The Test of Fire

~~~ Kings 18:20-39 ~~~ Psalm 16 ~~~ Matt. 5:17-19 ~~~
St. Anthony of Padua
Priest and Doctor of the church

The test of fire! Make up your minds..."How long will you straddle the issue?"

What were the people waiting for? why was it so difficult for them to decide?

Were they fearful of making the wrong decision? Did they need proof?

Elijah organizes a contest of fire between the gods...the Lord God and Baal.

Elijah was going to prove his point be using pyrotechnics.

Elijah was confident that his God would ignite the fire and that Baal would do nothing.

The local people were more than eager to enter into this contest of fire.

They followed all of the set up guidelines; refraining from lighting the fire themselves.

The more they danced and cried out to Baal the more frustrated they became at his silence and lack of response. 

God does not answer just because we scream and holler, dance around or inflict injury upon ourselves. Elijah called the people to himself and
demonstrated how to prepare for the Lord.

"He took twelve stones, for the number of tribes of the sons of Jacob,
to whom the LORD had said, "Your name shall be Israel."
He built an altar in honor of the LORD with the stones,
and made a trench around the altar
large enough for two measures of grain.
When he had arranged the wood,
he cut up the young bull and laid it on the wood.
"Fill four jars with water," he said,
"and pour it over the burnt offering and over the wood."
"Do it again," he said, and they did it again.
"Do it a third time," he said,
and they did it a third time.
The water flowed around the altar,
and the trench was filled with the water."

When all was prepared Elijah prayed to the Lord.

"LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel,
let it be known this day that you are God in Israel
and that I am your servant
and have done all these things by your command.
Answer me, LORD!
Answer me, that this people may know that you, LORD, are God
and that you have brought them back to their senses."
Well if you continue to read this passage you see that God does indeed ignite the fire right before their very eyes. And this fire consumes everything it reaches the water.

In our own lives we can be consumed with the fire of God's love.
It is possible just look at the lives of the saints.

The key element in Elijah's prayer is that he relinquishes all credit
submitting it to God. He clearly states that he is the servant of God.
Mother Teresa considered herself a mere pencil in the hand of God.
We will certainly run into problems when we try to take credit for those things accomplished through God alone. Who are we without God?

For whatever reason the people needed proof of the power of God to believe.
Blessed are those who believe without seeing.
No matter how much I may want God to reveal himself in my life
or to answer a prayer request for a loved one;
 all things are in his time.
Scripture tells us in Ecclesiastes there is a time for everything.

God alone knows the timetable.
God alone knows what we need.
God alone is our hope.
In him we place our trust.

Do you believe, God alone is enough?