October 15, 2024 • 53 mins
Welcome to OFBS Ep 7! Remember when I said I was going to be consistent (*laughs in unbelief*). Anyway, today's episode is centered on Elijah and his showdown with the prophets of Baal. Highkey, you don't want Elijah as an enemy; he has all the smoke and then some (his trash talking skills! 5 stars) Despite the drama, this story displays the power of our God (Amen and Amen). He does not take disrespect lightly and showed up and out. But, God is also deeply in love with our raggedy selves, and this story highlights how far He will go to bring us back to Himself. Yay Jesus! Yay God!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hello and welcome back to the Our Favorite Bible Stories podcast.
(00:13):
My name is Udochi and I am your host.
Welcome back.
It has been maybe two months, maybe three, who really knows.
Just know that I have not been consistent which is so interesting because I believe
(00:34):
in the last episode I said I would be more consistent.
The joke was absolutely on me.
Yeah, my life has just been really, really interesting and I didn't really have the energy
to record a podcast but I'm back because I remember I was supposed to be obedient.
(00:55):
So I am here to record another one.
It's also crazy because in October I think that will be the one year anniversary of this
podcast and I have put out seven episodes.
That says a lot about where I am.
But yeah, I mean we thank God for life, for health.
(01:17):
We thank him for all of the stuff that he has to and all that he will be doing.
Yeah, let's get into it.
Oh my gosh, we do Rosebudthorn.
I totally forgot about that.
But before we do Rosebudthorn, let's do Song of the Week.
(01:38):
I have been listening to, ooh, I found Marantha Gospel, which has the top 40 gospel praise
songs in their opinion.
They're missing a lot.
But just a great playlist.
If you grew up in like a old black church or like a Baptist church or anything like
(02:01):
that, you'll enjoy it.
But guess my songs are no surprise.
Well actually there is one surprise.
Two of them are Mercy Chin-Woe.
Love her, love her, love her.
If she's not on my Spotify rap as number one artist, I will be upset.
I will be angry.
(02:23):
But I found one called Oil on My Head.
Love that.
It's the remix version with Eben and Eben is phenomenal.
I love Eben so much.
They've been making bops before people even knew that bops could exist in the Nigerian
gospel sphere.
Well actually that's giving them too much credit because Agatha Moses was there before
all of them and she still is amazing.
(02:45):
My sister and I were playing her song while we were driving back from somewhere and when
I tell you we were turning up in the car, that's what Agatha can do.
She's still a queen.
I feel like Eben was one of the older pop gospel Christian Nigerian, I don't know what
we're going to call them.
But yeah I remember them when I was in high school and they're great.
(03:10):
So Sinatch too.
Love Sinatch.
Is it Sinatch or Sinak?
I think it's Sinatch.
Right because she's Nigerian.
The cha.
I think her name is Sinatch.
And then Give Me Chance also with Mercy Chinwell and Bidemi Oloaba.
Olaoba.
(03:30):
Olaoba.
Olaoba.
Sorry to the Yorubas and whoever is listening to this if you're Yoruba I do apologize.
I will buy those two.
Great great song.
Also nah I'll leave it at those two.
Anyway Rosebudthorn.
Oh you know let me stop playing myself.
Every time I go to record this I'm like Yudoshi can you keep your voice stable?
(03:55):
And it's because I move around a lot so I just got myself back up so that way I won't
have a hard time editing this later.
Doing my future self a favor.
Look at me so kind.
Rosebudthorn.
I'll tell you what a thorn is.
I have deluded myself in one of the worst ways possible and it is.
(04:19):
It's so interesting.
I don't know when you will be listening to this but at the time of this recording my
family and I are supposed to be going somewhere next week.
I have made the very very dumb decision to sew a dress for that.
(04:39):
An African style dress.
As someone who has not sewed since she was like 10.
How do you think it's going?
Not well at all.
I almost broke the sewing machine.
I'm just trying to make a bustier and that's not working.
(04:59):
We'll see what happens.
This will very soon not be my issue anymore.
Either because I give up or because I make the simplest dress known to man.
I don't know which one it's going to be.
I'm fine with either.
Yeah so that's super fun.
So that's my thorn.
(05:20):
My rose.
This sounds so small but I promise you I bought salmon.
Fresh salmon.
And I'm so excited to have it for dinner tonight.
I saved it.
I was like what day is going to be salmon day and it's today.
And I am ecstatic.
Salmon is delicious and I will hear no other words about it.
(05:41):
Salmon is phenomenal.
And I will be air frying it.
If you've never air fried salmon get on it.
It changes the game.
It truly does.
And it is delicious.
If you've never had that sushi bake that's great as well.
The sushi bake.
You never had like a salmon rice bowl?
(06:02):
If you don't like fish.
Well if you're allergic that's fine.
But if you don't like fish on principle get over it.
So I actually can't say that because I hate basically every type of seafood that is not
fish.
Still get over it.
Salmon is phenomenal.
Actually I take that back.
See this is why my episodes are like 5 hours long.
(06:24):
I take that back.
I only like salmon.
And potentially catfish.
And whatever they make fish sticks out of.
Not all fish sticks though.
Actually I take that back.
I don't like fish sticks.
But I do love Popeyes fish sandwich.
It was really good.
Anyway back to what I was saying.
(06:45):
Yay salmon.
Um a rose?
I feel like God's been confirming a lot of things to me as of recent.
Um scary but nice.
So that will be my rose.
Okay let's get into the story.
I'm trying to make this 45 minutes.
We'll see.
God be with me.
(07:07):
Speaking of the Lord, let's pray.
Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day.
We thank you for everything you've done.
We thank you for allowing me to come to this moment where I'm going to be talking about
Elijah having a great old time discussing his story.
Or the second part of his story.
Actually just be with me.
I ask that you will guide my heart, guide my mind, guide the words that are coming out
(07:30):
of my mouth.
It cannot be from my own intelligence or my own thoughts or my own perspective.
But instead that it will be what you want to say in this moment God.
There would be no me but all of you that would hide me behind your cross.
That this word will encourage somebody.
That it will help somebody in the situation they're going through.
(07:50):
That it will bring them back to you.
Whatever it is, whatever somebody needs to get from this podcast, may they get it.
And may you receive the praise, honor, glory, adoration from our lives.
Now and forever more.
In Jesus name, Amen.
Okay let's talk about Elijah.
So if you missed last week's, last episode let's just call it that.
(08:17):
You should go watch it.
And not just, or I guess go listen to it.
Not just because it's my podcast but also because it has a lot of really crucial information
that I will not be going over again in this episode.
All you need to know is that the kings of Israel were really really evil.
It started with some guy named Jeroboam.
(08:42):
You should really go listen to it though because it goes in depth about how Israel got to the
place that they are in when we meet Elijah.
Yeah there was a lot, there was a build up.
So go listen to it.
Basically there's a king named Ahaz and he was, oh that's a lie.
(09:02):
See I said Ahaz and I was like that doesn't sound right.
His name was Ahab.
And he was evil, evil, evil.
So God told Elijah to tell Ahab that there was going to be a drought.
