The God of Relationship
Scripture: 1 Kings 17:36-39
"36 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,[e] prove today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant. Prove that I have done all this at your command. 37 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. 38 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! 39 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!”
Observations:
This is probably one of the coolest Bible stories of all time. God's people were led away from Him by evil King Ahab who worshiped the false gods Baal and Asherah (the god and goddess of storms and fertility). Ironically, Israel's God (the one true God) withholds rain from the land for 3 years in hopes of getting their attention, forcing them to recognize Him once again as the one true God. The prophet Elijah finally confronts Ahab in an all out public contest where all the people would once and for all decide which God they would acknowledge as the one true God. Obviously, the God of Israel wins the contest by answering with fire from heaven while the false god Baal is a no-show, and then finally, the people of Israel recognize the error of their ways and once again return to the Lord. This story makes you wonder, why all the theatrics? Just let the people starve a little while longer and eventually they'll get it right? Maybe. We tend to think this story is primarily about God's judgment against sin and idol worship (and it does serve that purpose). But God had a much larger goal that day than just flexing His muscles and crushing a few pagans. Scripture says that God stepped in and revealed Himself once again and demonstrated His power in direct response to Elijah's prayer in vs. 37 "Answer me so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God and that you have brought them back to yourself."
Application:
God reveals His glory and power not to show off, but to bring people back into relationship with Himself. God has nothing to prove. He's on a mission to redeem people. He doesn't have to; He wants to! He's willing to go the extra mile and break into our lives in ways we never would have expected simply to turn us from our sins and restore us back to a right relationship with Him. God's not sitting up in heaven in anxiously fretting in holy frustration over the world's sin so much as He is agonizing over how sin is keeping the very people He created from knowing and worshiping Him. Somehow it's easier to focus on God's power, His judgment, how much He hates sin and how angry He is that people aren't following Him than it is to grasp how much infinitely more He desires relationship with people (even the worst of us). God's not threatened by sin or insecure about the "competition", but more than anything He wants people to know Him.
Prayer:
Daily Bible Reading Plan
"36 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,[e] prove today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant. Prove that I have done all this at your command. 37 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. 38 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! 39 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!”
Observations:
This is probably one of the coolest Bible stories of all time. God's people were led away from Him by evil King Ahab who worshiped the false gods Baal and Asherah (the god and goddess of storms and fertility). Ironically, Israel's God (the one true God) withholds rain from the land for 3 years in hopes of getting their attention, forcing them to recognize Him once again as the one true God. The prophet Elijah finally confronts Ahab in an all out public contest where all the people would once and for all decide which God they would acknowledge as the one true God. Obviously, the God of Israel wins the contest by answering with fire from heaven while the false god Baal is a no-show, and then finally, the people of Israel recognize the error of their ways and once again return to the Lord. This story makes you wonder, why all the theatrics? Just let the people starve a little while longer and eventually they'll get it right? Maybe. We tend to think this story is primarily about God's judgment against sin and idol worship (and it does serve that purpose). But God had a much larger goal that day than just flexing His muscles and crushing a few pagans. Scripture says that God stepped in and revealed Himself once again and demonstrated His power in direct response to Elijah's prayer in vs. 37 "Answer me so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God and that you have brought them back to yourself."
Application:
God reveals His glory and power not to show off, but to bring people back into relationship with Himself. God has nothing to prove. He's on a mission to redeem people. He doesn't have to; He wants to! He's willing to go the extra mile and break into our lives in ways we never would have expected simply to turn us from our sins and restore us back to a right relationship with Him. God's not sitting up in heaven in anxiously fretting in holy frustration over the world's sin so much as He is agonizing over how sin is keeping the very people He created from knowing and worshiping Him. Somehow it's easier to focus on God's power, His judgment, how much He hates sin and how angry He is that people aren't following Him than it is to grasp how much infinitely more He desires relationship with people (even the worst of us). God's not threatened by sin or insecure about the "competition", but more than anything He wants people to know Him.
Prayer:
Daily Bible Reading Plan
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