Wed.’s Devo - The Clash of Prophets -

Read: 1 Kings 18:1-46; Acts 11:1-30; Psalm 135:1-21; Proverbs 17:12-13 The famine in Israel had lasted 3 years and it was so severe that Ahab called in his household commander, Obadiah to help find a little grass to save their horses and mules. They set off in opposite directions looking for grass. *** Obadiah greatly feared the Lord and honored the prophets. When Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord, he hid one hundred of them and kept them alive with food and water. While he was looking for grass, he ran into Elijah. Elijah told him to tell Ahab he wanted to meet with him. Obadiah was skeptical at first, but Elijah promised him he would show up for the meeting. *** When Ahab saw Elijah, he blamed him for the famine but Elijah made it clear that the fault of the famine rested on Ahab and his worship of idols. Elijah told Ahab to bring all Israel and the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah and meet him at Mount Carmel. *** Ahab gathered all the people, except Jezebel who surprisingly didn’t know about this meeting. *** Elijah asked the people how long they were going to waver between worshipping God or Baal. He told them to bring out two bulls and each of them would pray to their god and the one who answered by fire is the real God. The people liked this idea. *** They brought out the bulls and Elijah let the false prophets choose their bull and go first. They prayed to Baal from morning till noon. Nothing happened so Elijah began to mock them saying maybe their God was entertaining himself, or using the bathroom, or asleep, or on a trip. The false prophets cut themselves and raved till the afternoon. *** Then it was Elijah’s turn. He repaired the altar of the Lord that had been torn down. He took 12 stones for each of the tribes of Israel and built an altar. He put the wood on the altar and cut the bull in pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he dug a trench around the altar that would hold about 14 quarts of water. Then he had them fill four jars of water and pour it on the wood. (Remember, water was like gold at that time.) He had them do it three times until the water overflowed the altar and filled the trench he had dug. *** At the time when they would be offering up the evening sacrifice in Jerusalem, Elijah prayed to the Lord to make himself known so the people would turn their hearts back to him. Fire fell and consumed the burnt offering. When the people saw this, they fell on their faces and proclaimed that God was the Lord. Elijah called for the prophets of Baal to be seized and had them taken to the Kishon brook where he slaughtered them. *** Elijah told Ahab to go and eat and drink because he was hearing the sound of rain. Ahab obeyed, while Elijah went to pray. Seven times he sent his servant to see if there was a cloud in the sky and the seventh time, he came back and reported that there was a small cloud rising from the sea. *** Elijah told him to go tell Ahab to get home quickly or he would be stopped by the rain. In a little while, the sky grew dark and there was much wind and rain. God allowed Elijah to outrun Ahab’s chariot and he beat Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel. *** This story is like David against Goliath, only it is one prophet of God against 950 prophets of Satan. It doesn’t matter how many there were, God would still win. We serve the God who create the universe and made man to dwell on it. If God be for us, who can be against us! *** In Acts, the apostles and believers began to hear the reports of how the Gentiles were receiving the good news of the gospel. Some of the devout Jews in Jerusalem rebuked Peter for eating with Cornelius who was uncircumcised. He explained to them the vision the Lord gave him and what happened at Cornelius’ house and they had nothing else to say except to praise God that he was giving salvation to the Gentiles also. *** The Jews had scattered after Stephen had been martyred and they went to Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch. There they spread the news about Jesus. Many received the good news and became believers. When the believers in Jerusalem heard about this, they sent Barnabas to Antioch. He was greatly encouraged when he saw their faith and told them to continue being faithful. Barnabas went to Tarsus and found Saul and brought him to Antioch and they stayed there for a year teaching the people and disciplining them. The believers were called ‘Christians.’ *** Prophets came to Antioch and Agabus prophesied that a world-wide famine was coming over the world. The disciples determined to give what they could to the believers in Judea. They sent their gifts through Barnabas and Saul. *** Lord, thank you for always showing us how powerful you are. You are afraid of nothing. Help us to have that courage in our daily walk. May we fear nothing but You.