ON THE VANGUARD

WYATT EARP AND THE PROPHET ELIJAH - Part 2
“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.’
“Then all the people said, ‘What you say is good.’”
I Kings 18:22-24

Elijah looked around the audience of false prophets and probably gave them a good laugh when he told them the odds. It was an 850 against 1 battle. Elijah was the only prophet of God standing on Mount Carmel that day, but consider what God can do through one who is willing to take a stand. Before the day ended, God’s power was going to be seen by all. The prophet of God challenged the prophets of Baal to choose a bull and prepare it, call on the name of Baal, and request that he send fire on the altar.
The prophets had first dibs. Elijah had given them the choice of an altar, a bull, and the wood they wanted to aid in their sacrifice. From morning till noon, they cried out to Baal to bring down fire from heaven on their offering, but no fire came. Dancing around the altar they continued to cry out, yet still no fire came. Elijah, seeing this parade of foolish worship, taunted them to shout louder. Was it possible that Baal may be away, or not able to hear them, or asleep, or traveling? And so they did scream louder, and slash their bodies as was the custom. But still, no reply was given by their god. Their antics went on till evening before Elijah stepped up to the plate.
Elijah took twelve stones and built an altar. He then dug a trench around it to hold about five gallons of water. After arranging the wood on the altar, he then cut the bull into pieces and placed them on the wood. Having done the exact same steps in the sacrifice as those serving Baal, Elijah went one step farther. At his command, water was poured not once, but three times over the sacrifice. By all accounts the wood was soaked and should have been too wet to even burn. Then Elijah lifted up a simple prayer.

“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.”
I Kings 18:37

Elijah’s goal was not to gain a following for himself, but rather for God. The worship of other gods had tainted the people’s vision for the one true God. In my worship of my own body, and what felt right to me and eased my pain, I allowed my focus to retreat from God and become fixed on other things. I began to follow the ‘medicines’ the world offered instead of looking to God to meet my feelings of rejection, failure, and identity. And in no time at all, the person I had become did not come close to reflecting the person God was calling me to be. Elijah’s prayer was for me; that my heart may be turned back to God again. Crawford Loritts wrote,

“Biblically, to be holy is to be morally blameless. It means to be separated from sin and consecrated to God. So to live a holy life means to live a life that conforms to God’s moral precepts, in contrast to the sinful ways of the world and the culture in which we live."

My heart wavered between the opinions of following God or pleasing myself. Fortunately, as with Israel in this account, God did not give up on me. Even though the road was hard, and people left me, and it felt as though the rug was being pulled out from under me, God was still there to take me back and point me in the right direction. I had to get rid of the idols in my life. There was no way possible to stand before God blameless when I was holding such a tight grip on the sin He was asking me to release. God challenged me with the same challenge that Israel faced. Who was I going to serve?

“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!’”
I Kings 18:38-39

God came down in a mighty force and showed Himself true. How could those who watched this event deny that God existed? How can you and I, who read this story and the countless others in the Bible, deny God or still try to mix God with sin in our own life. Years before this event, Joshua said almost the exact same words. In Joshua 24:15, we read, “But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”
The Bible records that after the sacrifice was enveloped, that Elijah commanded the death of all Baal’s prophets. Every one of them was served the death sentence that day for their actions. God is a jealous God, and He does not desire that we sit on the fence. James 1:8 reminds us that a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. How can we stand on the vanguard of the battle with one hand holding God and the other holding to our idols? It is time to make a choice. It is time to resist the devil (James 4:7). It is time to shake off the chains that bind you (Heb 12:2). The challenge here is easy to see. We must choose between God or the gods that steal us from Him. The choice, however, is not so easy. Sure, the temptations of life call our name and beckon us to follow and give in. I hide nothing; I have given in many times myself. But it is time that we make up our mind and consider the words that Elijah dared challenge us with. Stop wavering and make up your mind.
Wyatt Earp and his gang of Rangers took out the “Cowboys” because they broke the law. Justice had to be served. The “Cowboys” resisted arrest and eventually they were shot on sight, given away by their red sashes. Elijah stood before an evil king and his motley crew of false prophets and gave them the chance to prove their god real, but their god never appeared. In the end they too were killed for breaking God’s law of having no other gods before Him. What gods do you bow down to? Better yet, are you willing to die for your god? It is time we stop wavering and chose who we will serve. Smash the idols in your life, and join me ON THE VANGUARD!

Loritts, Jr., Crawford, Make it Home Before Dark, (Moody Press, 2000), p 77