Daily Devotional For Thursday, March 6, 2025
Well you made it to Thursday and I pray your week has been one of building God’s kingdom. We live in a world where we want the freedom to choose in every area of our lives. This is also true when it comes to our belief in God. While most Americans claim to believe in God, you would never know it by their attitudes and actions. If there is a God out there that we will all face on Judgment Day, you would think that would cause us to modify our actions and attitudes. Even though God’s people had the stories of God working through Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Ruth, David, and Esther, they still chose to rebel.
In 1 Kings 18, God uses a prophet by the name of Elijah to challenge His people with a choice: God or Baal. Baal was an idol that people could see and whose “prophets” told the people what Baal said. One of the main reasons Baal was so appealing to God’s people is that it was a sexual fertility cult. Worshippers participated in sexual acts to have union with Baal. The God of the Old Testament had forbidden sex outside of marriage.
So, in the Old Testament in 1 Kings 18, God wanted to prove to His people that Baal was impotent, not a god, but a man made stature and He used Elijah to prove this. Read below 1 Kings 18:20-29,
“So Ahab sent a message among all the sons of Israel and brought the prophets together at Mount Carmel. (21) Elijah came near to all the people and said, ‘How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.’ But the people did not answer him a word. (22) Then Elijah said to the people, ‘I alone am left a prophet of the Lord, but Baal’s prophets are 450 men. (23) Now let them give us two oxen; and let them choose one ox for themselves and cut it up, and place it on the wood, but put no fire under it; and I will prepare the other ox and lay it on the wood, and I will not put a fire under it. (24) Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord, and the God who answers by fire, He is God.’ And all the people said, ‘That is a good idea.’
(25) So Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one ox for yourselves and prepare it first for you are many, and call on the name of your god, but put no fire under it.” (26) Then they took the ox which was given them and they prepared it and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon saying, ‘O Baal, answer us.’ But there was no voice and no one answered. And they leaped about the altar which they made. (27) It came about at noon, that Elijah mocked them and said, ‘Call out with a loud voice, for he is a god; either he is occupied or gone aside, or is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and needs to be awakened.’ (28) So they cried with a loud voice and cut themselves according to their custom with swords and lances until the blood gushed out on them. (29) When midday was past, they ]raved until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice; but there was no voice, no one answered, and no ]one paid attention” (NASB).
It was show-time and Baal did not show up. Even with his prophets leaping, cutting themselves with lances and swords with blood gushing out, Baal was a no-show. After hours of this, the people paid the prophets of Baal no more attention. Now look what God has Elijah do in 1 Kings 18:30-35:
“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 which had been torn down. (31) 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) So 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 measures of seed. (33) Then he arranged the wood and cut the ox into pieces and laid it on the wood. (34) And he said, ‘Fill four pitchers with water and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood.’ And 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) The water flowed around the altar and he also filled the trench with water” (NASB).
Everyone knows that you never drench a fireplace first with water because it is basically impossible to start a fire. This was intentional to prove to God’s people Who is really a God. Then in 1 Kings 18, after this was done, Elijah prayed to God in 1 King 18:37 and look what God did in 1 Kings 18:38-40 , “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. (39) When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, ‘The Lord, He is God; the Lord, He is God.’ (40) Then Elijah said to them, ‘Seize the prophets of Baal; do not let one of them escape.’ So they seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there” (NASB).
While we in the modern church would flatly deny having any idols that gets our attention, which means they get us, we do have them. For some it is money. For others it is power, or position, or possessions, or pleasure. If God does not have you 24/7, it is because some idol does. Mount Carmel is a mountain in Israel where Elijah summoned the leaders of the tribes of Israel and said, “Today you have to make a decision. Are you going to worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? Or are you going to worship the Canaanite gods?”
The Israelites hadn’t rejected God outright; they were still offering Him sacrifices. They were just offering sacrifices to the Canaanite gods, as well. This is our time on Mount Carmel. We have to choose the object of our worship: Comfort? Convenience? Affluence? Or God? He is searching the earth, as He has done in every generation, for men and women whose hearts are fully devoted to Him. Ask God for the desire to be more devoted to Him than ever.
We are called to choose between the Lord Jesus Christ and other false gods. Waiting or putting that off causes us to miss God’s blessings for us, God's opportunities for us, God using us to help someone come to Christ, etc. The list could go on and on. Please make your choice today and not put off like Octavio Guillen and Adriana Martinez did in Mexico:
“Does anybody here ever feel indecisive? Let's have a show of hands. Just look around the room. Now, how many of you aren't sure? You're still thinking about it because you're always indecisive! If you've ever felt indecisive maybe you can relate to this story. The world's longest engagement was between Octavio Guillen and Adriana Martinez from Mexico. Apparently Octavio popped the question and Adriana said yes. That was in 1902 when they were both 15-years-old. But one of them couldn't quite decide, so they kept putting off the wedding day. They finally got married in 1969 when they were both 82. It took Octavio and Adriana 67 years to decide to get married” (Source: Diane Ackerman, A Natural History of Love, p. 268).
Questions To Consider
- When it comes to your own personal idols – that which gets your attention before God does – what name would you put to them?
- 1 Kings 18 is about a showdown such as you might see in some western movie from years ago or more recently, between Yoda and the Emperor in Star Wars. In 1 Kings 18, the people hesitate to answer Elijah which shows they were attracted to Baal worship. Now, Baal was the god of the sun, so this would play right into his hand if he was real. So, fire should be no problem, right? What attracts you to your own baal and why?
- The prophets of Baal went to great lengths to get his attention to send fire and nothing happened. We do not have to do anything to get God’s attention – He always has it. The real question is: does God have your attention?
- What would it take for God to have your worship and your attention?
Scripture To Meditate On: 1 Kings 18:21a, “Elijah came near to all the people and said, ‘How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him’” (NASB).
Prayer To Pray: “Heavenly Father, You are the one true God, and I choose to worship You alone. Help me maintain focus on You when I am distracted or tempted. Grant me discernment to recognize false gods and a determination to reject them. I choose to follow You with all my being. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”
I love you Southside – Pastor Kelly