The Prophet Elijah announced that it would neither rain nor dew except upon his command in response to King Ahab leading the people of Israel to worship their weather god, Baal. God immediately sends his prophet away, where he is provided for in the 3 years that followed. Then the Word of the Lord came and sent Elijah back to the King.
Elijah called on the King to gather his prophets for a challenge. It would come down to Elijah against 450 prophets of Baal. Each side was to prepare an altar with a cut sacrifice atop the wood, but they could not light it. The God who answered with fire would be pronounced the true God.
Baal's prophets prayed and danced and even cut themselves to gain their god's attention, but nothing worked. Now it was Elijah's turn.
First, he repaired the Lord's altar. He got his foundation right.
Then, he built a trench around his altar and arranged the sacrifice as he saw fit.
His next move makes no sense. He commands that barrels of water be poured over the wood. So much water was used that it saturated the wood and the remainder filled the trench.
Why in the world would he do that? Most people know you need dry wood to start a fire.
He was setting God up for His due glory. Elijah was putting his side in a situation in which there would be no doubt that his God reigned supreme. No one would be able to accuse Elijah of trickery or try to give him the credit.
When I think about the water being poured out, my mind goes to the ocean. You reach a certain point in the water where the waves come very close together. If one gets you off balance, it's nearly impossible to regain control before the next one comes. You can get to the point where you think you'll never get out of the sinking sand beneath you.
Life's like that sometimes. Wave after wave crash over you, and you wonder if you'll ever regain your footing. Your health takes a hit, and about the time you straighten up, your finances are in trouble. You get your money right, and your relationships start to suffer. You may even pray and ask God to just give you a break. He doesn't have to make everything perfect, but if he could just hold a wave back long enough to catch your breath and get your head above water you'd at least feel like He heard you.
I know I've prayed that. One day the Lord explained it so plainly that even I could understand. He said, "I'm capable of holding the wave back with my hand, but I'm setting this up for my Glory."
The goal on the other side of trial isn't that people marvel at our strength, it's that they see how big our God is. He will let us take those hits so that on the other side we don't try to share in His Glory.
The outcome of Elijah's drenched altar and power packed prayer was that fire fell from heaven and the people turned back to Yahweh.
How differently would we view hardship if we started seeing it as an opportunity to put God's Glory on display?
