The Proof is in the Pudding

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.

1 Kings 18:38

Elijah, just saying the name reminds me of “The Lion King”, one of my all-time favorite Disney movies. Do you remember the scene where the hyenas are in the elephant graveyard and just at the speaking of the name Mufasa they would jump? I have a feeling that’s how King Ahab felt when anyone mentioned Elijah’s name. Ahab was an evil king who worshipped only Baal, and turned all the people to Baal worship as well.

Elijah, the name alone means, “the Lord is my God”, and he was a faithful prophet that brought the news of a great drought on the land. God placed Elijah in the kingdom at this time to try and get his people to turn back to him. So, as everyone is thirsting for water, Elijah has all the people meet him on Mount Carmel. He tells the Baal worshipers to pick their sacrifice, set up their wood, and call for Baal to set it on fire. The people call and call, they begin hurting themselves out of ritual, but nothing gets fire to come down from heaven. Then Elijah, he gets the leftovers. He gets the bull nobody wanted, the wood they passed over, and then pours gallons of water over the entire altar to saturate the sacrifice. Once he’s done, Elijah steps forward and prays that God would answer him and set fire to the sacrifice, so that all the people would know the Lord and turned back to him. And immediately the fire of God falls from heaven on the sacrifice and burns up the entire altar and even licks up the water in the trench.

When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “the Lord he is God! The Lord he is God!”

1 Kings 18:39

We have a tendency to worship many idols: money, fame, attention, people, drugs, love, social media, phones, time, fun, you name it. But we can’t figure out why, while doing so, it never seems to fulfill our deepest needs. It’s because the only thing we should worship is the Lord, the God of heaven and earth. How do I know? Like Elijah, the proof is in the pudding. I’ve seen, felt, and experience the fullness of life and the provision of all I need when he was all I had.

Whenever I chase after an idol I find anxiety, a constant thirsting for something yet unable to find any water that quenches. But whenever I chase after God I find Abundant Life, overflowing water that quenches my thirst and hydrates me to my deepest core.

“Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” John 4:13-15