Digging Deeper

“How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.” – I Kings 18: 21b

Have you ever gotten tired of people who talk and talk and talk but never walk the talk? I have played, listen to, and watched baseball for at least fifty years now and have discovered it is the number one trash talking sport of all time. Yak, yak, yak! That’s all you hear and then everyone is surprised that someone hurls a ball into a dugout at point blank range? It starts when you come up to bat with the catcher trashing your family heritage, the first baseman seems to have some first hand knowledge of your sister’s social life and then the umpire will make mention of your inability to run fast. Maybe this is new to some of you about our nation’s pastime but all this stuff goes on and we think we need to get our kids involved shortly after they learn to walk. New stuff? Nah! Our scripture lesson shares about some dudes from the church of Baal trash talking the Lord Almighty (I could see why they were a little jealous) but come on…He Is God! Unfortunately for them, penalties for trashing the object of our affection were quite severe. As we see the story, the prophets of Baal were given an opportunity to put up or shut up. They tried everything to convince the people that their god was the all powerful, great guy. They even mutilated themselves in an attempt to call attention to their god but to no avail. You see, sincerity can be terribly misguided and seriously wrong. Elijah was really in a spot with all the hoopla but he knew his God would come through no matter what the odds. After defying basic laws of pyrotechnics (don’t put water on the barbeque before cooking) God accepted Elijah’s prayer and offering and proved again that he was the Almighty. I really like Elijah’s attitude here…it’s a bit edgy! As Christians, in the power of the Holy Spirit, we have every reason to be confident in our God. God will come through for you as long as you trust in His Power and Love. Got Giants in your life? Got God?

Prayer: Father, whenever I begin to doubt you, help us remember that your power is perfect in our weakness…….