The Mount Carmel Chronicles . . . Part 1

Today begins a very exciting story in Scripture. This particular story has always made me smile in some ways and made me very sad in my heart in others. It is such a contrast.



I would just like to begin by saying thank you for reading these posts. God has so been doing a work in my heart this summer and this study has been a great thing for me. It has caused me to slow down a bit and spend some time with God through Elijah's eyes. It is my prayer that God will speak to you through the Scriptures. He so longs to have a relationship with you dear child. It is the best use of your time ~~ ever!! So let's open God's Word today and let it speak to the deep places in our lives; Thank you Jesus!!



So please read (aloud :) I Kings 18:15-19. We backed up to verse 15 that we read last time because I'd like to point something out: Elijah kept his word. He'd told Obadiah that he'd be there to meet Ahab, in fact he says "As the LORD Almighty lives, whom I serve, I will surely present myself to Ahab today." (vs 15). Elijah was a man of his word.



Let's park here a moment. Integrity is an issue of great importance. The definition of integrity according to wordnet is: an undivided or unbroken completeness or totality with nothing wanting; so what is this definition saying? I really like this particular definition because of the picture that it paints. An undivided or unbroken completeness; a person with integrity is undivided in what they know is right; they stand. Listen it is not always easy to be a person of integrity, but we are absolutely called to a life of truth. Merriam Webster puts integrity this way : 1: firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values : 2 : an unimpaired condition : 3 : the quality or state of being complete or undivided : Elijah was a man who was undivided in his stand. He knew what God had told him to do and he was moving on with it. He was a man of action ~~ I like that!!



So In verses 16-19 we see a very interesting dialogue between Ahab and Elijah. Ahab calls Elijah "troubler of Israel". That word "troubler" or in the KJV "troubleth" means to stir. Ahab was telling Elijah that he was stirring up trouble. He was stirring the waters. But Elijah is quick to point out that he is not the one causing trouble for Israel. In verse 18 we see that Ahab had abandoned the LORD's commands and had started following the Baals.



Baal was a false god that the Israelites were lured into worshipping. Why idol worship? Why when they had the One True God who loved them and had proved Himself to them many times over their history would they stray from Him to follow a false god? One commentary puts it this way: "Many knew that the Lord was God, but they enjoyed the sinful pleasures and other benefits that came with following Ahab in his idolatrous worship." They knew who God was, but they didn't like His rules, they wanted to do their own thing and idol worship let them do this. Sound familiar?

In the world we live in today we may not bow down to images made of gold or wood, but anything that we let take priority over God in our lives becomes an idol. This issue of idol worship is of very great importance in the society that we live. We must be very careful in how we spend our time and also what we allow ourselves to think about. God loves us so much and He does not want to see us get stuck in a pattern of destruction, and putting anything above Him in our lives is destructive. God must be first in all that we think and do.



What is this saying to us? In verse 19 we see Elijah give Ahab a call to action. Bring the prophets of your so-called gods (900 in all); let's see what they can do when they go up against the One True God of Israel. So this is our call to action today. There is nothing that God cannot do, but He wants to be first in your life; He must be your priority. If He isn't, start today putting Him first in all that you do and think. He is so faithful my dear one, He will show Himself faithful to you. He loves you with an everlasting love. There is no one or nothing that is like our God!!



Have a Blessed Monday,

Dawn