God Hears Us 1

1 Kings 18:25-26

The other week on “The Amazing Race” one of the teams drove for a couple of hours trying to reach their next destination in the race. But eventually they discovered they had been driving in the wrong direction the whole time. It was an unfortunate setback for the team.

Sometimes we can go along in our beliefs for quite some time only to discover that our beliefs have been incorrect all along. We may find that we are going in the wrong direction in our faith.

In 1 Kings we have the story of Elijah, a prophet of God. There is strife in the land because the king and queen have begun to worship a false god, Baal, and systematically killed off all the prophets of God. Elijah confronts the people to force them to decide their loyalty – will they follow Baal or will they follow God?

To help them in their decision Elijah challenges the prophets of Baal – 400 of them – to demonstrate which god is real. He has them prepare an altar of sacrifice to see which deity can consume it with fire. In verse 25 what does Elijah have the prophets of Baal do? According to verse 26 what did the prophets of Baal do? What was the response?

We may react to such a story by claiming we do not follow any false deities, but in fact our faith may be heading in the wrong direction. Cultural icons such as Dr. Phil and Oprah have gained immense popularity with the general public because so many people believe these people can help them solve their problems. So many are eager to obey and follow the instructions and teachings of such celebrities.

But we must remember that when we are confronted with challenges in life we should first turn to our God. We must trust that our Lord hears us when we pray. He listens to our concerns and can offer true guidance in our faith and our lives.

When we rely on human leaders and guides we may be very much like the prophets of Baal. We may be offering our allegiance and our supplications to gods who do not hear us.

DAILY CHALLENGE: How can you learn to trust that God hears you?