Elijah prayed: “LORD, the 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, LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.” 1 Kings 18:36-37 NIV
In the Holy Land I was privileged to stand at the very spot where one of the shortest and simplest prayers that God heard was prayed where He responded with one of the most overwhelming miracles in history. It was Mt. Carmel where Elijah called out 450 prophets of Baal, the false god of the area. He challenged them to a contest to prove whose God listened and answered their prayers. The challenge was to build an altar and call out to their deity to send fire to consume the animal sacrifices on it. Always a gentleman 😊, Elijah allowed the prophets to go first.
They put on quite a show. At first, they prayed rather normally, but as time passed and there was no answer, they began to dance and scream. Elijah enjoyed their angst. He mocked them and asked them if their god was asleep? Had he gone on a vacation? Was he deep in thought? They increased their frantic prayers, slashing and cutting themselves to show their god their sincerity. That went on all day. But no one was listening. No one heard. No one answered.
When they gave up, Elijah called all the people together. He built an altar with 12 stones. He dug a large trench around the altar, cut a whole bull in pieces, and laid it on top of the wood he placed on the altar. He had the men bring 12 large stone jars full of water and pour it on the wood and the sacrifice. Elijah had them do it two more times, totally drenching the wood and filling the trench with water. Then Elijah stepped forward in front of all the people and the prophets and uttered a simple 63-word prayer. He humbly and confidently believed that God was listening and would answer. “Answer me, LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.”
Was God listening? Oh yes! Fire fell from heaven instantly, burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stone altar, licked up all the water in the trench. The watching people fell on their faces and declared that the One Elijah served indeed was God. God listened and responded to the man who regularly and humbly communicated with God, expecting God to speak. The way to hear from God doesn’t have anything to do with volume, style, or any trick formulas like the prophets of Baal tried. Humility, intimacy, and expectancy are clear channels for hearing from God.
- Do my prayers reflect frantic panic, trying to coerce an answer from a reluctant God? Or do they flow from a regular relationship of humility and intimacy with the God who knows my name and I know His voice?