Contemplative Bible Reading

1 Kings 18:33 (New Living Translation)

33 He piled wood on the altar, cut the bull into pieces, and laid the pieces on the wood. Then he said, “Fill four large jars with water, and pour the water over the offering and the wood.”

This is a story about Elijah. The land is in the third year of a drought. Little or no rain for three years. Surely, priests or holy men of one kind or another can appeal to some god of rain to bring water back to the land.

Okay, let’s have a contest. Elijah the prophet, God spoke to the people through Elijah, would appeal to Jehovah God. Also on the scene are 450 prophets of Baal or some other collection of gods that locals worshiped. That seems like a lot of people, 450 prophets of Baal. Nevertheless, let’s have a contest to see who is real and who can actually do something.

Pile wood. Call on your god. Ask for fire to come out of the sky and set the wood ablaze. My guess is this meant to ask for lightning to come down, strike the pile of dry wood, and of course it would burn. There was no lightning during a drought.

The 450 prophets of Baal go first. Always let the other go first, like in overtime in football or something. I digress. The prophets of Baal tried every trick in the book, and nothing happened.

Elijah’s turn begins in the verse above. Elijah wasn’t going to use a pile of dry would that would spark and burn with some trick or sleight of hand. No, Douse the wood with four large jars of water. When Jehovah God strikes this wood and sets it on fire, it will be obvious.

Pause. They are in the third year of a killing drought. Water is scarce, precious, life giving, and all that, Pour four large jars of water on the wood? Waste water? Those four large jars of water would keep a family alive for a week or two.

Elijah, from God, was saying, “Drought? What drought? Water is plentiful. God has so much water that we can pour it on wood. The drought ends now.”

Poof. It happened. God lit the wet wood and it burned. The drought ended. Crazy stuff. Miracle stuff.

Nice old Sunday school story for kids. And more. There are many ways to go with this. Try this one: there is stuff that is precious to me. I just can’t part with it. It’s like water during a drought.

God tells me to toss it on a pile of sticks. Let go. Stop doubting God. Trust. Believe in something I cannot see. Please God, help me in my unbelief.