If God called you to be a prophet, would you answer the call? What if you were the one tasked with turning around an entire society headed for destruction? You would be about as popular as a global pandemic.
At a time when false prophets were the rock stars of the day, Elijah the prophet would be seen as more of a wet blanket, or worse, a play-by-the-rules killjoy. The prophets of Baal got to drive the party bus while Elijah had to tell the people to straighten up and fly right. His popularity took a hit in the polls when he was called to deliver the bad news of a drought. Not only did he declare there would be no rain for several years, but he told king Ahab it would not rain again until he said so.
Now, that is a bold proclamation. One that you would not make without having total faith in the One who gave you that charge. That was Elijah’s super power. Absolute trust that if God said it, consider it done, and the Lord Himself would work out the details.
Elijah demonstrated total obedience to the will of the Lord, regardless of how strange the request. If God asked him to do something, even a thing like approaching a woman and asking her to feed him, that he should obey and let the situation play out. And when God told him to go into hiding and he would be fed by ravens, Elijah did so without questioning.
So he was given a laundry list as long as your arm. With God’s help, of course, Elijah was charged with removing the prophets of Baal and showing their false gods to be powerless.
Add to that putting King Ahab in his place, breaking the sway of Queen Jezebel, tearing down the Asherah poles and most importantly, showing the people that Jehovah is the one true God.
How would you go about breaking the stranglehold of idolatry and idol worship that was all the rage? You’d have to have a foolproof plan, and Elijah knew he would be marked for death if that plan failed. So what makes a plan foolproof and guaranteed to work? Doing what God says to do exactly the way He says to do it.
So Elijah challenged the 450 prophets of Baal to a game of Survivor. A winner-take-all cage match fight to the death in front of a live audience. You can read the story for yourself in 1 Kings 18:20-40.
A brief synopsis of the proposal was that the prophets of Baal would prepare an animal for sacrifice, and pray to their gods for fire to come down and consume the animal. Elijah and team Jehovah would do the same. Whichever sacrifice was consumed by fire from heaven would indicate who was the true God of Israel.
The prophets of Baal began preparing their offering at first light. They worked feverishly, praying for Baal to show himself worthy of their worship. Thousands of man hours by my math, but to no avail.
When evening came and Baal didn’t show, it was Elijah’s turn. Contrast the waste of time and energy of the false prophets to what Elijah did and said. His simple prayer was a few words in Hebrew.
Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.
And the people responded “The Lord, He is God, the Lord, He is God. And the prophets of Baal were seized and put to death. And after having his small part in the miracle, he prayed for rain, with the full expectation that the Lord would answer. As the rains came to end the drought, he did one more thing using his super power of total obedience. He ran from the top of Mt. Carmel to Jezreel and the Kishon Valley ahead of King Ahab’s chariot. That’s basically running a half marathon at sprint speed! All by the power of Almighty God working through him.
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