Overview of: 1 KingsToday's Reading:
1Kgs. 18:1-45
"Elijah Confronts the Prophets of Baal"
Focus Verses: 1 Kings 18:36-39
36 At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: "O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. 37 Answer me, O LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again." 38 Then the fire of the LORD fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench. 39 When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, "The LORD -he is God! The LORD -he is God!"
Insight:
King Ahab was so wrongheaded in his religious beliefs that he blamed Elijah for his problems. Elijah was uncompromisingly faithful to the God of Abraham, but King Ahab saw this as stubborn and narrow-minded. He was religiously pluralistic and thought it made more sense to embrace more gods in more ways. Elijah's condemnation of Baal worship and his insistence that there was only one God ran in direct confrontation with Ahab's pantheism.
The confrontation between Elijah and the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel was the collision of conflicting worldviews. Faith in the one true God, the God of Abraham, won the day.
Response and Action:
Truth is exclusive. Conflicting claims to truth cannot stand unchallenged and untested. I need to give careful consideration to all truth claims. I need to give careful thought to why I believe what I believe and why I consider one claim to be true and others to be false. Both reason and experience factor into this process. I need to consider who is making the claim, why are they making it, what reasons are there for doubting or believing it, and how these claims resonate with real life experience (in my own life, the lives of others, and in history).
O God, help me to recognize what is true and what is false. Confirm my faith in you through your Word, through your people, through my life experiences, through the testimony of others, and through sound reasoning. Protect me from deception and doubt. Increase my faith and show yourself to be powerful and true in all things. Through Christ, I pray. Amen.
Proverb for Today: Prov. 20:12
"Ears that hear and eyes that see—the LORD has made them both."
New Testament for Today: Acts 26:25-26
25 "I am not insane, most excellent Festus," Paul replied. "What I am saying is true and reasonable. 26 The king is familiar with these things, and I can speak freely to him. I am convinced that none of this has escaped his notice, because it was not done in a corner.
In Context: Acts 26
Recommended Reading:
Why Should Anyone Believe Anything at All?
by James W. Sire
Upcoming Event:
Student Apologetics Training Conference (Feb. 1-2)
MacLaurin Institute at the University of Minnesota
