A Wonderful Deliverance
Adapted from Religious Stories for Young and Old, Joel Beeke editor
Our Big Idea is God’s Creation Tells Us about Him” But how does God’s creation do that?
When we look at how beautifully He made the flowers or how majestic and mighty He made the mountains, they reflect His beauty and His majesty and might. But that is not all. But in today’s story, we will see another way God uses His creation to tell us about Himself: by His amazing, mighty, perfect control over it.
Our story takes place about 200 years ago just outside of Stralsund, a great city on the cold, northern coast of Germany. Stralsund was called the jewel of the Baltic Sea in those days. It was an important center for ship-building and trading. From Stralsund, it was easy to sail up to Russia for buy animal furs for coat-making; or, to other parts of Europe to sell fish and salt. The Kings of Sweden, Prussia and Pomerania fought each other for the great city. In battle after battle, they would send in their troops into Stralsund, leaving burnt-down houses and many people dead.
In a quiet little cottage on the edge of Stralsund lived an old woman named Bertha Schmidt. Without a doubt Bertha Schmidt had her share of sadnesses. Her husband had died and she herself suffered painfully in her old age. It would be easy to expect Bertha to be a sad old woman, fearful of what might happen next; but when you went to Bertha Schmidt’s house, you found nothing could
be further from the truth. Bertha Schmidt’s little cottage was a picture of quiet happiness. Why?
Because Bertha Schmidt was a woman who knew and loved God. She saw His goodness and care everywhere, in everything He created-- and so she trusted Him.
“Lord, thank you for this little cottage You have given me. Thank you for the beautiful flowers and vines that grow in my garden. I look at how beautifully and perfectly made each one is and they remind me of how beautiful and perfect You are. Thank you, Lord for my son, Karl, who planted this beautiful garden for
me and happily takes care of me every day. Even he is Your creation and his loving concern for me reminds me of how much You care for me! I may be a widow and I may have pain in my body, but everywhere I look I see how You have been so good to me. I praise You and thank You and trust You!”
God added to Bertha and Karl’s happiness later that summer. Karl fell in love with a wonderful girl and she was to marry him and live with him and his mother, Bertha, in her little cottage. And so a few months later, on a blustery winter’s day, Karl and his bride got married in a church in Stralsund; then, joyfully they returned home together to the cottage to spend their first evening in celebration.
The next morning should have been the bright beginning of their lives together, but it was not.
“Enemy soldiers are on the move!" spread the terrible news. "They are headed for Stralsund! They will be here anytime! Prepare your homes and families for the worst!"
In every house there was gloom; in every heart, fear and trembling. The day passed in dreadful suspense, and night closed in over the still watching, praying, fasting city. As night deepened, a terrific storm of snow and wind came which added to everyone’s worries.
But how was it within the widow’s cottage? Karl had for a while busied himself with barricading the doors and windows to offer some protection for himself, his new bride and mother from the soldiers. They sadly knew the truth, though. A few boards with nails in them were no match for the soldiers coming through. They would have no problem busting in or setting the whole cottage on fire.
Karl sank down into gloomy silence, while his young wife sat beside him, pale and trembling. But what about the aged widow? It would be easy to expect Bertha to be a sad old woman fearful of what might happen next, just like everyone else. But when you looked at that old woman right then, you found nothing could be further from the truth. Bertha Schmidt’s heart was a picture of quiet happiness. Why? Because Bertha Schmidt was a woman who knew and loved God. She saw His goodness and care everywhere in everything He created and she trusted Him. She sat with her eyes fastened upon a little hymnal, and seemed lost to all around her. After a while she raised her eyes, and a bright smile beamed upon her face, as she repeated these lines: “Round us a wall our God shall rear, And our proud foes shall quail with fear.”
“What is that you say, mother?” replied Karl, “is your faith as strong as that? Do you really expect God will build a wall round our poor hut, strong and high enough to keep out an army? I wish I could believe it right now. It is terrible to wait for the soldiers as worried and fearful as I am.”
“Has not my son read that not a sparrow falls to the ground without the will of our Father; that faith has stopped the mouths of lions, and turned aside the edge of the sword?”
Karl made no reply, and the little family sank again into a sad silence.
