Skip to main content

No One Paid Any Attention!

Talk about feeling insignificant, unimportant and totally ignored!

· There was no voice;

· No one answered;

· No one paid attention.

If any should have received a voice response and an answer and been paid attention to, they were it! They were, all 450 of them, prophets of a “god” named Baal.

In fact, they had been so intent on getting a response, that they called on their “god” all day and danced frantically around the altar. And when they received no response, they doubled down on their efforts by cutting themselves so that their blood flowed as a sign of their sincerity and devotion. Yet still, there was no voice, no one answered and no one paid attention.

Enter Elijah, the prophet of God. He was just one against 450! He had given the prophets of Baal the first shot at having their “god” consume, by fire, a bull offering to demonstrate who the real God was. For the prophets of Baal, their efforts went nowhere!

So it was Elijah’s turn to call on his God. But, to make it even more obvious who the real God was, he had the people pour water on the sacrifice, the wood and even the rocks, Not only that, but he had the people dig a trench around the sacrifice and had them fill the trench with water.

Then Elijah called on the name of the Lord. But it wasn’t a calling on the Lord all day long, like Baal’s prophets. Nor did he dance around the altar and he certainly didn’t resort to cutting himself to demonstrate his sincerity and devotion. He just called on the Lord once and this is what he said:

“O 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 that I have done all these things at your word. Answer me, O LORD, answer me, that this people may know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.” (1 Ki 18:36-37)

What happened next provided unequivocal evidence of who proved to be the real God:

Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. (1 Ki 18:38)

And did the people get the message? You bet! See for yourself:

And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, “The LORD, he is God; the LORD, he is God.” (1 Ki 18:39)

Yes, it was more than dramatic and unlikely ever to be repeated again. Yet, it is recorded for our benefit and instruction. And for our sake, further contrasts between Baal and how God works are very telling:

Baal: there was no voice.

God: “The voice of the Lord is powerful, the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.” (Ps 29:4)

Baal: no one answered.

God: “For a people shall dwell in Zion, in Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. As soon as he hears it, he answers you.” (Isa 30:19)

Baal: no one paid attention.

God: “Then those who feared the LORD spoke with one another. The LORD paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the LORD and esteemed his name.” (Mal 3:16)

For us today, the antidote to feeling insignificant, unimportant and totally ignored is to call on the Lord God because He alone is God. His voice is full of majesty and He hears us and He pays attention to us! 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Not Just Idle Words

I own a 25 year old car.  The body might be falling apart but the engine runs great and it idles smoothly.  Such idling is good. Idling can also have to do with spending too much time doing nothing or being without purpose or being engaged in that which is pointless.  Such idling is not good. What if I were to tell you that I know of something that is the about as far as being without purpose as you can get?  Would you want it? Here is that something:  “They are not just idle words for you—they are your life. By them you will live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”  ( Deut 32:47) Other versions of the Bible use some different words for that first phrase in the verse and such can be helpful in assessing how important the words really are: “Not meaningless words…”   “These are not just useless words…”   “No empty word for you…”   “Not unimportant words…”   “Not useless words…”   ...

Strengthen Your Core

Supposedly, it’s all about your core! That is, in today’s world of physical fitness, it’s all about strengthening your core.  Your core refers to the group of muscles that support your spine and pelvis, providing stability and enabling movement. It's not just your abs; it includes your back muscles, pelvic floor, and even your diaphragm. When your core is strong, it helps you maintain balance and stability. It can help prevent back injuries and help you maintain better posture. It can also help with athletic performance by allowing for more efficient movement and power transfer. And there are, of course, appropriate exercises to strengthen your core. But there is another kind of core, one that is known as the inner self. The inner self, as described in the Bible, refers to the spiritual and moral part of a person, distinct from the physical body or outer man. And while our physical bodies are important and we certainly feel every ache and pain resulting from injury or even aging, o...

Don't Go Knocking or Crossing

I’m sure you’ve heard the expression “knock on wood.”  You’ve probably also heard “keep your fingers crossed.”  “Knock on wood” is a common superstition or good luck charm for people to say in the hope of bringing good fortune or to ward off back luck.  Some will actually knock their knuckles on a piece of wood. “Keep your fingers crossed” is also a common superstition or good luck charm people say in the hope that something good will happen.  Some will physically cross their fingers and maybe even encourage you to do the same with them.   There’s sort of an equivalent in the Bible that predates both expressions: Jeremiah 7:4 says:  Do not trust in deceptive words and say, “This is the temple of the Lord , the temple of the Lord , the temple of the Lord !”  (Jer 7:4) At that time, people had evidently developed a false sense of security in the invincibility of Jerusalem because God dwelt in the temple in Jerusalem .  They used the expre...