Elijah The Cool Prophet

The story of Elijah, prophet of God, vs the 400 prophets of Baal tickles me, I have to admit. I just read it again today. (It's in 1 Kings.) Plus I found a lesson I had not noticed before. Anyway the story goes like this: Elijah is sick of everyone worshiping Baal, who doesn't even exist, and forgetting all about the real God who they should know very well by now, since He has saved them over and over again. He decides to settle the matter once and for all and orders two bulls to be brought. He orders them both cut in pieces and laid on two different altars - one is the altar of the false god Baal, and the other is the altar of the Lord God. He tells them not to lay fire to either one, but each "side " is to appeal to their god to send fire upon their altar. On one side is the 400 prophets of Baal, and on the other, representing God, just Elijah alone. So the prophets of Baal go first. These guys dance around the altar and chant and cry out and carry on, and start cutting themselves till blood is gushing everywhere until finally they're just barely limping around. This goes on from morning, past noon, and on into the afternoon. Nothing happens. Not a flicker, not a spark.

Now this is where I begin to get a kick. Elijah starts taunting these fools while they're all knocking themselves out. He says, "Go on, keep on shouting. Maybe your god can't hear you because he's asleep. Or maybe he's on a trip. Or maybe he's relieving himself." HOO BOY. What an insult! He's suggesting that maybe the great god Baal can't come right now because he's busy going to the bathroom!

Well, after all this ranting and raving, they're exhausted and nothing has happened. Nada. Now it's Elijah's turn.

What he does next would be considered just plain cocky if he were about to take credit for what's about to happen. But it's not cockiness, it's absolute confidence in God that prompts him to do what he does. He carefully builds his altar to God with twelve stones representing the twelve tribes of Israel, then he digs a big trench around it, puts wood on the altar and lays the pieces of bull on top. Then, to really drive home his point, he orders the whole altar, bull and all, doused with four jugs of water. (I'm pretty sure these are big jugs.) Then he says "Do it again." Then he says, "Do it again." Until the whole thing is drenched and the trench around it is filled. Yeah, let's make this really difficult. Then he speaks a few brief words to God in the hearing of the people. He entreats God to answer him so that the people may know once and for all who the real God is. Without doubt.

In the next instant fire comes down from the sky and consumes the bull, the wood, and licks up all the water in the trench. Okee dokee. All done.

I love it.

But there's more, and here's the part I never really thought about before. After this magnificent display of the power of almighty God, Elijah heads up to Mt. Carmel and bows down to the ground, putting his face between his knees. Now I should tell you here that there has been no rain for three years. And God has now told Elijah that He would send rain on the land. A little encore to the altar spectacle. So here's Elijah, face between his knees on the top of Mt. Carmel. He tells his servant "Go up and look at the sea." The servant does so and tells Elijah there's nothing to report. Elijah tells him to go back and look again. Still nothing. He orders his servant to look SEVEN TIMES and finally the servant comes back and tells him he sees a tiny cloud forming way out over the sea, "the size of a man's hand". This little cloud grows and grows and gets darker and darker and fills the sky and sure enough, it rains.

Now here's the part I find interesting. In the first instance, at the altar, it takes just a moment for the results of Elijah's entreaty to God. Fire zooms out of the sky instantly. But right afterward, on the mountain, it takes seven times of going and looking to finally see a small cloud forming. It's the second part that gives me the greater lesson. Sometimes prayer is NOT answered instantly. In fact, most times it's not. But that doesn't mean it won't be answered eventually. In God's time.

Don't give up the prayer.
Don't give up praying. and don't let your faith waiver. Keep praying, and keep looking for the answer.
Just don't lose faith.
Keep praying.
Keep looking.

This God Thing

My life didn't amount to much until I put God in the center of it. I misbehaved for much of my life, always hoping I was fooling people with a nice-girl front. And I did fool some people. The truth is, I did want to be a nice girl, but kept doing stuff. I suppose my bad behavior was a freckle compared with the melanoma of today's celebrity brats. And not quite as public. Still, bad is bad. And who did I hurt? Mostly me. And I know I was a big disappointment to God. He had given me so much to work with. I frittered it away time and again. But I don't want to dwell on that. First of all it hurts. But besides that, it's way behind me. I've been forgiven for it and in return for this undeserved favor, I owe it to God to forgive myself and look always to the light. How do I know I'm forgiven? People who are not familiar with Jesus and the things he said often ask this question. How do you know you're forgiven? But when you begin to read the Bible, read about this Son of God, history's greatest gift to man, you learn that you're forgiven when you ask to be. And when, for whatever reason and under whatever circumstance, you finally get it that Jesus was the real deal and Life begins when you ask Him to enter in, then you know by what means you're forgiven. And what a relief!

So here I am, with a clean slate. I was actually about 38 when I gave up trying to figure out how to straighten up my messed-up self and finally just got down on my knees (yeah, I actually did that. Felt a little foolish, but it seemed like the thing to do) and not knowing how this was going to work, did what I'd read you can do and just plain old asked Jesus to come. Take over. I give up. And it worked. What da ya know? No big flash, no big vision, no fainting, no noticeable change at that moment, but soon, and very soon indeed, things did begin to change. Like a big giant knot being magically untied, one thing after another got better. Mostly I got better. But circumstances around me literally began to improve as well. As time went on, one miracle after another not only kept me afloat, they taught me to walk on water. So to speak.


So here I am at 55 so deeply grateful for this undeserved favor that is called "grace". One thing I know. God will never leave me. And neither will Christ. He said, "I am with you always, even unto the end of the age." Well, I'm not sure exactly what "the age" is, or how long it lasts, but it sure sounds comforting to me.