Just before midnight, there was a lull in the storm, and they heard the great town clock striking the hour of twelve. At the same moment, from the opposite direction, the faint sound of the drums and pipes of the enemy soldiers caught there watchful ears. The fatal hour had come! The little family drew closer together, holding hands. The color drained from the faces of Karl and his little
wife as they waited in fear. But what about the aged widow? It would be easy to expect Bertha to be a sad old woman, fearful of what might happen next, just like everyone else. But when you looked at the old woman right then, you found nothing could be further from the truth. Bertha Schmidt’s heart was a picture of quiet happiness. Why? Because Bertha Schmidt was a woman who knew and
loved God. She saw His goodness and care everywhere in everything He created and she trusted Him. Bertha Schmidt squeezed her son’s hand and again repeated: “Round us a wall our God shall rear, And our proud foes shall quail with fear.”
The music drew nearer, and now they could hear the sound of marching feet and the fire of guns. Soon shrieks were heard along with the crackling of flames and the crash of falling houses. All around them the soldiers were plundering and destroying Stralsund. They waited and waited for the soldiers to start in on their little cottage; but no one ever came, as if angels were encamping around it.
At long last, the music grew faint, the shooting stopped, and the sound of marching feet dwindled away. Everything became completely silent. Bertha, Karl and his wife sat there and kept listening. Finally after a few hours, Karl dared to open one of the boarded up window shutters and look outside. As he opened the shutter, to his amazement all he could see was snow! The storm in the night had dropped so much snow that it heaped up to the very top of the window!Cautiously Karl next opened the door, but here again a wall of snow met his view, and he had to dig his way through it to get to open air. Pulling himself through his tunnel of snow and up onto the ground he stood silent with astonishment and awe at the sight before him. Huge drifts of snow had completely encircled the cottage, and made it in appearance a mere mound of snow, with no sign that a cottage lay beneath it. Not even the steep roof or the chimney stuck out the top to give a clue of the little house that lay beneath the snow, like hidden treasure. It was exactly as his mother had believed: they had, indeed, been hidden by a “wall,” and had dwelled safely in the pavilion of the Most High.
Karl led his aged mother out to behold her “wall of faith.” The widow looked out upon the mounds of snow and rejoiced in her heart.
Bertha Schmidt was a woman who knew and loved God. Each day of her life she had seen God’s goodness and care everywhere in everything He created and she had trusted Him. But never had she seen anything like this! God had even created a snowstorm and used His complete control over it to save her little family and to reveal to them His mighty power and faithfulness to them. Bertha wept as she looked up to heaven and gently exclaimed, "Faithful is He who has promised. He also has done it.”
Our Big Idea is: God’s Creations Tell Us about Him
Our Scripture Verse is: Psalm 19:1-4
“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.”
Bertha Schmidt and her little family got to see the heavens declare God’s glory and the skies proclaim the work of His hands in a most amazing way! But did her faith in God begin with that snowstorm? No, it did not. It began much earlier when Bertha heard the wonderful good news of salvation through Jesus. What is that good news? That though she and all people are sinners who deserve God’s eternal punishment for disobeying Him, their good Creator and King, God sent Jesus to bring salvation. He lived a perfect life and offered up His life as the perfect payment for the sins of all who willever turn away from disobeying God, confess their sins and trust in Jesus as their Savior. God promises to forgive all who do and to make them His own special people, who know Him, love Him and obey Him forever and ever.
Since the day Bertha Schmidt trusted in Jesus as her own Savior, God had been at work in her life. He filled her heart with His Holy Spirit, He gave her love and trust in Him. He helped her to see God’s goodness to her every day of her life in everything that He had created--from the flowers in her garden to the care of her son. Bertha could have looked at the hard things that had happened to her and be sad, but instead she looked around to see God’s goodness and let her heart be happy in Him.
Each day you and I have the same choice as Bertha. We can choose to trust in Jesus as our Savior. We can ask Him to forgive our sins and send His Holy Spirit to work in our heart—just like He did in Bertha.
Let’s praise our wonderful God who is Creator over all things and uses even things like snowstorms to take care of them! Let’s ask Him to work in our hearts that we might trust Jesus as our Savior, just like Bertha Schmidt did!
Monday, September 13, 2010
Big Idea 2- Lesson 1- The Day the Rain Spoke Sunday, August 22, 2010
The Day the Rain Spoke
2 Kings 17:1-18:46
“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or languagwhere their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.” Psalm 19:1-4 (NIV) This is the Scripture Verse for our new Big Idea.
