Who doesn’t love a BBQ?!!
You can always tell if someone in your neighbourhood is having a BBQ by the SMELL!
Hold that thought as we continue the story of Elijah from 1 Kings chapter 18
The Elijah story continues….
Several years went by and it still hadn’t rained! People and animals were hungry because there was hardly any food.
Finally God told Elijah it was time to go back to King Ahab.
When King Ahab saw Elijah he said, “So there you are—the worst troublemaker in Israel!”
Elijah said to him, “I’m not the troublemaker - you are, for disobeying God and worshipping idols.”
Elijah told King Ahab and Queen Jezebel to call the people and the ‘prophets’ of their idols and to meet him at Mt Carmel.
When they got there Elijah said to the people, “How much longer will it take you to make up your minds? If the Lord is God, worship him; but if Baal is God, worship him!”
Elijah’s challenge
The prophets of Baal and Elijah were each going to prepare to sacrifice a bull to their God. Elijah told the prophets of Baal to go first. They had to make an altar out of stones first, then put wood on it, then the chopped up bull on the top.
BUT… they were not allowed to light the fire!
They had to pray to their God to send fire to burn the sacrifice.
What do you think happened?
The prophets of Baal prayed and danced and shouted, and NOTHING happened!
So it was Elijah’s turn.
He prepared his sacrifice and then he asked some people to pour water over the top of it - heaps of water!
Then Elijah prayed. (you could read this prayer in 1 Kings chapter 18 verses 36 & 37)
What do you think happened now?
The Lord sent fire down, and it burned up the sacrifice, the wood, and the stones, scorched the earth and dried up the water in the trench. When the people saw this, they threw themselves on the ground and exclaimed, “The Lord is God; the Lord alone is God!”
We will find out what happened next... next week!
Things to think about:
Sacrifices smell good to God! (see Exodus chapter 29)
We can praise and worship God as our sacrifice to him (Hebrews ch 13 v 15)