There would be no rain for a certain amount of years.
Ahab was like yeah right.
And just as God said through Elijah there was no rain.
(09:25):
And in the last episode we talked about how Elijah was sustained during that time.
But now in this episode we will be talking about one of the classic stories, Elijah and
the prophets of Baal and how basically God ends this drought.
Spoiler alert, how God ends the drought.
So we pick up with Elijah after he was living with a widow.
(09:50):
Once again that's in the last episode as well, go listen to that.
He was living with a widow while the rest of Israel and I guess some of the neighboring
places were experiencing the drought.
And so, oh this story also is taking place in 1 Kings chapter 18.
Yeah, 1 Kings 18, starting at verse 1.
(10:14):
So after a long time in the third year the word of the Lord came to Elijah, go and present
yourself to Ahab and I will send rain on the land.
So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab.
So this would be a big thing because Ahab had been looking for Elijah.
He had been looking for Elijah because he was like how dare you pronounce a drought
on my kingdom?
(10:34):
Absolutely not.
So he was looking for Elijah.
And so God is basically telling Elijah, go to Ahab, it's time.
If I were Elijah I'd be a little shaken but he was prepared for this.
He was built for this.
So he goes and as he was going he meets Obadiah.
Obadiah was King Ahab's palace administrator.
(10:58):
So basically he was like helping to run things.
Obadiah was also a devout Jew and because of that he had hidden prophets of the Lord.
He hid them in caves, was bringing them food and water.
So he was basically sustaining the prophets.
And so Elijah is walking and, oh no, Obadiah was sent on a mission from Ahab.
(11:22):
So as Obadiah is walking Elijah meets him.
And Obadiah was like, I know that ain't you.
Is that, is that, oh, Elijah stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop,
is that you?
And Elijah's like, sure is taking me to Ahab.
And Obadiah was like, not a chance, not a chance I'm not taking you to Ahab.
(11:45):
Because I love the way that Obadiah says this.
Starting at verse 9 he's like, what have I done wrong that you are handing your servant
over to Ahab to be put to death?
As surely as a Lord your God lives, there is not a nation or kingdom where my master
has not sent someone to look for you.
And then skipping down.
(12:05):
But now you tell me to go to my master and say Elijah's here?
I don't know where the spirit of the Lord may carry you when I, when I leave you.
If I go and tell Ahab and he doesn't find you, he will kill me.
And he's basically saying, why?
He's like, do you hate me?
Said, am I your enemy?
And honestly, Obadiah had the right of it.
I do, I do agree with that because this had been three years of, once again, Ahab looking
(12:31):
for Elijah.
Looking for him because he was upset at the drought.
So if Obadiah were to go and run back and say, oh, Elijah's here and he's not there
when he gets back because God has been known to whisk people away.
He has been known to do that.
So Obadiah was like, don't, don't blame me, please.
And he also was like, I've been hiding in case you didn't know this, I've been hiding
(12:52):
the other prophets.
He's like, I'm a good one.
I'm one of the good ones.
Do not send me to death.
Don't make me do that.
And Elijah was like, don't even worry about it.
I'm going to be right here.
Go get him.
And so Obadiah did exactly that.
I do want to pause here because I'm just so confused by Ahab.
(13:12):
So small backstory to explain my point here.
Ahab was married to Jezebel.
I'm sure we've all heard of Jezebel, blah, blah, blah.
But she was real evil.
And she was the one that basically prompted Ahab to do a lot of his evil things.
So it's less that Ahab himself was evil, that he was a coward and couldn't stand up to his
(13:34):
own evil.
That's his business.
But what's the name of, oh, it is Baal, yeah.
Baal was known as the god of weather.
And so in God telling Elijah to pronounce a drought, it is like directly challenging
their belief in Baal.
(13:55):
Because if Baal was real, then it shouldn't matter that Elijah pronounced a drought, water
would still come as he was considered the god of weather.
So I am just confused because looking at my time, it's been three years since y'all have
seen water from the sky.
You said that Baal's a god of weather.
(14:17):
So if he really was, then why wouldn't he fix it?
And if he's not fixing it, if the word of the Lord is standing, why are you still worshiping
Baal?
And why are you looking for Elijah?
Because that's basically confirming that the god he serves is the true god.
(14:40):
Because when he pronounced it at the request of God, rain stopped.
Yeah, your god couldn't do nothing about it.
That's confusing to me.
So why is your anger directed at Elijah and not at Jezebel, your wife, or at all the prophets
who've been taking your money and sacrificing whatever and their god can't do a single thing
(15:04):
about it?
That's confusing to me.
I don't know how we got here.
How was he upset at Elijah?
This is just proof that Baal isn't real.
I just don't get it.
I really don't.
Because the steps you have to go through to get to that conclusion that Elijah is at fault
(15:27):
for this, I mean, technically he is, but you skipped over so many necessary details to
get to being angry at Elijah.
And it's not like those kings did not know that God was the true god because whenever
they were in trouble for generations, they'd be like, oh God, please save us.
And then they would go back to what they were doing.
So it's not like y'all don't know God.
(15:50):
Anyway, back to the story.
Obadiah goes to meet Ahab and Ahab goes to meet Elijah.
See?
Verse 17, when he saw Elijah, he said to him, is that you, you troubler of Israel?
No, you're the troubler.
No, it's you because it's your sin that has caused all of this.
And that's what Elijah popped right back.
(16:12):
He said, I have not made trouble for Israel, but you and your father's family have.
You have abandoned the Lord's commands and have followed the Baals.
And not one lie was told because if y'all hadn't been messing up, there would be no
drama.
I'm not gonna, I'd be knocking on Ahab's door.
Hello?
Tear this down.
(16:32):
Do you see my cow?
Do you see it emaciated because there's no water?
You see that corn?
Yeah, there is no corn.
There's no water.
Hello?
You're out here ruining stuff for us.
Get it together.
They should have said that because they have been known to overthrow kings.
They could have done it.
That's my, that's my two cents.
(16:53):
They weren't really about that life though.
That's their business.
Anyway, so Elijah was like, summon everybody from Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel and
bring the 450 prophets of Baal and the one of the other goddesses.
And they're basically like, we're gonna have a competition.
(17:15):
This is a really well known story.
I'm sure several people know this, but if you don't, basically what happens is Elijah
challenges the prophets of Baal to a competition saying, let's get two bulls and let's lay
them on an altar.
(17:35):
Let's both pray to our gods in the way that we do and whichever bull is, or whichever
God sends fire from the heavens onto the sacrificial bull is the true God.
And oh, and before this, this is a good one.
(17:57):
Before he challenges them to the competition, Elijah says, how long will you waver between
two opinions?
If the Lord is God, follow him, but if Baal is God, follow him.
So this is basically a competition to see who is the real God.
The real God will actually do what he said he would do.
And the prophets of Baal were like, we got you.
(18:18):
They agreed to it.
So they're putting their confidence behind their God saying that, yes, this is a God
that will answer by fire.
Which is so confusing to me once again, because like, when has he ever done that?
Like, like, I don't know.
