I Kings 18:29 – The Show Down

And as midday passed, they raved on until the time of the offering of the oblation, but there was no voice. No one answered; no one paid attention.

I Kings 18:29 ESV

The challenge from Elijah was clear: put your false gods against the One True God.

And so, with a royal audience assembled at Mount Carmel under his gaze — King Ahab and all who followed him-the prophet broke bread before an icon of Baal or Asherah to seal their agreement that they would serve no other god but Him.

Here we find God’s prophet,, confronting the wicked  and the priests of the false gods Baal and Asherah.

He said,

“Let two bulls be given to us, and let them choose one bull for themselves and cut it in pieces and lay it on the wood, but put no fire to it…And you call upon the name of your god, and I will call upon the name of the Lord, and the God who answers by fire, he is God.”

I Kings 18:22-24 ESV

The false worshipers raved loudly and passionately from morning to night, but “no one answered; no one paid attention.” The text says they “cut themselves after their custom with swords and lances, until the blood gushed out upon them” (I Kings 18:28).

After all of the commotion, all of the seeming fervency and devotion, even after a day long worship service “there was no voice.” Their gods answered in silence, the only real answer a false god can give.

Elijah prayed, and even though his offering was soaked in water, God sent fire and consumed it. When the people saw it they responded in amazement, “the Lord, he is God; the Lord, he is God.”

A great miracle was performed in front of a thousand people, and Elijah did not try and assert himself as king or leader.

Elijah did not connive to use the Lord’s power for his benefit, but to the Master’s glory.

Live in a way that leaves those around you saying, “the Lord, he is God.”

Today’s devotion by Jordan Loftis, author of two bestselling books Today We Win and The Men With Bare Feet, and editor of Short Daily Devotions.