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!