I can bet on God because God's done it all.
What has your God done?
Like, have you seen him answer by fire before?
(18:42):
So why would you agree to a competition if you've never seen your God do that?
Now that don't make no sense.
I mean, my God has a history of setting several things on fire.
The burning bush, that was him.
That was him.
I'm sure he's had some other stuff, but that was him.
Like we have a track record.
(19:02):
Like, like Elijah put that together because he knew that he could do it.
Like, why did the prophets of Baal agree if they've never seen that happen?
Because Baal isn't real.
Just food for thought.
Like, the prophets of Baal were confusing me.
I don't get them.
Like, how were you also still worshiping Baal if the other God, the true God, says there's
(19:27):
going to be a drought and then he doesn't stop it?
Like, I don't get that.
Especially if you're saying he's the God of weather.
That doesn't make any sense to me.
I don't understand how they were still following him.
And there's a part of me that's like, well, there's some times where our God or, you know,
I don't know about y'all, my God.
(19:48):
Amen.
But now like sometimes he may not answer things in the way that we want him to.
It's like, would that be the same thing?
And I'm going to say no, because I think while God does not always answer us or do exactly
what we want him to, he has said his spirit will go with us.
And I think that there is a certain sense of comfort and joy that can come from God,
(20:14):
even excuse me, in the midst of difficult circumstances.
It is like a proof of his presence.
Editor Udochi here.
I also want to say that there are several points in the Bible where God asks people
to test him.
It's like, if you think I'm telling the truth, test me.
Do what I said, do what I told you to do.
Do be obedient and then see the final results.
(20:37):
Literally in Malachi, when people are talking about tithes and offering, there's a verse
that says, bring you all the tithes and storehouse that there may be me in my house and prove
me thus saith the Lord, if I would not open up the windows of heaven and pour you out
of bless, there would not be room enough to receive it.
So God has actively asked us, like, test him, try him out and see if he's real.
To me, that means he's willing to put weight behind his name, weight behind his actions,
(21:02):
weight behind his character.
I just don't believe, especially if you have faith, like, I just, the prophets of Baal
aren't math into me.
They're really not.
Anyway.
Yeah.
So, exactly what I said, verse 24, then you call him the name of your God and I will call
him the name of the Lord, the God who answers by fire, he is God.
(21:27):
And so Elijah and the prophets of Baal do exactly that.
Oh, and the people also said, what you say is good.
So they're agreeing, they're like, okay, whoever answers by fire is the true God, we agree
to that.
That's a good competition, that's a good basis.
And so Elijah was like, y'all can go first, go ahead and choose your bull and prepare
(21:49):
it.
And he was like, call on the name of your God, don't light the sacrifice and let's see,
let's see Baal call down fire.
And I'm going to read this straight from the Bible because I just think it's so funny the
way that Elisha was trolling them.
So they took the bull, given them and prepared it.
This is the NIV version.
(22:09):
I wish I had the NKJV but we'll settle for NIV.
And the prophets of Baal called on the name of Baal for morning till noon.
Baal answer us, they shouted, but there was no response.
No one answered.
The Bible so matter of fact, she was like, there was no response, there was no answer.
(22:29):
And they danced around the altar they had made.
At noon, Elijah began to taunt them.
Shout louder, he said, surely he is a God.
Perhaps he is deep in thought or busy or traveling.
Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.
Too good.
That is too good.
(22:51):
As Christians, we should not be insulting people.
But these are A level insults.
When he said he must be traveling?
How disrespectful, how rude, how absolutely rude.
And they responded to that because they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords
(23:12):
and spears as was their custom until their blood flow.
Midday passed and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening
sacrifice.
But there was no response.
No one answered.
(23:33):
No one paid attention.
I don't even, I don't have to say anything else.
The Bible said what it said.
The prophets of Baal, from morning to evening.
This is editor Udochi with the trigger warning.
If you are sensitive to topics of self harm, please skip to 2515.
(23:58):
For screaming and crying and sl-
I also have this statement to say.
I don't know why their practices were so grotesque.
That's one thing I didn't, I don't understand about pagan traditions at this time.
What are you doing sacrificing your child?
(24:20):
What?
How does that make sense?
If all of you sacrifice your children, how was the nation, how are y'all supposed to
continue to multiply?
Editor Udochi here, this is of course besides the very obvious fact that we should not murder,
that we should not be killing anybody.
(24:40):
But from a logical standpoint, that makes no sense.
From a logical standpoint don't do it, but it also makes no sense.
I don't get that.
I don't, I don't understand.
What do you gain by slashing yourself?
I don't understand.
This is, I will put a trigger warning before this section in case and tell y'all where
(25:02):
to skip to if you don't want to listen to this.
But like, how does that make sense?
Like how does, how does that make sense?
I don't get it.
I really don't.
And it didn't work.
As the Bible said, no one paid attention.
No one paid attention.
So verse 30, then Elijah said to all the people, come here to me.
(25:24):
They came to him and he repaired the altar of the Lord, which had been torn down.
You see what I'm talking about?
Who tore it down?
I'm sure it says it in somewhere.
I'm pretty sure in the episode before this you'll see who tore it down.
I think it may have been Jeroboam.
It may have been Jeroboam.
You know what?
Actually I'll do, let me not pressure future Udoji, but future Udoji if you're listening
(25:47):
to this, pause this and go find out who did it.
Okay?
If the Bible says, thank you.
Go to a commentary.
Thanks.
Editor Udochi here.
So I don't think we know who tore down that altar.
All we know, well, from the sources I looked at, all we know is that there once was an
altar at Mount Carmel that in some way, shape or form was destroyed.
(26:15):
Verse 31, Elijah took 12 stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, period,
to whom the word of the Lord had come saying, your name shall be Israel.
Talk about it.
With the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord exactly.
And he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two saiyas of seed.
A saiyah is 24 pounds.
(26:37):
Man, that's like a, right?
Two saiyahs.
That's like, that's like a small child.
I think I weighed that much like first, second grade.
Dang.
I was not playing around.
Verse 33, he arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood.
(27:00):
Then he said to them, fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and
on the wood.
Do it again, he said, and they did it again.
Do it a third time, he ordered, and they did it a third time.
The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench.
I do have a question about this because I thought there was a drought.
So where'd he get the water from?
(27:21):
Here's one thing I've always been confused about.
If future Doji has an answer, she'll put it in right here.
Look, I genuinely do not know where they got that water from.
Like, did the water appear because God had a point to prove?
Maybe or maybe, maybe Elijah brought the water with him because when he was at the widow's
(27:41):
house he wasn't really, he wasn't lacking or anything.
They were making cakes daily so they had to have had some water.
Guess who, editor Udochi.
So maybe according to what I looked at, it's possible that the people had water but just
not a lot of it.
So they were struggling but they could still do like basic things.
(28:07):
Another place said that Mount Carmel was close to the Mediterranean Sea so maybe that place
had water.
But I'm confused because if they had water, why were they complaining so much?
So I don't know how much I believe either of those choices but that is a potential answer.
Take it or leave it.
