” 36. And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word. 37. Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the LORD God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again. 38. Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. 39. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God.”
In this context of scripture we find ourselves in a three and a half year drought. The nation of Israel has been divided and Ahab is the king over Israel(10 northern tribes). Ahab was not a good king, we find this in I Kings 15:30 “And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD above all that were before him.” Through the leading of the Lord, Elijah gives very clear instruction to king Ahab that it will not rain again until he tells him it will happen. This turns into three years and six months according to the book of James. Its important to know that when God’s people turn to their own ways, its certain, that God’s wrath and chastisement will follow. Elijah goes into hiding during this time and God does some great things to take care of him. As the drought nears the end, we find ourselves in the main context of today’s verse. Elijah has just told Ahab and the people of Israel to gather up their false prophets(450) and pray to their god for fire to fall down upon the alter on their sacrifice. When their gods don’t answer, the false prophets turn to a fit of rage by breaking down their altar, but also begin cutting themselves with knives. Elijah does something very different for the sacrifice he was offering to his God, he told the people to fill barrels of water and dump it on the sacrifice he was about to offer up. They did this multiple times causing a trench to fill up as well! Now give your attention to vs 36 near the end, notice how Elijah responds “…and I have done all these things at thy word.” Elijah was very faithful to what God told him to do concerning this sacrifice. Its seems that too many times God’s own children wont experience His Almighty Power because they refuse to listen to God’s Word. How is your walk with God today? Have you ever watched God do things that would cause you to say “only God could have done that.” God wants to show up in your life in a big way, but you must be faithful to His Word. Many times we are like Israel in this passage of scripture. False gods are always the problem, you may not bow down to a statue, but what is hunting in your life? What is fishing? Football games, or even a job? We allow many things to take place in our lives over the Word of God, over going to church, over soul winning, or giving to missionaries. The devil want you to worship the world and material gain. As a result, the only moving of God we see, is through chastisement and suffering. There could be difficult things in your life right now because you have not been faithful to the Lord like you should be. There is good news, God will forgive you and be there to help you turn around! Its easy to say, “be like Elijah.” That wouldn’t make much sense because Elijah was a sinful man. Be like Jesus Christ and you will see God do things in your life, just like He did with Elijah. After God brought fire down from heaven, the people wiped out all the false prophets. God then brought a great rain back to the land. Are you following God today? Are you following his Word? Famine is not fun, but God’s faithfulness will show you great and mighty things. Jeremiah 33:3 “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.” God used Elijah to show His power, but remember it was not for Elijah’s edification, it was for God’s. There are many people away from the Lord today, God wants to use you to draw all men back to Him!
Read I Kings 16-18 for the full details of this story! Start toward the end of chapter 16.
Memory Verse Week 2/17/19
Jeremiah 33:3
“Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.”
