The story of the prophet Elijah is a fascinating account of the power of God in action. We thrill when we hear about Elijah standing tall before King Ahab, the priest of Baal, and the wayward people of Israel. About how he prayed and the fire of God fell from Heaven.
Let’s read from Gods word!
1 Kings 17:8-16
King James Version
8 And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying,
9 Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.
10 So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering of sticks: and he called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.
11 And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand.
12 And she said, As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.
13 And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son.
14 For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth.
15 And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days.
16 And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Elijah.
Let me remind you of some of the events of that special day on Mt. Carmel. The nation of Israel had turned their backs on the Lord. They followed the god Baal, who was the deity worshipped by Ahab’s Queen, Jezebel. On Mt. Carmel, Elijah challenged the 450 priests of Baal to a showdown. He said they would pray and the God who answered by fire would be the God of Israel. The people agreed, the king agreed, and the priests of Baal agreed. The showdown commenced.
The priests of Baal prayed all day and nothing happened. Baal did not answer. No fire fell. The priests of Baal gave up in frustration. It was Elijah’s turn to call on the Lord God Almighty.
In preparation for his prayer Elijah, gave a command for a trench to be dug around the altar, and for twelve barrels of water to be poured over the sacrifice and the wood on the altar. When this was done, Elijah stepped up, prayed a short prayer, and the fire of God fell on the mountain. In 1 Kings 18:38 the Bible says, “Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.” When the people of Israel saw this miracle, “they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God,” 1 Kings 18:39. Elijah took the priests of Ball to the brook Kishon and killed all 450 of them.
I think you would agree that this was a mighty display of the power of God. Elijah was the conduit through which that power flowed that day. He was God’s man, doing God’s work, in a big way. But, it wasn’t always that way! Elijah did not just wake up that morning and head to that mountain to do what he did. Elijah wound up on that mountain because he had been prepared through a series of hopeless situations.