Where'd they get the water from?
I don't know.
(28:28):
But what I do know is that there was water and it was poured onto the sacrifice.
Basically saying that like not only, gosh there's a bug, not only do I have confidence
in my God's ability to send down fire, I'ma make it even harder.
(28:49):
Y'all had problems just doing the bare minimum.
I'ma make it even harder so y'all can really know who's running stuff around here.
That's what Elijah did.
He poured water even to the point where the trench surrounding the sacrifice was full
of water.
(29:11):
So then Elijah says, 36, at the time of sacrifice the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed,
Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in
Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command.
Answer me, Lord, answer me.
So these people will know that you, Lord, are God and that you are turning their hearts
(29:36):
back again.
What a prayer.
I want to talk about this because I guess a few minutes I had mentioned how sometimes
it could feel like God doesn't answer us or like we may be scared to like put God's name
to the test or basically what I said before about trying something and it not working.
(30:00):
I want to clarify that Elijah had this set up because God told him to.
Here at the beginning of 18, after a long time, the third year, the word of the Lord
came to Elijah, go and present yourself to Ahab and I will send rain on the land.
Like God is, God told Elijah, put my name to the test.
(30:22):
Let me show you what I can do and let me show them what I can do, them being the children
of Israel at that time.
So I do want to just clarify that Elijah was doing this because God told him to.
It was not for ego, it wasn't to puff himself up, it wasn't to show I'm so close to God,
it wasn't for any of that.
It was because God told him to.
(30:47):
Let some of y'all go ahead and start doing crazy stuff in the name of quote unquote faith
and God never told you to do it.
I'm not advocating for that.
But I'm not saying God can't come through for you.
He can, he's a merciful kind God, but don't be dumb.
There's a verse that says, one shall we continue in sin that grace may abound, basically saying
(31:11):
don't take advantage of God's goodness just because he's good does not mean you should
start messing up and saying, oh God will forgive me.
No, no, no, no, no.
He is there for the brokenhearted and binds their wounds and he is there for those who
are suffering, but don't take advantage.
Okay?
If you know better, do better.
And if you can't do better, pray to God to help him.
Pray to God so he can help you do better.
(31:32):
There's another verse I wanted to say, test not put the test, not the Lord, put not the
Lord your God to the test.
I don't remember.
I don't remember.
But yeah, don't be, don't try this because let me bring up a great example.
There's a time it was either with Peter or Paul.
You don't you will answer what this is here.
(31:53):
Good to you, Dachi.
Sorry, girl.
I got you working on this episode.
I do apologize.
Anyway, I think it was Peter.
It was Peter.
This editor Udochi.
You already know.
And if you want to read more, it's an Acts 8 chapter 9 to 25 where Peter is doing a bunch
(32:16):
of miracles and there is this guy that came up was like, I also want to do miracles.
Tell me how he's like, I will pay you money to do miracles.
And they were like, it don't work that way, bub.
It don't work that way.
Remove yourself.
And there was another time where this guy saw Paul casting out demons.
(32:38):
And this is so disrespectful.
And the guy was like, okay, let me do a little something.
And he went and tried to cast out a demon and the demon looked at him and said, I know
Paul and oh Jesus, who the heck are you?
And then he pounced on him and he shook him so violently that he was naked.
And then he had to run away.
And I was like, see, this is why you don't start getting into fights that you're not
ready for.
(32:59):
No one told that guy to do that.
He was doing it for ego's sake and not because the Lord told him to.
So let's make sure that we're being motivated by the right spirit when we do things.
Don't go up somewhere and start doing dumb stuff and say, oh well, God did it for Elijah.
Okay, but God told Elijah to do it.
Let's use our number six.
Let's use our sense.
(33:20):
Let's use wisdom and discernment.
Go read Proverbs if you need to.
Elijah says all of that stuff in there, but let's be smart.
Anyway, after Elijah says this prayer is like basically show yourself as God, show everybody
here that you are God.
Editor Udochi here, the audio got weird.
So he brought up the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, who for the most part trusted
(33:45):
God.
Though some of them did some, some stuff we don't approve of looking at you, Abraham and
Isaac and look, they all did something.
But Abraham got told Abraham to leave his place to and he lived in tents for his whole
entire life.
And God basically promised him that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky
(34:07):
and the sand and the sand near the sea.
And Abraham was waiting for that promise.
He was waiting a long, long time before he got Isaac.
Isaac also was basically he entrusted God to find his spouse.
And that's exactly what happened.
(34:27):
And obviously Deborah, that's not her name, Rebecca.
He married Rebecca after his servant went and found her.
And if you read that story, we should do that story.
But if you read that story, it was basically super divinely orchestrated how the meeting,
how the servant met Rebecca and how Rebecca ended up coming with him to marry Isaac.
(34:51):
And listen, Israel was, Israel, well, Jacob who became Israel, he was living on a promise,
okay?
He was living on broken promises and then the Lord came and restored.
What a life that man had.
But these are all people that basically showcase the character of God.
He made promises to them and he's stuck by them.
(35:13):
God stuck by his promises.
Proving or put, which allows weight to be put on his name.
It's not just a God who's been here for a few, a few centuries or stuff like that.
This is a God that is known to our ancestors and has consistently come through for us.
It's consistently shown his might and his power.
(35:35):
That is the God that we are believing will answer us by fire.
And so right after Elijah pray that, verse 38, then the fire of the Lord fell and burned
up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil and also licked up the water in the
(35:58):
trench.
This is crazy because remember we use water to put out fires.
The fire consumed the water that was in the trench.
It consumed absolutely everything.
Oh my gosh, stop.
The other time that God answered by fire was with Gideon.
I did an episode on Gideon.
(36:20):
Great great episode.
You should listen to that one as well.
When Gideon also put a sacrifice and God consumed everything or the angel of the Lord.
It was God.
God consumed everything.
We're seeing the exact same thing.
It's an example of how God does not do his stuff halfway.
He doesn't just like dip his toe and say, okay, we're done.
He does it fully.
He went and he ate up everything.
(36:42):
I never realized the soil, the soil that was there, it caught strays as well.
It was gone.
It was burnt by the fire.
Hello?
He left nothing.
A complete God.
And when all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, the Lord, he is God.
(37:03):
The Lord, he is God.
Basically, they fell on their faces, they knelt before him and said, oh, oh, you're
the real deal, which they already knew.
But I think it's also special when God shows up for you personally or like shows up for
you in your situation.
And he did that.
He was like, I'm tired of y'all.
(37:24):
Let's get some truth in here.
And I think that coupled with the drought, it's like these are two examples that go hand
in hand in proving and showcasing God's character.
So y'all better be serious and get your act together.
So Elijah said, round up the prophets of Baal.
And they killed them, which is kind of sad.
I still struggle with the violence that is shown in the Bible, that they were killed.
(37:50):
And so Elijah said to Ahab, go eat and drink for there is the sound of a heavy rain.
This is also so, so amazing is that God showed himself as God and then provided for the people.
And because the drought was not just affecting Ahab and his raggedy self, it was impacting
all of Israel.