King David wrote these words thousands of years ago. David would look up at the twinkling stars shining out from the black velvet sky; or the radiance of the first beams of sunlight upon the dewy grasses; or the burst of colors splashed across the evening sky in a glorious sunset, and knew that revealed the glorious God who made them. Everywhere on the earth, he knew, people would see the same stars and sunrise and sunsets as he and he praised God for giving us the wonders of the skies to tell us about Him.
Our story today is about another time the Lord used the sky to reveal Himself to people. But this time it was not the stars or the sunrise or sunset that spoke about God: it was the rain.
Our story takes place about 2900 years ago in Israel up in Mount Carmel, a mountain range 1800 feet high, 16 miles long and 4 miles wide, right near the Mediterranean Sea.
The name “Mount Carmel” might not mean much of anything to you, but to the Israelites it was the closest thing they had to paradise. Mount Carmel was one of the only places in all of Israel where things stayed green and lush all year round. All of the rest of Israel was bone dry and almost rainless, except during the rainy season when grass and crops would grow. So, for as long as anyone could remember, men covered the mountain range’s rich and fertile slopes with vineyards (orchards of grapevines) and they named them Mount Carmel, “Vineyards of God,” because certainly God had blessed the mountains with so much fruitfulness.
But, oh my, something terrible has happened to Mount Carmel! Its beautiful mountainsides have lost their greenness. The grapevines are bare and dead; the trees look like withered, lifeless sticks; and instead of grass, there is nothing but dry, cracked mud! What could have brought this catastrophe?
The prophet Elijah knew. It all had to do with King Ahab's sin. “King Ahab,” Elijah said, “the Lord made you king over Israel. He has warned you to worship Him, but you have followed Baal, instead. You have called him the God of Rain and Lightning. You have made him a temple and offered him sacrifices. You have made altars for him on every hill and mountaintop—even Mount Carmel--and led My people to worship at them, too. Now the people do not even know Me, thanks
to your leadership. You worship Baal as the Giver of the Rain for your crops and the water for your thirst. You worship him as the Giver of Lightning and Fire you use to cook your food and burn your sacrifices. But I tell you, it is the LORD who is the Creator of all these things. He made all creation to tell about Him, including the rain and the lightning. You have not obeyed His commands. You do not listen to His warnings and have provoked Him to anger. So now He will let the rain speak for Him. So I tell you, ‘As the LORD , the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.’” (1 Kings 17:1, NIV)
And so for the next two years, the rainy season never came to Israel. Dry season followed dry season. Plants did not grow; the wells dried up; people died.
The prophets of Baal cried out to their “mighty" Storm God: “Bring us rain, O great Baal!” Ahab took sacrifices to the Temple of Baal and the people climbed to his altars on the high places of the hills and mountains. “We’re dying, Baal. Accept our sacrifices, hear our prayers. Send us rain!” But no rain came. Day after day the sun scorched the earth and a dry wind swept over the land, until now even Mount Carmel, the Vineyard of God, looked as withered and dry as a raisin.
“Why would Baal send no rain?” everyone wondered. Elijah knew. Baal was not the rain god. He was only an idol. They worshiped Baal as the Giver of the Rain for their crops and the water for their thirst. They worshiped him as the Giver of Lightning and the Fire they used to cook their food and burn their sacrifices. But it was the LORD who is the Creator of all these things! He made all creation to tell about Him, including the rain and the lightning. He was letting them speak for Him, since Ahab and the people would not hear any other way.
At last the LORD spoke to Elijah and said: “It’s time. Go to Ahab and present yourself to him. I am going to make it rain.” 1 Kings 17:17- 39 (NIV): So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab.
When [Ahab] saw Elijah, he said to him, "Is that you, you troubler of Israel?"
"I have not made trouble for Israel," Elijah replied. "But you and your father's family have. You have abandoned the LORD's commands and have followed the Baals. Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. And bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel's table."
So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel.
Elijah went before the people and said, "How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him."
But the people said nothing.
Then Elijah said to them, "I am the only one of the LORD's prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets. Get two bulls for us. Let them choose one for themselves, and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the LORD. The god who answers by fire-he is God." [You worship Baal as the Giver of the Rain for your crops and the water for your thirst. You worship him as the Giver of Lightning and Fire you use to cook your food and burn your sacrifices. But I tell you, it is the LORD who is the Creator of all these things! He made all creation to tell about Him, including the rain and the lightning. You have not obeyed His commands. You do not listen to His warnings and have provoked Him to anger. He has spoken to you by keeping rain from you these two long years and now He will let the fire speak for Him.]
