We are back to look at how we can be like the prophet Elijah. This is based on James when he says Elijah was a man with a nature like ours (James 5:17 ESV). We already saw, based on 1 Kings 17 that in order for Elijah (or for us) to be the person God uses, we must first get alone with God and allow God to develop us, to teach us to trust. Now we want to look at what is probably Elijah’s most well-known stories. The account is found in 1 Kings 18.

Elijah was Dynamic

God speaks to Elijah and calls him to go face King Ahab, one of Ancient Israel’s most heinous kings. Ahab hates Elijah and has blamed Elijah for the drought. Ahab wants Elijah dead, and God tells Elijah to present himself to Ahab. What was the purpose for the confrontation? Elijah wants a showdown. Who is the God of Israel. Elijah invited 450 prophets of Baal to come and present their case, and then Elijah will present his case for the true God Yahweh. He wants Israel to make a choice. You cannot have two gods. There is only one God.

Elijah states the challenge. Build an altar, place a bull upon it and invite your god to consume the altar.  Whichever god consumes the sacrifice will prove himself the one true god. So 450 prophets of Baal erect the alar and begin their religious ceremony. For hours this ceremony went on, and the result is found in verse 29. “And as midday passed, they raved on until the time of the offering of the oblation, but there was no voice. No one answered; no one paid attention.” Baal never even answered.

Elijah then restored the altar of God and prepared his sacrifice. To add to the drama, Elijah drenched the altar with water, and then this is what happened.  “And at the time of the offering of the oblation, Elijah the prophet came near and said, “O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. Answer me, O LORD, answer me, that this people may know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.” Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, “The LORD, he is God; the LORD, he is God.” (vs 36-39)

Yahweh, the one true God completely consumed with fire the water soaked offering, bull, wood, stone and all.

This is probably the one area we all wish we were like Elijah. While we may never be called to challenge a wicked king, 450 false prophets and call down fire from heaven, we will have times to participate in a dynamic ministry. Maybe the better word is public ministry. There will be times we need to take a stand. We are asked to compromise our integrity. Maybe we are pressured to water down our faith a little bit. Perhaps we are seeing some injustice in our neighborhood or workplace. What can I do? How could I ever be like Elijah and stand for truth?

The answer goes back to I Kings 17. Elijah had spent time being developed by God. He had been alone with God and was learning to trust. Elijah had understood his identity in God. God had called him and he knew God was faithful, that he would not be alone. because of this confidence in God he could have a dynamic ministry before God. I do not think Elijah could have faced this challenge if he had not first had the still, quiet time of listening and learning. But we cannot stay is the quiet, isolated place.  True faith is lived in the open, public areas of life where we make small and big decisiosn allthe time.

Yes, we have the same nature as Elijah. We have the same God as Elijah. Our God will also call us to make a choice publicly to demonstrate who is our God. We will all be called to make a stand publicly, to declare our allegiance, to stand for justice, to challenge wrong-doing. And we can do it successfully. If we learn the lessons of Elijah, that we must be developed by God so that we can be dynamic with God.

Next time, we will see that Elijah was Depressed