I also do want to say while Ahab was the main person, Israel also was not showing up in
(38:14):
the way they were supposed to, or most of Israel was not, which is why God did this.
But he could have been like, serves y'all right.
I told y'all I was a real God.
Y'all didn't want to listen to me by then.
No one's getting water.
Okay.
Go, go back to your things and serve Baal since y'all want to serve him so badly.
He could have done all of that.
And this is, I'm not going to lie.
(38:36):
There is a version of me that would also do that.
But in his kindness and his compassion and his care, after proving he was really God,
he was like, okay, here's your teddy bear.
Here's your rain.
Here's the rain y'all were desperately seeking.
Go get your animals.
Go get your crops.
Here we go.
So Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah climbed to the top of Mount Carmel and bent
(39:01):
down to the ground and put his face between his knees.
And so he kept doing this until he did it seven times until he heard the rain or until
his assistant, can we call him assistant?
What are we going to call this man?
His servant.
Okay.
So his servant said there was a small cloud that was coming.
(39:23):
And then Elijah, well, the spirit of the Lord fell on Elijah and he ran.
He basically ran back, I guess, to the center point, which is the main part of Israel.
And he even out ran Ahab who was on a chariot.
And he out ran him.
Yeah, I'm not going to lie.
(39:45):
I actually don't really know why that was there.
Yeah, what an interesting part.
I actually don't really know why the power of the Lord fell on Elijah at that point.
Maybe it was like another testament.
Maybe it was like an excitement.
(40:05):
Maybe it was like another show for Ahab.
You don't you look at a commentary and put it in here.
I'm sorry girl, I got you working.
Anyway, not that anyway.
So I looked at the Blue Letter Bible commentary and they're saying that this happened because
Ahab saw Elijah and didn't give him a ride on his chariot.
(40:32):
So he ran before him.
Then another commentary said we have no idea why this happened.
I'm not sure the answer is super clear, but we know that it did occur and that it was
important enough for God to include it.
Maybe it was relevant to the people of the time.
(40:52):
Maybe it meant something.
Maybe this is a by and by question where we're up in heaven partying and like, so God, why
was Elijah running?
Why did you give him supernatural strength to run?
Who knows?
I know that I do not know.
And I was going to stop, but I am going to talk about this second portion or the first
(41:14):
part of chapter 19.
It says, now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all
the prophets with the sword.
And so let's take a poll.
If you were Jezebel and you saw your prophet get utterly demolished, not your prophet,
(41:35):
your God get utterly demolished, he got ate up in a fight.
What would you do?
Cause there is a part of, well, not a part of me, cause I don't worship Jezebel.
I do understand why she got upset, but I don't as well because girly, this is proof that
your God is not a thing.
(41:58):
Isn't it time to get off your high horse and just agree to worship the God of Israel?
Isn't this your time to say Ahab?
Okay, let's cut the nonsense.
Obviously their God has won, even if you're mad about it.
Obviously the God of Elijah has won.
Let's relax.
But that's not her response.
(42:19):
She's like a double down person where even though she's wrong, she going double down
on it.
God be careful people like that because they're willing to destroy everything around them
so that way they can feel powerful so they can show their anger.
What are you gaining?
Your prophets are gone.
(42:40):
Why aren't you scared that Baal didn't do anything?
Why is your concern?
Why do they keep making their concern?
Elijah, I don't get that.
Meanwhile his God is one that brought back water so that way y'all can live in the peace
that you want to as King and Queen.
It's not like people going to come and attack you or what?
Oh no, they could.
But like you're living in relative luxury.
(43:05):
What do you gain?
Like what else do you want?
At least cut your losses and just move on.
What are you gaining?
Anyway, she didn't do that.
And she said may the gods deal with...
What gods girly?
What gods are you talking about?
The one that just got ate up?
Weirdo.
(43:25):
Anyway, Jezebel sent a message to Elijah saying may the gods deal with me be it ever
so severely if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.
She's so unserious girl.
What you going to do?
This is the same God that kept Elijah for three years.
Girl be serious.
Anyway Elijah ran away.
Elijah was afraid and he ran away.
(43:46):
Which I find so fascinating because I think it's a human thing as well.
Because he just saw some of the biggest miracles that God could put on.
He saw himself be sustained through a widow for three years.
(44:06):
He saw God send down fire and absolutely demolish everything around it.
The soil and the water after drenching the sacrifice.
And he saw him just run at supernatural speed.
The power of the Lord fell on him and he was out running a chariot.
(44:30):
That's like a human being out running...
Well they weren't that fast.
But our equivalent is like a Lamborghini and a human is running faster than it at full
speed.
So then how did that not translate to this moment?
There's a part of me that feels like Elijah was like okay this is the time.
Fine they're going to stop their nonsense.
We're all going to be good.
So when Jezebel did what she did by saying I'm going to try to fight you, I'm going to
(44:55):
try to find you and kill you, I assume it makes sense for him to be afraid.
It's hard because once again he just experienced all of these miracles.
But it's a very very human reaction.
Especially when it seems like, if of course this is just my conjecture, that he probably
had a really specific belief about what would happen after this huge miracle.
(45:21):
So the fact that that didn't come about like oh whoa what's going on.
Also Ahab stand up.
Ahab get up.
Ahab get up.
Get up.
Get up.
Get up.
What do you like about the ground so much?
What is there for you?
What is on the ground that you want to stay there?
What is it?
Let us know.
(45:42):
Because you witnessed what God did.
God could have told them to take you and slaughter you like they did the prophets but he didn't.
So why don't you stop Jezebel?
I don't get that you're king.
(46:02):
You witnessed all of this stuff and you're just going to let Jezebel send a messenger
to go destroy Elijah?
After Elijah sent back, after Elijah told you that water was going to come after your
prophets got ate up?
Confusion, confusion, confusion.
Get up.
(46:23):
Everybody in the story needs to get up.
Elijah ran away though.
And he was like I want to die.
There's nothing here for me.
I'm so sad.
And this is so funny to me.
You know this is really interesting.
Why do I feel like I did an episode on this?
Ravens fed him.
Oh my gosh.
(46:43):
It's because Elijah did that before.
I was like why does this sound so familiar to me?
It's because before when Elijah ran away the first time he also was like I'm tired of this.
Leave me alone.
Please I don't want to do anymore.
And Ravens fed him.
I was like why does this sound so familiar to me?
(47:05):
And basically the same thing happened here where Elijah was like I'm done.
And an angel of the Lord, well God basically put him to a deep sleep.
He was like take a nap.
You've done a lot.
Take a rest.
Some of y'all need to hear that.
Some of y'all need to take a nap.
Some of you are getting three hours of sleep a night.
I don't mean to call anybody out but some of you are.
(47:27):
Not me.
I get five hours.
I need to sleep more.
But some of y'all need to sleep more.
Some of y'all need to take a rest.
There are so many important things that your body does during sleep.
It helps with your immune function.
It helps you consolidate memories.
Sleep is there for a reason.
There's a reason that God created sleep and rest.
(47:48):
And our world doesn't prioritize that.
And I also think in some of the spaces that do talk about it they don't acknowledge all
the barriers that can come when you're trying to get a good night's sleep.
I do.
I understand.
And it's not just like oh they're scrolling on social media.
Sometimes you're scrolling on social media because you're trying to numb your feelings
(48:10):
or this is the only fun time you have during the day.
There's different reasons.
But if you are having difficulties with having the ability to sleep I would definitely pray
about it because we're supposed to be resting and I don't think it's good for us to not
rest when we need it.
So God put him into a deep sleep.
He was like go to sleep sir.
(48:31):
You're doing too much.
And then when he woke up the angel of the Lord touched him and said get up and eat.
He looked around and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals and a jar
of water.
He ate and drank and then lay down again.
And then the angel of the Lord said the same thing.
Get up and eat for the journey is too much for you.
(48:51):
So he got up and ate and drank.
Strengthened by the food he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb
the mountain of God.
There he went to a cave and spent the night.
I don't think I'm going to talk about the second half but I remember I was at church
and there was this sermon.
A sermon was preached about this particular part and the pastor said this phrase and I
agree with him.
Sometimes you just need a nap and a sandwich.
(49:15):
Like when you're upset ask yourself have I slept?
Have I eaten?
Sometimes you just need to take a quick little power nap.
I don't well there's some research that says power naps may not work.
But sometimes you just need to take a rest and eat a sandwich.
Go get some food.
Have you eaten today?
(49:36):
Like let's take care of the basic stuff before we start to assume it's work before we start
to despair.
Take a nap.
Go eat some food.
The basics.
And it's also okay if you are in this despair mode because God wasn't like Elijah get up.
Didn't I just tell you?
Didn't you just do this?
What are you doing?
He was like I understand.
(49:56):
You're tired.
Go to sleep.
I know you're hungry.
The angel lord was like you need to eat because there's a lot more for you to do.
So eat that bread.
And he gave him water.
So once again about God meeting more than just like our physical or more than just like
our spiritual need he can meet our physical needs as well.
(50:18):
He can see everything that we need and answer.
Because that's just what he do.
Love that.
So that's the story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal.
Great great story.
This is where God's showing up.
I think oftentimes when we're asked to do things it can seem so hard and so difficult
like oh is he really going to?
(50:39):
Because I can imagine it's stressful to go up and challenge the king.
Challenge the prophets when there's 450 and it's just you by yourself.
And to then put water on it.
Make it even more difficult and then still trust that God will come through.
(51:00):
It's hard.
But I think one thing that has given me comfort and I hope gives you comfort is that God would
not call you to a place if he has not equipped you with the ability to prosper there.
Or if he has not or if he is not raising up people to help you.
God's not mean and he's not nasty or rude.
(51:23):
He doesn't delight in our pain or he doesn't delight when we have difficulties and struggles.
And so there are some struggles.
There's some pain, some discomfort, some things that we go through that we may never know
on this side of glory.
I have lots of questions.
I have lots of questions about the stuff that I've been through.
The things that I've seen of the events that have happened to me.
(51:48):
But through them all I'm still assured that God would not take me somewhere.
One to just leave me or to have me suffer there just for suffering sake.
Everything that we do has a purpose.
There is a reason.
There is something that God has for us there.
(52:08):
Yeah.
So be encouraged that God is providing.
A great example of that is Abraham and sacrificing Isaac.
Or when God told him to sacrifice Isaac.
We should talk about that because that's another loaded one.
But yeah.
(52:29):
Trust that if God calls you, he has equipped you with the ability to walk into whatever
season or to walk into whatever he has for you and prosper there.
Yeah.
Okay.
So that was Elijah.
This was first Kings chapter 18 and I guess the first half of 19.
19, 1 to 9.
(52:51):
All right y'all.
Hope y'all have a blessed rest of your day.
Bye.
Hello and welcome back to the Our Favorite Bible Stories podcast.
(00:13):
My name is Udochi and I am your host.
Welcome back.
It has been maybe two months, maybe three, who really knows.
Just know that I have not been consistent which is so interesting because I believe
(00:34):
in the last episode I said I would be more consistent.
The joke was absolutely on me.
Yeah, my life has just been really, really interesting and I didn't really have the energy
to record a podcast but I'm back because I remember I was supposed to be obedient.
(00:55):
So I am here to record another one.
It's also crazy because in October I think that will be the one year anniversary of this
podcast and I have put out seven episodes.
That says a lot about where I am.
But yeah, I mean we thank God for life, for health.
(01:17):
We thank him for all of the stuff that he has to and all that he will be doing.
Yeah, let's get into it.
Oh my gosh, we do Rosebudthorn.
I totally forgot about that.
But before we do Rosebudthorn, let's do Song of the Week.
(01:38):
I have been listening to, ooh, I found Marantha Gospel, which has the top 40 gospel praise
songs in their opinion.
They're missing a lot.
But just a great playlist.
If you grew up in like a old black church or like a Baptist church or anything like
(02:01):
that, you'll enjoy it.
But guess my songs are no surprise.
Well actually there is one surprise.
Two of them are Mercy Chin-Woe.
Love her, love her, love her.
If she's not on my Spotify rap as number one artist, I will be upset.
I will be angry.
(02:23):
But I found one called Oil on My Head.
Love that.
It's the remix version with Eben and Eben is phenomenal.
I love Eben so much.
They've been making bops before people even knew that bops could exist in the Nigerian
gospel sphere.
Well actually that's giving them too much credit because Agatha Moses was there before
all of them and she still is amazing.
(02:45):
My sister and I were playing her song while we were driving back from somewhere and when
I tell you we were turning up in the car, that's what Agatha can do.
She's still a queen.
I feel like Eben was one of the older pop gospel Christian Nigerian, I don't know what
we're going to call them.
But yeah I remember them when I was in high school and they're great.
(03:10):
So Sinatch too.
Love Sinatch.
Is it Sinatch or Sinak?
I think it's Sinatch.
Right because she's Nigerian.
The cha.
I think her name is Sinatch.
And then Give Me Chance also with Mercy Chinwell and Bidemi Oloaba.
Olaoba.
(03:30):
Olaoba.
Olaoba.
Sorry to the Yorubas and whoever is listening to this if you're Yoruba I do apologize.
I will buy those two.
Great great song.
Also nah I'll leave it at those two.
Anyway Rosebudthorn.
Oh you know let me stop playing myself.
Every time I go to record this I'm like Yudoshi can you keep your voice stable?
(03:55):
And it's because I move around a lot so I just got myself back up so that way I won't
have a hard time editing this later.
Doing my future self a favor.
Look at me so kind.
Rosebudthorn.
I'll tell you what a thorn is.
I have deluded myself in one of the worst ways possible and it is.
(04:19):
It's so interesting.
I don't know when you will be listening to this but at the time of this recording my
family and I are supposed to be going somewhere next week.
I have made the very very dumb decision to sew a dress for that.
(04:39):
An African style dress.
As someone who has not sewed since she was like 10.
How do you think it's going?
Not well at all.
I almost broke the sewing machine.
