March 4, 2024

A Fork in the Road

Altar’d Day 20 

Read: 1 KINGS 18:21–22, 30–39 Elijah went before the people and said, “how long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is god, follow him; but if Baal is god, follow him.” But the people said nothing. then Elijah said to them, “I am the only one of the Lord’s prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets.” . . . then Elijah said to all the people, “Come here to me.” they came to him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord, which had been torn down. Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, “Your name shall be Israel.” with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seas of seed. he arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. then he said to them, “Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood.” “do it again,” he said, and they did it again. “Do it a third time,” he ordered, and they did it the third time. the water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench. At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “Lord, the god of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are god in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are god, and that you are turning their hearts back again.” Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench. When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “the Lord—he is god! the Lord—he is god!”

CONSIDER THIS
In Elijah’s altar story, he is called to not only draw God’s people back to faithfulness, but he also has to confront an evil king. As a prophet, Elijah had to stand up against opposition, and in this conflict, we learn the power of surrendering worry. In the book of 1 Kings, the prophet Elijah had a calling from God to speak against the unfaithful and idolatrous King Ahab so he set up a challenge. Ahab had built altars to the idol Baal and Scriptures describe him as doing “more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him” (1 Kings 16:30). At the same time, the Israelite people had become afraid and failed to stay faithful to God allowing the Lord’s altars to become torn down. However, Elijah, even in the face of a king who wanted to kill him, trusted God, had the courage to believe in His power, and created a head-to-head competition with Baal. After Elijah restored the Lord’s altar, he threw down the
challenge flag and offered Ahab’s team a handicap to make it more interesting by pouring water on the wood for the Lord’s altar. Despite the added barriers, the Lord proved Himself worthy of their trust as He consumed the sacrifice.

This was a long passage but place yourself in the story. If you had been Elijah, would you have worried? Would you have been concerned about the outcome and what everyone would think if God didn’t come through? How did Elijah surrender the temptation to worry and lean into the trust he had in God? Worry manifests when we play out the negative potential outcomes in our minds. When we worry, we forget about God’s past provisions and His past victories. When we worry, we allow the enemy to convince us that God is not true to His character, that He is not faithful or able to direct our future. When we surrender our worry, we can be like Elijah who believed God did it before and He can do it again.

Why do you think Elijah called all the people to watch what would happen? I believe it was because Elijah knew the people were carrying an invisible burden of worry. They had become unfaithful in their devotion to God and had been swept up by the idolatrous culture. The farther they went from God, the greater the pull of the enemy. Elijah knew their hearts and knew that God wanted to draw them back to Himself. Elijah trusted God to act because he had seen the miracles of God in the past.

In the same way, Jesus knows the worries we carry in our hearts today. He sees us being swept up by a culture that tells us we have to rely only on ourselves because the world is crumbling around us. He knows that we have short memories for the blessings we have been given and the ways we’ve seen God at work in our lives. Jesus reminded the disciples who had been witness to many miracles and walked closely with Him, “Let not your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me” (John 14:1). Perhaps that is our goal today, to reflect on the troubles of our heart. I believe God wants to turn your heart back to Him today by reminding you of what He has done. Where have you seen God’s faithfulness before? Can you lay down your worries today because of God’s goodness in the past?

THE PRAYER
Lord, we know we do not have to worry about the outcome of anything You call us to, we only need to be obedient. Let our trust in You lead us to be bold witnesses so others can experience You. Amen.