Showdown at Mt. Carmel

1 Kings 18:20-39

Elijah appears on the scene for the first time in I Kings 17, when he tells King Ahab (married to Queen Jezebel, one of the most wicked women in scripture) that God will punish his kingdom with a drought. Three years pass with not a drop of rain.  And in the meantime, Ahab has allowed Jezebel to set up statues to worship the false god, Baal, and many in the kingdom have abandoned God in favor of Baal.

Today's scripture is the 'showdown at Mt. Carmel.'  Elijah challenges Baal's prophets to produce rain.  All 450 Baal prophets meet at Mt. Carmel, alongside Elijah, the lone representative of the one true God.  The Baal prophets spend the entire day sacrificing to Baal, pleading with him to show his power.  Elijah mocks them:

"Shout louder?  Surely he is a god!  Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened." (v. 25). 

Nothing happens.  Baal is silent. The people are assembled -can you imagine what they must be thinking?

Then Elijah has a turn.  He digs a trench around the altar,  and has servants pour water all over the wood, saturating it.  Then he prays to God, in front of all the people and the prophets of Baal, who have begged and entreated their god to show his power:

"O Lord, 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, O Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again." (vs. 36-37).

And immediately 'the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil.'  Soon, after, the heavens opened and the rains came. 

So which God did the people serve?  The god of Baal who didn't answer them?  Or the one true God? 

The Psalmist describes a false God vividly in Psalm 115:

But their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men.
They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but they cannot see;
they have ears, but cannot hear, noses, but they cannot smell
they have hands, but cannot feel, feet, but they cannot walk, nor can they utter a sound with their throats. 
Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them. (115:4-8).

The nation of Israel had to choose between false gods and Yahweh, the God of the universe, the one true God.  It is the same for us today.  Who will it be?  Trust in the Lord with all your might, do not lean on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.  (Proverbs 3:5-6)