So today’s first reading sees Elijah bossing the ‘my God is better than your god’ show down. I love this story because of the sass of Elijah, he plays to the crowd….oooh go on put another bucket of water over those sticks, hmm do you think maybe Baal is busy? Great stuff. Of course the God of Israel comes through and the prophets of Baal have to accept that yes Elijah’s God is the winner.
It’s easy to read this though and imagine that Baal is walking out of the arena, head down with a “gah, would have got away with it if it wasn’t for that meddling prophet” in true scoobydoo style. ( or is that just me?) what I seem to have missed in the past is that there was no Baal. Their sacrifice never caught fire because there is no god called Baal. They were worshipping a fallacy. It wasn’t that the God of the Hebrews won the contest because there really was only one God, trying to win the hearts and minds of the people.
Today’s version would be I guess, paganism or Scientology, horoscopes, Crystals and shiny stones, supposed to be imbued with healing powers. These things only have the power that people give them and perhaps a helping hand from the other one to keep the lie game strong.
I read passages like this and question myself, how am I sure that I am worshipping the REAL God? How do I know that I’m not duped into believing a fallacy like the prophets of Baal?
The first reassurance is that I am given an answer to that very question. 2nd. What God calls me to do makes the world a better place (if I am actually doing it) 3rd I am constantly growing in freedom and joy, in a way that is beyond my own ability. 4th.I don’t see those chains until He shines a light on them…..and He cuts the chains off, He doesn’t cut me. 5th, He doesn’t make me dance for Him, he dances with me. 6th it’s not always easy, if I were to create my own deity the guidelines would be much slacker ( negating the goodness of reason 2) and I’ll stop at seven, because of the miracles I have witnessed with my own eyes. Those moments when yes, the impossible happens, when our prayers meet His mercy. I could go on but if I was ringside at Elijahs bull sacrificing show my money would be squarely with the God of Israel. In fact I have put my whole eternal life on it.
I’m with the God of the Old Testament, revealed in fullness through Jesus Christ in the New, the one who starts a fire of change even with my wet kindling.