1-26-2019

Good Morning All,

          1 Kings 18:29; “In the afternoon they continued to rant and rave until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no sound, no answer, no attention given to them.”

    This is probably one of the top five Bible verses for me.    This is from the story of Elijah, God’s great prophet and the priests of the Baal cult.  It occurs during the time of King Ahab and Jezebel the queen.  All the kings of the northern kingdom are wicked and evil and Ahab is the worst.  He has led the people to worship false idols and away from God.  The land is being decimated by a three-year drought and this challenge to see whose God is the real one.

     The challenge is to build an altar and then pray that your god will send down fire to consume the sacrifice.  The 450 Baal priests chant, dance, pray, practice ritualistic self-mutilation and so on all day.  Elijah is standing to the side heckling them.  Yet the prayers of the Baal priests go unanswered and nothing happens; that is when our verse is recorded.  There was no sound, no answer, no attention was given.  What a sad and empty feeling this leaves.

     The is Scriptures warning us about idols which we build.  This isn’t the only place where God warns about worshiping and relying on wood or stone figures for help.  Those items are lifeless images made from the ideas of man’s sinful mind.  This verse points out the greatest danger of idolatry.  It will let you down every time.  When you need the comfort, hope, or encouragement to face the day’s events, you will be met with a deafening silence.  When you cry out, you will hear no sound.  You will receive no comfort, no encouragement; you will have no hope.

    Part of the reason I like this verse is because of the next verse.  We are left with the image of the people of Israel looking at the emptiness of the religion that their evil king has led them.  Many are probably thinking, “we have prayed for three years for rain to a god that does not even exist.”  They are lost.  Elijah doesn’t mock them; he doesn’t say “I told you so” or “you deserve this”.  Rather, in an act as purely Gospel revealing as any, Elijah invites the people to come to him.  He rebuilds the altar of God, he prays and God sends down a consuming fire that burns the offering, the altar and the water poured on it to make it a greater challenge. 

    Even if you have been chasing after the false idols of this world.  Whether it is money, power, fame, drugs, alcohol you know these things will let you down; maybe they already have.  You may feel the emptiness of crying in the night and not being heard, of having no one who cared.  Yet God continues to invite you to rebuild your altar of faith, to return to the Lord and receive his promise of forgiveness, his promise of salvation, his promise of hope and peace.  God invites you back; return to his loving arms, return to experiencing the comfort of his peace.  God hears, God answers and God gives his most prized possession, his only Son as a ransom for you.  Trust his grace to sustain you.

Father of all mercies, turn me from the emptiness of this world and return to your grace.  Restore me with your loving Spirit.  Refresh me with your words of hope.  Comfort me when I suffer.  My hope is only found in you.  In the precious name of Jesus, we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret