as God sees Coronavirus has not yet brought your part of the world or mine to its knees?
Or maybe, rather than a drought, God will allow COVID-19 to mutate, over and over, so no matter how many vaccines the scientists develop, they are ineffective because the virus changes faster than vaccines can be produced? And all the while God waits. . .for skeptical, desperate people to turn from their wicked ways, and call upon God. And God watches His people, in every nation, waiting to see what WE will do, my friends. Is it time for us, God’s people, to find our altars… not altars of stone stacked with wood and with bulls or goats or other animals, but altars of repentant hearts. Remember what David wrote in Psalm 51:17 “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit’ a broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.”
Read the rest of 1 Kings 18 and see how God sent rain, lots of rain, and Elijah dealt with those wicked prophets of Baal who had led the people so far from God. Read how God empowered an old prophet to run like the wind, even faster than Ahab’s chariot, ahead of the rain. Then, if you have time this weekend, read on into 1 Kings 19 and let old Elijah tell you how he traveled 40 days, energized by God’s provision, running from Jezebel who threatened to kill him. And finally, there, on the same mountain where Moses had met with God centuries before, old Elijah and God have the rendezvous that put it all into perspective for Elijah. God could see the future that Elijah couldn’t see. God had a plan. God knew there were many others, whom Elijah didn’t know about, who had remained faithful and true to God in a very difficult time in Israel.
Friends, I urge you to find some time this first weekend in August… find a mountain top, or just a quiet place, a place for your altar encounter with God. Let Elijah tell you his story, and then I urge you to meet with Jesus, and gain HIS perspective about this historic time in our world. Invite Him once again to be LORD over every aspect of your life… all that you are and all that you could be. Ask Jesus to show you what He wants YOU to do in these desperate days for His glory. And invite Him to lead you from this weekend into these next weeks, with your heart and soul restored, with a Holy Spirit freshness, that could embolden you to be an Elijah in your part of the world!
Here’s a special song that might help you worship in this moment. . .
Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Click to read today’s chapter: I Kings 18; I Kings 19. (At the top you can choose a different translation.)
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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