October 15

1 Kings 18 In 2011 and 2012 we had less rainfall in Oklahoma than any consecutive two year period during the dust bowl. Ponds and lakes dried up and vanished. We were getting desperate. Many ranchers were forced to sell off much of their herds in order to protect themselves, the land and the future of the herds. Early in 2013 the Governor called upon the churches to begin praying for rain. We prayed in our church. Soon after the churches began praying, the drought broke, but we are still behind in rain. Some ponds and lakes still have not fully recovered. What was God trying to say to us about our spiritual state through the drought? Do you suppose that He was speaking to us about how we had twisted His glory? So it had been three years since there had been significant rain in Israel. Like a mad-man, Elijah had appeared before king Ahab and pronounced the drought and then he promptly disappeared. Ahab has had time to think about it. They had to kill much of the livestock because of the drought. The land was now desperate. They were scouring the land for hidden springs to find water for what little livestock they had left. Elijah reappears to challenge the cultural and political mindset as to who Yahweh really is. Elijah challenged 50 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah to a dual. Whoever could call down fire from heaven would reveal himself as Lord. Archaeologists have found rock carvings of Baal holding a club in his right hand and a lightning flash and spear in his left hand. Elijah is going to challenge Baal to his own game-brining lightning/fire from heaven. Additionally, he challenges the 400 prophets of Asherah. Asherah was the goddess who was the escort of Baal. She controlled fertility. It wasn’t just Jezebel that had wrong thoughts of Yahweh. Hershel Shanks wrote that in 1975 the archaeologist digging at Kuntillet ’Ajrud found pottery shards which might depict Yahweh as having the consort Asherah. The shards were from the late 9th century B.C. Elijah was from the middle 9th century B.C. Kuntillet would perhaps have been a location that Elijah went past on his way south when he ran from Jezebel (chapter 19). If that is indeed the proper interpretation of the shards, it presents an interesting insight into the conflicted cultural and religious mindset of Elijah’s day. Their concept was indeed warped and shaped by the other religions around them. That Yahweh should have a consort indeed warps His glory. It makes Him in our image, instead of we a marred image of Him. The religious milieu of the day needed to be opposed. Elijah was just the man that God chose to challenge that milieu! Elijah walks into the strength of the false prophets because he knew that His God was the Creator of the Universe and there was no other. It was no contest at all. He could boast and mock the false prophets because he knew His God. The false gods were no match for the glory of Yahweh. Their idols have ears, but they do not hear. Their idols have eyes, but they do not see. Their idols have hands, but they do not deliver. Our God has no physical ears, but He hears our cries. He has no physical eyes, but He sees our distresses. He has no physical hands, but He delivers us from sin. How do you think we have twisted His glory? Do we redefine holiness to excuse our sin? Do we redefine blessing to excuse wasting wealth on ourselves? Do we have a passion for seeing our world through God’s eyes, or through our own desires? How we view His glory makes all the difference in how we answer those questions. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john Alas, there was not enough time to see everything. We did not have time to get to Mt. Carmel, nor Jezreel, but we passed by Megido and stopped. Megido is between Mt. Carmel and Jezreel. This picture is looking east-southeast from Megiddo. Jezreel would have been located before the mountains in the distance. The mountains are the mountains of Gilboa. Not shown in the picture a little to the left (north) would be Mount Tabor. The Brook Kishon (where Elijah killed the prophets) runs from Mt. Tabor and empties into the sea near Mt. Carmel. Megido lies south of the Kishon. The Kishon often floods the valley under heavy rains. Can you picture Elijah in a footrace across the plain to Jezreel? Of course the sudden downpour of rain helped Elijah. He could keep running straight for Jezreel while Ahab’s chariot would have had to stay on the roads because of the rains. Elijah could swim straight across sudden streams, where Ahab would have to have traveled to a ford or a bridge.