The Story of a Prayer Answered by Fire, Part 3 (1 Kings 18)

Elijah prayed a short prayer asking God to send fire to consume the sacrifice so the people would know for sure that the Lord was the true God. Well, it happened. “The fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the sacrifice, the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.” Wow! When all the people saw it “they fell on their faces: and they said, the Lord, he is God; the Lord, he is God.” Elijah also called for the false prophets of Baal to be destroyed, and they would not again be able to lead God’s people astray. Elijah then shared some very good news with King Herod. He told him to go and eat “for there is a sound of abundance of rain.” Elijah then went up to the top of Mount Carmel to pray for rain. He bent down and put his face between his knees in prayer. He told his servant to go and look out over the sea, but the servant returned and said he saw nothing. Elijah kept praying and told the servant to go again, but he still saw nothing. Elijah kept praying and the servant kept going to the sea for a total of seven times. Elijah did not give up in praying for rain for he knew that just as God had stopped the rain when he prayed, God had also promised to send rain in answer to his prayer. The seventh time the servant said he saw a small cloud like a man’s hand rising from the sea. That was the sign Elijah wanted, and he sent his servant to Herod warning him to get in his chariot and hurry down the mountain before the rain stopped him. The Bible says “that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain.” I think the best part of this true story is that the people turned away from a false god to serve the true and living God. What do you think?