Today's Journal

GOD CONTESTS

There is a strong God Contest story in 1 Kings 18 when King Ahab and Jezebel are confronting Elijah, the prophet of God, with the prophets of Baal at Mt. Carmel. They are in a power comparison of the Gods they serve and the contest is to be decided “by fire” coming down and lighting the altars and consuming the bulls prepared for them. The prophets of Baal shout and nothing happens to cause fire to come down. The story gets rather humorous as Elijah begins to ridicule Baal:
“They called on the name of Baal from morning until noontime, shouting, “O Baal, answer us!” But there was no reply of any kind. Then they danced, hobbling around the altar they had made” (1 Kings 18:26). “About noontime Elijah began mocking them. “You’ll have to shout louder,” he scoffed, “for surely he is a god! Perhaps he is daydreaming, or is relieving himself. Or maybe he is away on a trip, or is asleep and needs to be wakened!” (1 Kings 18:27)
After building an altar and drenching it with water three times, Elijah prayed: “At the usual time for offering the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet walked up to the altar and prayed, “O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, prove today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant. Prove that I have done all this at your command. O Lord, answer me! Answer me so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God and that you have brought them back to yourself.” Immediately the fire of the LORD flashed down from heaven and burned up the young bull, the wood, the stones, and the dust. It even licked up all the water in the trench!  And when all the people saw it, they fell face down on the ground and cried out, “The LORD—he is God! Yes, the LORD is God!” (1 Kings 18:36-39)

If we are going to have God Contests, we better know who our God is and we better know who we are.

‘You must worship the LORD your God and serve only him.” Jesus