God the creator of heaven and eath work powerfully all the time and in certain situations through various ways and sometimes through human agencies. In one of the instances, the children of Israel
were led into deep sin by King Ahab of Israel, who took power on the 38th year of
King Asa of Judah. King Ahab the son of Omri, did evil in the sight of the Lord God, during the entire period of his twenty two years reign, in Samaria. He walked in the sins of Jeroboam, and took to himself a wife, by name Jezebel who was the daughter of the King of Zidonians and a priest of Baal, called Ethbaal. King Ahab sinned terribly before God, than all the other kings, which came before him. He built shrines for worshiping Baal in the land Samaria and led people to worship the idol baal instead of Jehovah God(I Kings 16:29-34).
The Lord God sent a message to Ahab through his prophet Elijah to warn Ahab of an impending calamity in the land, that there was going to be no rain in the land for three consecutive years(I Kings 17:1, 18:1).
The starvation that accompannied the drought was so devastating that all the animals died and people almost starved to death. Even the Kings Horses lacked grass and died in large numbers. Queen Jezebel persecuted the prophets of God and killed several of them. There was a man called Obadiah who served in the palace as a governor of Ahab’s house and who feared the Lord God. When Jezebel was in the process of killing the prophets, Obadiah secretly took some 100 prophets and hid them in groups of 50 in a cave. He fed them with water and food secretely, without the knowledge of Jezebel (I Kings 18:1-17)
After three years of devastating famine in the Land, the Lord God sent Elijah to meet King Ahab and when they did, the King outrightly accused Elijah of bringing trouble in the land.Elijah answered the King firmly, that it was he, who had abandoned the commandments of God and followed Baal, hence inviting the wrath of God. Elijah requested the King to gather all the children of Israel together with all the prophets of Baal numbering 450 at Mount Carmel so he could addressed them. Elijah said to them “How long are you going to be torn between two opinions? If the Lord is God then follow him and if Baal is.. then follow him?
Elijah invited them for a contest as a proof of who was the true God. He suggested that as he was the only prophet of God against 450 false prophets of Baal, the prophets were to give two bulls to be offered as a sacrifice. He challenged the false prophets to call on their god and he too and the God who will answer their prayers by fire will be followed. They all mutually agreed and the contest started early in the morning. Elijah suggested to them that, as the prophets were many, they start the process, to sacrifice the bull and call upon their god Baal for it to burn the offered sacrifice. By mid day the 450 prophets had gone to the extent of cutting themselves with knives as they shout at the top of their voices for Baal to respond with fire and burn the sacrifice. Elijah mocked them by asking them to shout loudest suggesting that probably god Baal was in deep sleep and could not hear them shout. The 450 prophets had not made any progress by the time the sun sat late in the evening(I Kings 18:18-29).
When his turn came, Elijah asked the people to repair his altar and slaughter the other bull. He instructed the people to pour twelve drums of water into the altar to make sure the altar was so wet for any ordinary fire to light and then he called the name of the Lord to accept the offered sacrifice. The Fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and wood and the stones, and the dust and licked up the water that was in the trench (I Kings 18:30-38. The response was so instant that Elijah specnd little effort in transmitting the request.
Elijah killed the 450 false prophets of Baal and all Israel turned to God. The King later told his wife how Elijah the prophet had destroyed all the prophets of Baal and she was infuriated on the report and swore to destroy Elijah likewise by same time on the following day. Elijah on receiving the queens plan fled for his dear life .... deep into the desert(I king 19:3). He complained bitterly to God and even desired to die.
Elijah won people’s hearts when he demonstrated to them of the power of Jehovah and by his hand he destroyed the 450 false prophets. The God’s servant, convinced the world of his time that the God Jehovah! was Lord and there was no other God but Him. He spoke to God in front of all the Israelites and before the King. However, Elijah's happiness was shortlived as the Queens anger threatened his peace and joy. The Queen treated him as the enemy number one.Elijah understood very well the rage of the wicked queen and he knew that whenever she vowed to do something, it was with certainty that she would carry out her pledge. The great prophet was overwhelmed with grief and fear and - he did the most reasonable thing any human being could do; he took flight to safe his dear soul. What a contrasting report the Israelites had that evening. The mighty Elijah who trounced the 450 false prophets of baal – and what next! - the mighty daring prophet turned into a terrible coward - rolling down hill and climbing uphill as he sped like lightning - away from the evil queen Jezebel who was baying for his blood.
Elijah taken to heaven in Chariots of fire
Under divine power Elijah excelled while defending the cause of God. When Satan faced him through Jezebel, Elijah forgot to draw his power from above and relied on his human strength and saw a goliath in the person of Jezebel - the reason for his scampering. Remember Peter when under divine power he walked on water and in when he saw the current coming against him (flesh) he sank into the sea, thus calling for Jesus intervention. Both scenarios took place almost instantaneously. Elijah and Peter were also human. We need to look to God and Jesus no matter our circumstances in life - to be able to draw divine power! May God bless you and keep you moving on - inspite of the challenges you are encountering or currently going through. BE STRONG AND TRUST ONLY IN GOD FOR HE CARES FOR YOU.
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