Then all the people said, "What you say is good."
Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, "Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire."
So they took the bull given them and prepared it. Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. "O Baal, answer us!" they shouted.
But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made.
At noon Elijah began to taunt them. "Shout louder!" he said. "Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping andmust be awakened."
So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed.
Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention. [Where was the god of rain and fire? Why didn’t he send his lightning bolt to light the sacrifice? ]
Then Elijah said to all the people, "Come here to me." They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the LORD , which was in ruins. Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes [of Israel]. With the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD , and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold [a half a bathtub’s worth of water] two seahs—seventeen liters--of seed.
He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, "Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood."
"Do it again," he said, and they did it again.
"Do it a third time," he ordered, and they did it the third time. The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench.
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. 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."
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.
When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, "The LORD -he is God! The LORD -he is God!"
[There was no doubt now. Baal was only an idol. They had worshiped Baal as the Giver of the rain for their crops and the water for their thirst; as the Giver of the Fire they needed to cook their food and burn their sacrifices. But he was unable to give either! With their own eyes they had seen it was the LORD who was the Creator and Controller of these things. He made all creation to tell about Him, including the rain and the lightning and fire.] I Kings 17: 40- 45, NIV:
“Then Elijah commanded them, "Seize the prophets of Baal. Don't let anyone get away!"
They seized them, and Elijah had them brought down to the Kishon Valley and slaughtered there. [They had not obeyed the Lord’s commands for His Word or heeded to His warnings through the prophet Elijah, but they listened when the rain and even the fire spoke for Him. They would not serve Baal any more. They would return to the Lord and serve Him only! Now the same Creator who had withheld the rain from Israel would bring it back to her dry, parched land.]:
And Elijah said to Ahab, "Go, eat and drink—[celebrate!], for there is the sound of a heavy rain." So Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees. [He kneeled before the LORD, the true God over all creation, and asked for Him to send rain.]
"Go and look toward the sea," he told his servant. And he went up and looked.
"There is nothing there," he said.
[Seven times Elijah prayed to the Lord.] Seven times Elijah said, "Go back."
The seventh time the servant reported, "A cloud as small as a man's hand is rising from the sea."
So Elijah said, "Go and tell Ahab, 'Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.' "
Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy rain came on and Ahab rode off to Jezreel.
“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.” (Psalm 19:1-4 NIV)
For over two years the rainless skies had proclaimed that it was the LORD, not Baal who was God. Now as the driving rain soaked and quenched the thirst of the people, the animals and even the dry slopes of Mount Carmel, it proclaimed Him as God, too.
“The heavens declare the glory of God”… as do the birds in the sky, the insect buzzing among the flowers, the mighty mountains and the roaring sea. All were made by God and all tell us about Him. He has filled a of treasures for us to enjoy and from which to learn about Him.
What will we do when we see God’s creations? Will we remember to think about what each of universe full them tell us about God and praise Him; or will we forget Him when we look at them? Too many times, we—like the Israelites, like all people—forget the LORD. That’s because we are all sinners who have chosen to go our own way instead of following the LORD and His good ways. We deserve God’s eternal punishment for this. There would be no hope for us, if God had sent Jesus. You see, God sent His Son Jesus to live a perfect life and offer up His life as the complete and perfect payment for the sins of all who would ever say no to sinning, confess their sins to God and trust in Jesus as their Savior. God promises to forgive them and make them His very own special people who will know Him and enjoy Him forever. How kind the LORD is to us! Let’s praise this God, who has revealed Himself in His creation. And, who offers salvation to all who trust in Jesus.
Let’s ask Him to help us know Him better through His creations and always remember to praise Him.
Let’s ask Him to work in our hearts that we might trust in Jesus as our own Savior.
2 Kings 17:1-18:46
“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or languagwhere their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.” Psalm 19:1-4 (NIV) This is the Scripture Verse for our new Big Idea.
King David wrote these words thousands of years ago. David would look up at the twinkling stars shining out from the black velvet sky; or the radiance of the first beams of sunlight upon the dewy grasses; or the burst of colors splashed across the evening sky in a glorious sunset, and knew that revealed the glorious God who made them. Everywhere on the earth, he knew, people would see the same stars and sunrise and sunsets as he and he praised God for giving us the wonders of the skies to tell us about Him.