I'm just trying to make a bustier and that's not working.
(04:59):
We'll see what happens.
This will very soon not be my issue anymore.
Either because I give up or because I make the simplest dress known to man.
I don't know which one it's going to be.
I'm fine with either.
Yeah so that's super fun.
So that's my thorn.
(05:20):
My rose.
This sounds so small but I promise you I bought salmon.
Fresh salmon.
And I'm so excited to have it for dinner tonight.
I saved it.
I was like what day is going to be salmon day and it's today.
And I am ecstatic.
Salmon is delicious and I will hear no other words about it.
(05:41):
Salmon is phenomenal.
And I will be air frying it.
If you've never air fried salmon get on it.
It changes the game.
It truly does.
And it is delicious.
If you've never had that sushi bake that's great as well.
The sushi bake.
You never had like a salmon rice bowl?
(06:02):
If you don't like fish.
Well if you're allergic that's fine.
But if you don't like fish on principle get over it.
So I actually can't say that because I hate basically every type of seafood that is not
fish.
Still get over it.
Salmon is phenomenal.
Actually I take that back.
See this is why my episodes are like 5 hours long.
(06:24):
I take that back.
I only like salmon.
And potentially catfish.
And whatever they make fish sticks out of.
Not all fish sticks though.
Actually I take that back.
I don't like fish sticks.
But I do love Popeyes fish sandwich.
It was really good.
Anyway back to what I was saying.
(06:45):
Yay salmon.
Um a rose?
I feel like God's been confirming a lot of things to me as of recent.
Um scary but nice.
So that will be my rose.
Okay let's get into the story.
I'm trying to make this 45 minutes.
We'll see.
God be with me.
(07:07):
Speaking of the Lord, let's pray.
Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day.
We thank you for everything you've done.
We thank you for allowing me to come to this moment where I'm going to be talking about
Elijah having a great old time discussing his story.
Or the second part of his story.
Actually just be with me.
I ask that you will guide my heart, guide my mind, guide the words that are coming out
(07:30):
of my mouth.
It cannot be from my own intelligence or my own thoughts or my own perspective.
But instead that it will be what you want to say in this moment God.
There would be no me but all of you that would hide me behind your cross.
That this word will encourage somebody.
That it will help somebody in the situation they're going through.
(07:50):
That it will bring them back to you.
Whatever it is, whatever somebody needs to get from this podcast, may they get it.
And may you receive the praise, honor, glory, adoration from our lives.
Now and forever more.
In Jesus name, Amen.
Okay let's talk about Elijah.
So if you missed last week's, last episode let's just call it that.
(08:17):
You should go watch it.
And not just, or I guess go listen to it.
Not just because it's my podcast but also because it has a lot of really crucial information
that I will not be going over again in this episode.
All you need to know is that the kings of Israel were really really evil.
It started with some guy named Jeroboam.
(08:42):
You should really go listen to it though because it goes in depth about how Israel got to the
place that they are in when we meet Elijah.
Yeah there was a lot, there was a build up.
So go listen to it.
Basically there's a king named Ahaz and he was, oh that's a lie.
(09:02):
See I said Ahaz and I was like that doesn't sound right.
His name was Ahab.
And he was evil, evil, evil.
So God told Elijah to tell Ahab that there was going to be a drought.
There would be no rain for a certain amount of years.
Ahab was like yeah right.
And just as God said through Elijah there was no rain.
(09:25):
And in the last episode we talked about how Elijah was sustained during that time.
But now in this episode we will be talking about one of the classic stories, Elijah and
the prophets of Baal and how basically God ends this drought.
Spoiler alert, how God ends the drought.
So we pick up with Elijah after he was living with a widow.
(09:50):
Once again that's in the last episode as well, go listen to that.
He was living with a widow while the rest of Israel and I guess some of the neighboring
places were experiencing the drought.
And so, oh this story also is taking place in 1 Kings chapter 18.
Yeah, 1 Kings 18, starting at verse 1.
(10:14):
So after a long time in the third year the word of the Lord came to Elijah, go and present
yourself to Ahab and I will send rain on the land.
So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab.
So this would be a big thing because Ahab had been looking for Elijah.
He had been looking for Elijah because he was like how dare you pronounce a drought
on my kingdom?
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Absolutely not.
So he was looking for Elijah.
And so God is basically telling Elijah, go to Ahab, it's time.
If I were Elijah I'd be a little shaken but he was prepared for this.
He was built for this.
So he goes and as he was going he meets Obadiah.
Obadiah was King Ahab's palace administrator.
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So basically he was like helping to run things.
Obadiah was also a devout Jew and because of that he had hidden prophets of the Lord.
He hid them in caves, was bringing them food and water.
So he was basically sustaining the prophets.
And so Elijah is walking and, oh no, Obadiah was sent on a mission from Ahab.
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So as Obadiah is walking Elijah meets him.
And Obadiah was like, I know that ain't you.
Is that, is that, oh, Elijah stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop,
is that you?
And Elijah's like, sure is taking me to Ahab.
And Obadiah was like, not a chance, not a chance I'm not taking you to Ahab.
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Because I love the way that Obadiah says this.
Starting at verse 9 he's like, what have I done wrong that you are handing your servant
over to Ahab to be put to death?
As surely as a Lord your God lives, there is not a nation or kingdom where my master
has not sent someone to look for you.
And then skipping down.
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But now you tell me to go to my master and say Elijah's here?
I don't know where the spirit of the Lord may carry you when I, when I leave you.
If I go and tell Ahab and he doesn't find you, he will kill me.
And he's basically saying, why?
He's like, do you hate me?
Said, am I your enemy?
And honestly, Obadiah had the right of it.
I do, I do agree with that because this had been three years of, once again, Ahab looking
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for Elijah.
Looking for him because he was upset at the drought.
So if Obadiah were to go and run back and say, oh, Elijah's here and he's not there
when he gets back because God has been known to whisk people away.
He has been known to do that.
So Obadiah was like, don't, don't blame me, please.
And he also was like, I've been hiding in case you didn't know this, I've been hiding
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the other prophets.
He's like, I'm a good one.
I'm one of the good ones.
Do not send me to death.
Don't make me do that.
And Elijah was like, don't even worry about it.
I'm going to be right here.
Go get him.
And so Obadiah did exactly that.
I do want to pause here because I'm just so confused by Ahab.
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So small backstory to explain my point here.
Ahab was married to Jezebel.
I'm sure we've all heard of Jezebel, blah, blah, blah.
But she was real evil.
And she was the one that basically prompted Ahab to do a lot of his evil things.
So it's less that Ahab himself was evil, that he was a coward and couldn't stand up to his
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own evil.
That's his business.
But what's the name of, oh, it is Baal, yeah.
Baal was known as the god of weather.
And so in God telling Elijah to pronounce a drought, it is like directly challenging
their belief in Baal.
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Because if Baal was real, then it shouldn't matter that Elijah pronounced a drought, water
would still come as he was considered the god of weather.
So I am just confused because looking at my time, it's been three years since y'all have
seen water from the sky.
You said that Baal's a god of weather.
