Where is Elijah?

For some weird reason I’m in a reflective type mood as of late. I think a lot of it has to do with the workbook I’m working through called Experiencing God. (You can find the link to it in my sidebar.) At its core is the premise that God is still at work in the world, and He wants us to join Him in that work.

Ok, pretty good so far, right? Then the screws tighten. He wants to do God-sized things through us, but we’re too busy being busy for God and all the while depending on ourselves rather than him.

At the same time, I think of the whole conversation I’m having on Atheism, Evolution and morals, and I start to ask myself why I’m having that conversation at all. Regardless as to whether the Atheist/Evolutionist will understand it or accept it, the whole debate comes down to a worldview’s interpretation of facts. So, if you cannot use reason and “evidence” to show the unbeliever the truth, what can you show.

It is there that we catch up with Elijah on the top of Mount Caramel. For many years, Ahab and his wife Jezebel had introduced and been following the worship of Baal. This caused God to take away rain from the land for 3 years (by announcement from Elijah) and here is Elijah standing in front of the multitudes of Baal’s prophets.

Now, the New Testament tells us that Elijah was a man of like passions as we are– a man that sinned. But he’s different in a few senses. He never died. God performed miraculous acts through him. And yet he and God had a relationship, and he understood what needed to be done.

He announces to the children of Israel: Don’t sit on the fence. Choose today who is God and follow him. If it’s Jehovah (or I AM), then follow Him. If it’s Baal than follow him. He then throws down the gauntlet. Prepare an alter, and whichever God brings fire is God.

Back to today. I believe this message to the Christian is twofold.

What Do You Believe?

First, what do we truly believe? If we believe in God, why do we worship both Him and Presidents, Him and Entertainment, Him and Money? Why are we not sharing the Gospel with all that we come in contact with? What explains our lack of including Him in all our life?

Why Do We Think That We Can Do It Alone?

Whether it’s our conversations, or seeing souls saved, why do we believe that people should just accept something because we accept it. The truth of the matter is, people need to see God, not us. The common line now is that people should see Christ in us, but I think that’s a bit flawed. I think people need to see God, not us. That means that we need to get out of the way.

We’re imperfect models of Christ. We fail. We’re hypocritical. We lack the faith that Christ said could move mountains. What we need instead is to give God the opportunity for Him to display Himself to all that would see. We need God-sized tasks– like George Mueller and other saints that got out of the way and said “God wants me to do this– and I’ll give Him the glory.”

Until Christians get the faith in God, and follow it up with seeking His face and doing things so that He might be glorified, I believe we’ll still see the weak church and debates with unbelievers. Once God is seen in all His glory– all those around will stand back in awe at His power and be drawn to Himself.

Just as when fire came from Heaven to consume the water, the sacrifice and the stones and the prophets of Baal were shown clearly to be wrong, a tremendous demonstration of God’s power could decimate the prophets of secularism. But do we really believe that we have that kind of God?