Our story today is about another time the Lord used the sky to reveal Himself to people. But this time it was not the stars or the sunrise or sunset that spoke about God: it was the rain.
Our story takes place about 2900 years ago in Israel up in Mount Carmel, a mountain range 1800 feet high, 16 miles long and 4 miles wide, right near the Mediterranean Sea.
The name “Mount Carmel” might not mean much of anything to you, but to the Israelites it was the closest thing they had to paradise. Mount Carmel was one of the only places in all of Israel where things stayed green and lush all year round. All of the rest of Israel was bone dry and almost rainless, except during the rainy season when grass and crops would grow. So, for as long as anyone could remember, men covered the mountain range’s rich and fertile slopes with vineyards (orchards of grapevines) and they named them Mount Carmel, “Vineyards of God,” because certainly God had blessed the mountains with so much fruitfulness.
But, oh my, something terrible has happened to Mount Carmel! Its beautiful mountainsides have lost their greenness. The grapevines are bare and dead; the trees look like withered, lifeless sticks; and instead of grass, there is nothing but dry, cracked mud! What could have brought this catastrophe?
The prophet Elijah knew. It all had to do with King Ahab's sin. “King Ahab,” Elijah said, “the Lord made you king over Israel. He has warned you to worship Him, but you have followed Baal, instead. You have called him the God of Rain and Lightning. You have made him a temple and offered him sacrifices. You have made altars for him on every hill and mountaintop—even Mount Carmel--and led My people to worship at them, too. Now the people do not even know Me, thanks
to your leadership. You worship Baal as the Giver of the Rain for your crops and the water for your thirst. You worship him as the Giver of Lightning and Fire you use to cook your food and burn your sacrifices. But I tell you, it is the LORD who is the Creator of all these things. He made all creation to tell about Him, including the rain and the lightning. You have not obeyed His commands. You do not listen to His warnings and have provoked Him to anger. So now He will let the rain speak for Him. So I tell you, ‘As the LORD , the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.’” (1 Kings 17:1, NIV)
And so for the next two years, the rainy season never came to Israel. Dry season followed dry season. Plants did not grow; the wells dried up; people died.
The prophets of Baal cried out to their “mighty" Storm God: “Bring us rain, O great Baal!” Ahab took sacrifices to the Temple of Baal and the people climbed to his altars on the high places of the hills and mountains. “We’re dying, Baal. Accept our sacrifices, hear our prayers. Send us rain!” But no rain came. Day after day the sun scorched the earth and a dry wind swept over the land, until now even Mount Carmel, the Vineyard of God, looked as withered and dry as a raisin.
“Why would Baal send no rain?” everyone wondered. Elijah knew. Baal was not the rain god. He was only an idol. They worshiped Baal as the Giver of the Rain for their crops and the water for their thirst. They worshiped him as the Giver of Lightning and the Fire they used to cook their food and burn their sacrifices. But it was the LORD who is the Creator of all these things! He made all creation to tell about Him, including the rain and the lightning. He was letting them speak for Him, since Ahab and the people would not hear any other way.
At last the LORD spoke to Elijah and said: “It’s time. Go to Ahab and present yourself to him. I am going to make it rain.” 1 Kings 17:17- 39 (NIV): So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab.
When [Ahab] saw Elijah, he said to him, "Is that you, you troubler of Israel?"
"I have not made trouble for Israel," Elijah replied. "But you and your father's family have. You have abandoned the LORD's commands and have followed the Baals. Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. And bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel's table."
So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel.
Elijah went before the people and said, "How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him."
But the people said nothing.
Then Elijah said to them, "I am the only one of the LORD's prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets. Get two bulls for us. Let them choose one for themselves, and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the LORD. The god who answers by fire-he is God." [You worship Baal as the Giver of the Rain for your crops and the water for your thirst. You worship him as the Giver of Lightning and Fire you use to cook your food and burn your sacrifices. But I tell you, it is the LORD who is the Creator of all these things! He made all creation to tell about Him, including the rain and the lightning. You have not obeyed His commands. You do not listen to His warnings and have provoked Him to anger. He has spoken to you by keeping rain from you these two long years and now He will let the fire speak for Him.]
Then all the people said, "What you say is good."
Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, "Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire."
So they took the bull given them and prepared it. Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. "O Baal, answer us!" they shouted.
But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made.
At noon Elijah began to taunt them. "Shout louder!" he said. "Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping andmust be awakened."
So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed.
Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention. [Where was the god of rain and fire? Why didn’t he send his lightning bolt to light the sacrifice? ]
Then Elijah said to all the people, "Come here to me." They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the LORD , which was in ruins. Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes [of Israel]. With the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD , and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold [a half a bathtub’s worth of water] two seahs—seventeen liters--of seed.
He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, "Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood."
"Do it again," he said, and they did it again.
"Do it a third time," he ordered, and they did it the third time. The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench.
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. 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."
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.
When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, "The LORD -he is God! The LORD -he is God!"
[There was no doubt now. Baal was only an idol. They had worshiped Baal as the Giver of the rain for their crops and the water for their thirst; as the Giver of the Fire they needed to cook their food and burn their sacrifices. But he was unable to give either! With their own eyes they had seen it was the LORD who was the Creator and Controller of these things. He made all creation to tell about Him, including the rain and the lightning and fire.] I Kings 17: 40- 45, NIV:
“Then Elijah commanded them, "Seize the prophets of Baal. Don't let anyone get away!"
They seized them, and Elijah had them brought down to the Kishon Valley and slaughtered there. [They had not obeyed the Lord’s commands for His Word or heeded to His warnings through the prophet Elijah, but they listened when the rain and even the fire spoke for Him. They would not serve Baal any more. They would return to the Lord and serve Him only! Now the same Creator who had withheld the rain from Israel would bring it back to her dry, parched land.]:
And Elijah said to Ahab, "Go, eat and drink—[celebrate!], for there is the sound of a heavy rain." So Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees. [He kneeled before the LORD, the true God over all creation, and asked for Him to send rain.]
"Go and look toward the sea," he told his servant. And he went up and looked.
"There is nothing there," he said.
[Seven times Elijah prayed to the Lord.] Seven times Elijah said, "Go back."
The seventh time the servant reported, "A cloud as small as a man's hand is rising from the sea."
So Elijah said, "Go and tell Ahab, 'Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.' "
Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy rain came on and Ahab rode off to Jezreel.
“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.” (Psalm 19:1-4 NIV)
For over two years the rainless skies had proclaimed that it was the LORD, not Baal who was God. Now as the driving rain soaked and quenched the thirst of the people, the animals and even the dry slopes of Mount Carmel, it proclaimed Him as God, too.
“The heavens declare the glory of God”… as do the birds in the sky, the insect buzzing among the flowers, the mighty mountains and the roaring sea. All were made by God and all tell us about Him. He has filled a of treasures for us to enjoy and from which to learn about Him.
What will we do when we see God’s creations? Will we remember to think about what each of universe full them tell us about God and praise Him; or will we forget Him when we look at them? Too many times, we—like the Israelites, like all people—forget the LORD. That’s because we are all sinners who have chosen to go our own way instead of following the LORD and His good ways. We deserve God’s eternal punishment for this. There would be no hope for us, if God had sent Jesus. You see, God sent His Son Jesus to live a perfect life and offer up His life as the complete and perfect payment for the sins of all who would ever say no to sinning, confess their sins to God and trust in Jesus as their Savior. God promises to forgive them and make them His very own special people who will know Him and enjoy Him forever. How kind the LORD is to us! Let’s praise this God, who has revealed Himself in His creation. And, who offers salvation to all who trust in Jesus.
Let’s ask Him to help us know Him better through His creations and always remember to praise Him.
Let’s ask Him to work in our hearts that we might trust in Jesus as our own Savior.
What's The Big Idea? Big Idea 2- God's Creation Tells Us About Him
B i g I d e a 2
God's Creation Tells Us About Him
God made all things in the beginning of time for His pleasure. It brings Him pleasure when we enjoy His creations and know more about Him from them. Creations always tell you something about their creator. God’s creations show us that God is mighty, glorious, beautiful, good, wise, infinite, perfect and so much more.
God's Creation Tells Us About Him
God made all things in the beginning of time for His pleasure. It brings Him pleasure when we enjoy His creations and know more about Him from them. Creations always tell you something about their creator. God’s creations show us that God is mighty, glorious, beautiful, good, wise, infinite, perfect and so much more.
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