Read Through the Bible in a Year 2018 Day 109: Elijah's Challenge

Good morning, everyone!

Today I read 1 Kings 18-20.

And today I'll be talking about my favorite part of Elijah's story: Elijah challenges the prophets of Baal and Asherah.

So, Elijah goes to King Ahab (who was a very wicked man; married to Jezebel), from whom he had fled so as not to lose his life. And then Elijah issues a challenge. Bring 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah.

1 Kings 18:22-24 Then Elijah said to the people [of Israel] "I alone am left a prophet of the LORD, but Baal's prophets are 450 men. Now let them give us two oxen; and let them choose one ox for themselves and cut it up, and place it on the wood, but put no fire under it; and I will prepare the other ox and lay it on the wood, and I will not put a fire under it. Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the LORD, and the God who answers by fire, He is God." And all the people said "That is a good idea."


So Elijah let the prophets of Baal go first. They cut up the ox, placed it on the wood, and lit no fire. Then they called upon their gods, leaped and danced around their altar. For hours. From morning until noon, they did so.


But nothing happened.

Now, this part makes me laugh.

1 Kings 18:27 It came about at noon, that Elijah mocked them and said "Call out with a loud voice, for he is a god; either he is occupied or gone aside, or is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and needs to be awakened."

And the prophets of Baal heard him and cried even louder, in case their god could not hear them.

Now, this makes me laugh for a couple reasons. First, these are the prophets who serve Jezebel, who wanted to put Elijah to death just for serving God. But God delivered him. And the second reason is because God, the Living God, never sleeps, needs rest, or goes anywhere like the gods people have created. See, when people create a god, they make them human so they can understand them better.

We may not always understand everything about God, but He never sleeps, never falters, and never fails.

So, Elijah mocks them a little and they redouble their efforts.

But still, nothing happens.

Then, it is Elijah's turn.

1 Kings 18:31-35 Then Elijah said to all the people, "Come near to me." So all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD which had been torn down. Elijah took twelve stones according to the number of the tribes of Israel...So with the twelve stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD, and he made a trench around the altar, large enough to hold two measures of seed. Then he arranged the wood and cut the ox in pieces and laid it on the wood. And he said, "Fill four pitchers 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. The water flowed around the altar and he also filled the trench with water.

So, the prophets of Baal could not even get their god to light a fire on dry wood.

But watch what happens when Elijah prays to the one true God.

1 Kings 18:36-39 At the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet came near and said "O LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, today let it be known that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and I have done all these things at Your word. Answer me, O LORD, answer me, that this people may know that You, O LORD, are God, and that You have turned their heart back again." 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. When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said "The LORD, He is God; the LORD, He is God."

So, not only did God send fire down, God's holy fire consumed a wet offering, wet wood, wet stones, and all the water in the trench.


Did you catch that part? God's fire consumed everything on that altar.

How powerful is that? How mighty is our God?

This is my favorite part of Elijah's story. And it's not even really about Elijah. But isn't that the best kind of story? On the surface, it's about a prophet, but underneath, it's all about God, and how mighty He is.

I hope you'll join me tomorrow when I read 1 Kings 21-22.