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1 Kings 18:36-39, At the usual time for offering the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet walked up to the altar and prayed, “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,] prove today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant. Prove that I have done all this at your command. O Lord, answer me! Answer me so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God and that you have brought them back to yourself.”

Immediately the fire of the Lord flashed down from heaven and burned up the young bull, the wood, the stones, and the dust. It even licked up all the water in the trench!  And when all the people saw it, they fell face down on the ground and cried out, “The Lord—he is God! Yes, the Lord is God!”

God has called Elijah to come face to face with King Ahab once again.  Times are tense – the drought is severe; animals and people are dying.  Ahab blames Elijah for Israel’s trouble.  Afterall, in Ahab’s mind, Elijah has offended Baal (the Canaanite god of rain) and that is why the rain has stopped. Elijah, amazingly brave and solid, denies Ahab’s claim and turns it around – it’s actually Ahab’s fault because he has been so disobedient to the Lord, Yahweh, and it is he who is in charge of the rain. 

What’s interesting to me is that Ahab and the people of Israel were still worshiping Yahweh, but they also were the worshiping Canaanite gods of Baal and Asherah.  Elijah is tasked with challenging Ahab on this issue.  The king can’t have it both ways; it’s time to choose.  Will he choose the one true God OR the Canaanite gods?  Verse 21 is quite powerful, Then Elijah stood in front of them and said, “How much longer will you waver, hobbling between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him! But if Baal is God, then follow him!” But the people were completely silent.

Elijah then proposes a contest to demonstrate who is really God – is it Baal or Yahweh? The prophets of Baal spent hours calling on Baal to light the altar, complete with dead bull and wood, on fire.  They dance around it, then begin to cut themselves and allow their own blood to be shed, begging Baal to respond.  Not surprisingly, Baal is silent.  But when Elijah calls on Yahweh, the one true God, to light the altar (bull, wood, twelve stones to represent the tribes of Israel, and lots of water), God demonstrates his power in an awesome way.  Everything is consumed in flames and the water is quickly soaked up.  It’s only then that the people acknowledge that the Lord is God.

We may think that we’ve far removed from Ahab and the people of Israel during Elijah’s day.  Granted, we probably aren’t bowing down to Baal and worshiping Asherah.  But the reality is that we try to serve Yahweh along with other gods as well.  What other gods vie for attention in your life?  Money, power, jobs, family, boats, campers, travel, food, exercise, retirement plans, golf, you get the idea.  There are so many things that we put before God or at least on the same level.  We may think this is harmless but it is insidiously dangerous.  What have you allowed to creep into your life and take on the same level of importance as worship, as ministry, as mission, as Scripture, as tithe, as God?

Let’s pray…Lord Jesus, Forgive us for all the things that get in the way of our relationship with you.  We need you, Lord.  On our own, we mess up over and over again.  Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.  More of you and less of me.  In Your Name, Amen.