The "Valentines Day" in the title is reflective of today's holiday, and is in no way the topic of this blog. The title does however accurately describe this blog.Sorry if I got your hopes up! But on that note, gentlemen, I sure hope you're stepping up your game today with the ladies in your life, because I sure am. Anyways, in other news, I have repaired my keyboard, and am now back on task. I apologize for the absence. I was tempted to blog about love today.... But then I started to think about it and realized that its tricky to blog about. I suppose I could throw a 1 Corinthians 13 at you and call it a day, but I won't do that. (I apologize, but the main point of my blog doesn't actually arrive till the very end... I got carried away. Be patient with me!)
I think I will share with you the blog I began several days ago, and never completed because my keyboard. Sorry if its not great. I've kinda lost my train of thought.
Well. Here we are again. Today, I have a bit of an embarrassing story about myself. . . . A few hours ago, I was starting a fire in my fireplace. After about 20 minutes, I had the fire going was decently well, and I went and made myself some food. After enjoying my delicious treat, I decided it was a good time to poke at the fire a bit and get it stirred up. So I go over there and start moving some logs around, at which point.... I put the first completely out. That's right. It went from a blazing inferno, to a pile of hot nothingness in a matter of seconds. I had successfully put out a fire with no water, liquids, or any other extinguishing device. Kind of a touchy little booger wasn't it? Well anyways, I was pretty amazed at the fact that I completely destroyed a perfectly good fire in an attempt to make it bigger. Telling this story makes me sound about 32% less manly. But I'll take that hit. I'll grow a beard tomorrow and make up for it.
Alright, now that that's over the reason I'm telling this story, is I was reminded of someone who's fire skills far exceed mine. God. So the next three or four blogs are going to be covering stories about fire... Particularly fires started by God Himself. They are pretty spectacular sights, and nothing has captured man's imagination and innovation more than fire, which is probably a big reason God used it as a tool to communicate through. So here we go, on a little journey through the fire and the flames.... And not the hellish variety.
1Kings 18:30-39
30 Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me.” So all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down. 31 And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, “Israel shall be your name.” 32 Then with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord; and he made a trench around the altar large enough to hold two seahs of seed. 33 And he put the wood in order, cut the bull in pieces, and laid it on the wood, and said, “Fill four waterpots with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood.” 34 Then he said, “Do it a second time,” and they did it a second time; and he said, “Do it a third time,” and they did it a third time. 35 So the water ran all around the altar; and he also filled the trench with water.
36 And it came to pass, at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said, “Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word. 37 Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that You are the Lord God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again.”
38 Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench. 39 Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, “The Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God!”
Now. You might think aw, God showed Himself to the prophets of Baal through this miracle, they professed Him as Lord, and their lives were changed. Not exactly. In the verses following this Elijah orders that they not allow one prophet of Baal escape, and he executes every one of them. Maybe it's just a guy thing, but there's something super awesome about that. Kinda like that time Samson killed 1000 men with the jawbone of a donkey? Awesome stuff.
"Then Samson said: 'With the jawbone of a donkey, Heaps upon heaps, With the jawbone of a donkey I have slain a thousand men!'"
That's what a man says after he slays 1000 men with a jawbone.
Okay sorry. Back to fire! What an amazing display of God's power. And even more so, what an amazing display of Elijah's faith. How many of us would be willing to make such a bold request of God and do it publicly? Elijah obviously had NO doubt that God would fulfill his request, because He made one heck of a show out of things. First and foremost he stuck his neck out by challenging the prophets of Baal, and then he proceeds to mock them as they call upon their god. And THEN he covers his entire offering wood and all in water, just to top it all of. Elijah was quite the entertainer in my opinion. The guy really knew how to draw a crowd. If I was going to start an Old Testament circus, Elijah would be my ringmaster, Methuselah would be my worlds oldest man act, and Job would be the poor beggar outside the tent because he lost everything, Daniel would be the lion tamer, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego would be firewalkers, and we'd bring the blind Samson out for entertainment at the end (we all know how that ended up. And if you don't know what I'm talking about "blind Samson," go read the story. ) I could go all day, but that's my main act.
Okay. Yet again, back on topic of Elijah and the fire. Man I'm everywhere. I apologize. After so many days of not blogging, I have too much to say for one blog. This should have been separated into two. Anyways, Elijah's faith here is really what astounds me. Of course God can set it on fire. That's no problem for Him. What is incredible in the story are the extremes that Elijah is willing to go to to prove that His God is the one true God. He is so assured of His existence and power that he is willing to call upon Him in front of his enemies fully expecting that He will provide, and He did. Now, I'm not sure if when Elijah saw the flames come down he had a massive sigh of relief, but I sure would have. But okay, before I continue to get further and further away from what I was trying to say, I will wrap this up here. It is my prayer and hope that all of us would have the faith and boldness to live our lives as though God exists. We can claim to believe in Him, we can say it, but do we act as though He does? Are our steps evident of that faith, or do our lives point that our faith lies elsewhere? Elijah's faith was apparent because he openly displayed his belief and LIVED it. And for that, Elijah's request was fulfilled. So just kinda give your life a long look today. Are your daily steps a testament to your faith in God, or are they a testament to your doubt?
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