June 11th

Today's reading from the One Year Bible Chronological Reading Plan is 1 Kings 17:8-20:22.

There are numerous commentaries available for this passage on bible.org both by Bob Deffinbaugh and J Hampton Keathley.

I absolutely love this passage! It has everything - private miracles, public miracles, doubts, wavering faith, despair, repentence, God's presence - everything!

The showdown between God and Baal is probably my favourite portion of today's reading, so I did read the commentary on this section by Bob Deffinbaugh (Keathley had about 4 sermons on this, so I didn't read them all!) and it had some excellent points.

First though, I found the conversation between Ahab and Elijah to be quite humourous.

When he (Ahab) saw Elijah, he said to him, "Is that you, you troubler of Israel?" "I have not made trouble for Israel," Elijah replied. "But you and your father's family have. You have abandoned the Lord's commands and have followed the Baals." 1 Kings 18:17-18

It reminds of my kids. One time Olivia and I were walking up some stairs side by side and she tripped and fell and angrily said "MOM! You made me fall!" Seriously? I made you fall?! Right.

And that's what this reminds me of. Like a petulant 4 yr old, Ahab is blaming Elijah for his own sins and the resulting consequences. And Elijah replies exactly like a parent would. No. You made a bad choice and are suffering the consequences of your bad decision.

Anyway, on to the showdown.

First of all, the reason this type of showdown was chosen was because Baal was supposedly the god of the weather. And yet it had not rained for over 3 yrs because God said so through His prophet Elijah. God controls the weather, not Baal. And God will prove so again in the fire showdown.

We know the story, the prophets of Baal - all 450 of them - are praying fervently for Baal to light their offering on fire. Elijah taunts them and they pray even more fervently, maniacally even - cutting themselves and pretty much going crazy trying to get their god to listen to them. In the meantime Elijah is calmly repairing the altar with 12 stones (not 10, even though the kingdom was divided), adding water on the altar 3 times, making it "impossible". Love it! There is no such thing as impossible with God. And then Elijah prays, a simple, straightforward prayer with no pomp and circumstance - and God answers, decisively! EVERYTHING is burned up. And the people react exactly as they should - they fall to their knees in worship and repentence. Elijah commands them to execute the false prophets (as the law required) and they did so.

The people were suffering the consequences of their sin. Withholding rain was one of the consequences mentioned earlier in the OT. When Elijah prayed he prayed that the Israelites would know that God was the one true God, that they would repent, and that they would know that God had brought them back to repentence. As always, God was seeking them. He never gave up on the Israelites. And He never gives up on me and you.

An interesting point the commentary brought up that I hadn't noticed before. Ahab and Solomon actually committed similar sins. The only difference was in the severity of them. Ahab married a Sidonian, so did Solomon. Ahab built an altar to his wife's foreign god, so did Solomon. Ahab worshipped this foreign god, so did Solomon.
Our actions—or more pointedly, our sins—have an impact on others. Solomon’s sin seems to have set a precedent for Ahab’s sin. Ahab’s sins certainly had an impact on the nation. The sins of a leader do impact the people he leads.

Bob Deffinbaugh also brings up prayer and some common misconceptions about prayer amongst Chrsitians.
Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone in good spirits? Let him sing praises. Is anyone among you ill? Let him summon the elders of the church, and let them pray for him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. So confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great effectiveness. Elijah was a human being like us, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain and there was no rain on the land for three years and six months! Then he prayed again, and the sky gave rain and the land sprouted forth with a harvest James 5:13-18 (emphasis mine)

If Elijah is an example of a prayer warrior, then I would encourage you to consider the implications. Is God prompted by the number of those who pray? James tells us what Elijah exemplifies, namely that the prayer of one saint has great effectiveness. Jesus said that if two agree on anything in prayer it will be done (Matthew 18:19). Why is it that we think we have to amass large numbers of people to pray in order for God to hear and to answer us? Why is it that we place so much emphasis on ourselves, on the number of us who pray, and on the fervent manner? I fear that it is because we think we can manipulate God.

Having said this, I know that I may have upset you. What about “concerts of prayer”? What about encouraging groups of people to pray in large groups? I’m all for it, so long as we do not think that God will be impressed with our numbers, and that how we pray, or how many pray is what determines whether or not God will answer us.......

I delight to see saints gather together for prayer, and much more should be done. It is a beautiful thing for the saints of a city to gather for prayer in a large facility like a stadium, but let us not ever suppose that the prayer of one person is of little value. Elijah prayed. It was a short prayer. It was, by all appearances, not a fervent (dramatic, like the 450 prophets) prayer. But it was a prayer that was according to the will and Word of God. It only takes one such prayer, though others would surely have been blessed to participate.

And then right at the end of the commentary he said something that really struck me.
when God does intend to do something, He first pours water on it, He brings unexpected difficulties and obstacles, so that it will be more than evident that it was His doing, and not ours. Are there difficulties in your life, my friend? Maybe they are just water on the altar. What God chooses to accomplish, He often purposes to accomplish as something that is humanly impossible. As someone has said, “I love the word impossible.” (emphasis mine)

I love that phrase - water on the altar. Abraham and Sarah's age was water on the altar to God's promise that they would have a child. The Red Sea was water on the altar to the Israelites as they fled from Egypt. When Jesus learned that Lazarus was sick, He waited until he was dead - water on the altar.

Water on the altar makes it humanly impossible. Water on the altar makes it crystal clear that all the glory goes to God.

I want to be able to pray "Lord, put water on my altar that You may be glorified!"

Tomorrow's passage: 1 Kings 20:23-22:9, 2 Chronicles 18:1-8