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So if he really was, then why wouldn't he fix it?
And if he's not fixing it, if the word of the Lord is standing, why are you still worshiping
Baal?
And why are you looking for Elijah?
Because that's basically confirming that the god he serves is the true god.
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Because when he pronounced it at the request of God, rain stopped.
Yeah, your god couldn't do nothing about it.
That's confusing to me.
So why is your anger directed at Elijah and not at Jezebel, your wife, or at all the prophets
who've been taking your money and sacrificing whatever and their god can't do a single thing
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about it?
That's confusing to me.
I don't know how we got here.
How was he upset at Elijah?
This is just proof that Baal isn't real.
I just don't get it.
I really don't.
Because the steps you have to go through to get to that conclusion that Elijah is at fault
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for this, I mean, technically he is, but you skipped over so many necessary details to
get to being angry at Elijah.
And it's not like those kings did not know that God was the true god because whenever
they were in trouble for generations, they'd be like, oh God, please save us.
And then they would go back to what they were doing.
So it's not like y'all don't know God.
(15:50):
Anyway, back to the story.
Obadiah goes to meet Ahab and Ahab goes to meet Elijah.
See?
Verse 17, when he saw Elijah, he said to him, is that you, you troubler of Israel?
No, you're the troubler.
No, it's you because it's your sin that has caused all of this.
And that's what Elijah popped right back.
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He said, I have not made trouble for Israel, but you and your father's family have.
You have abandoned the Lord's commands and have followed the Baals.
And not one lie was told because if y'all hadn't been messing up, there would be no
drama.
I'm not gonna, I'd be knocking on Ahab's door.
Hello?
Tear this down.
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Do you see my cow?
Do you see it emaciated because there's no water?
You see that corn?
Yeah, there is no corn.
There's no water.
Hello?
You're out here ruining stuff for us.
Get it together.
They should have said that because they have been known to overthrow kings.
They could have done it.
That's my, that's my two cents.
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They weren't really about that life though.
That's their business.
Anyway, so Elijah was like, summon everybody from Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel and
bring the 450 prophets of Baal and the one of the other goddesses.
And they're basically like, we're gonna have a competition.
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This is a really well known story.
I'm sure several people know this, but if you don't, basically what happens is Elijah
challenges the prophets of Baal to a competition saying, let's get two bulls and let's lay
them on an altar.
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Let's both pray to our gods in the way that we do and whichever bull is, or whichever
God sends fire from the heavens onto the sacrificial bull is the true God.
And oh, and before this, this is a good one.
(17:57):
Before he challenges them to the competition, Elijah says, how long will you waver between
two opinions?
If the Lord is God, follow him, but if Baal is God, follow him.
So this is basically a competition to see who is the real God.
The real God will actually do what he said he would do.
And the prophets of Baal were like, we got you.
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They agreed to it.
So they're putting their confidence behind their God saying that, yes, this is a God
that will answer by fire.
Which is so confusing to me once again, because like, when has he ever done that?
Like, like, I don't know.
I can bet on God because God's done it all.
What has your God done?
Like, have you seen him answer by fire before?
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So why would you agree to a competition if you've never seen your God do that?
Now that don't make no sense.
I mean, my God has a history of setting several things on fire.
The burning bush, that was him.
That was him.
I'm sure he's had some other stuff, but that was him.
Like we have a track record.
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Like, like Elijah put that together because he knew that he could do it.
Like, why did the prophets of Baal agree if they've never seen that happen?
Because Baal isn't real.
Just food for thought.
Like, the prophets of Baal were confusing me.
I don't get them.
Like, how were you also still worshiping Baal if the other God, the true God, says there's
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going to be a drought and then he doesn't stop it?
Like, I don't get that.
Especially if you're saying he's the God of weather.
That doesn't make any sense to me.
I don't understand how they were still following him.
And there's a part of me that's like, well, there's some times where our God or, you know,
I don't know about y'all, my God.
(19:48):
Amen.
But now like sometimes he may not answer things in the way that we want him to.
It's like, would that be the same thing?
And I'm going to say no, because I think while God does not always answer us or do exactly
what we want him to, he has said his spirit will go with us.
And I think that there is a certain sense of comfort and joy that can come from God,
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even excuse me, in the midst of difficult circumstances.
It is like a proof of his presence.
Editor Udochi here.
I also want to say that there are several points in the Bible where God asks people
to test him.
It's like, if you think I'm telling the truth, test me.
Do what I said, do what I told you to do.
Do be obedient and then see the final results.
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Literally in Malachi, when people are talking about tithes and offering, there's a verse
that says, bring you all the tithes and storehouse that there may be me in my house and prove
me thus saith the Lord, if I would not open up the windows of heaven and pour you out
of bless, there would not be room enough to receive it.
So God has actively asked us, like, test him, try him out and see if he's real.
To me, that means he's willing to put weight behind his name, weight behind his actions,
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weight behind his character.
I just don't believe, especially if you have faith, like, I just, the prophets of Baal
aren't math into me.
They're really not.
Anyway.
Yeah.
So, exactly what I said, verse 24, then you call him the name of your God and I will call
him the name of the Lord, the God who answers by fire, he is God.
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And so Elijah and the prophets of Baal do exactly that.
Oh, and the people also said, what you say is good.
So they're agreeing, they're like, okay, whoever answers by fire is the true God, we agree
to that.
That's a good competition, that's a good basis.
And so Elijah was like, y'all can go first, go ahead and choose your bull and prepare
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it.
And he was like, call on the name of your God, don't light the sacrifice and let's see,
let's see Baal call down fire.
And I'm going to read this straight from the Bible because I just think it's so funny the
way that Elisha was trolling them.
So they took the bull, given them and prepared it.
This is the NIV version.
(22:09):
I wish I had the NKJV but we'll settle for NIV.
And the prophets of Baal called on the name of Baal for morning till noon.
Baal answer us, they shouted, but there was no response.
No one answered.
The Bible so matter of fact, she was like, there was no response, there was no answer.
(22:29):
And they danced around the altar they had made.
At noon, Elijah began to taunt them.
Shout louder, he said, surely he is a God.
Perhaps he is deep in thought or busy or traveling.
Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.
Too good.
That is too good.
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As Christians, we should not be insulting people.
But these are A level insults.
When he said he must be traveling?
How disrespectful, how rude, how absolutely rude.
And they responded to that because they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords
(23:12):
and spears as was their custom until their blood flow.
Midday passed and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening
sacrifice.
But there was no response.
No one answered.
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No one paid attention.
I don't even, I don't have to say anything else.
The Bible said what it said.
The prophets of Baal, from morning to evening.
This is editor Udochi with the trigger warning.
If you are sensitive to topics of self harm, please skip to 2515.
(23:58):
For screaming and crying and sl-
I also have this statement to say.
I don't know why their practices were so grotesque.
That's one thing I didn't, I don't understand about pagan traditions at this time.
What are you doing sacrificing your child?
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What?
How does that make sense?
If all of you sacrifice your children, how was the nation, how are y'all supposed to
continue to multiply?
Editor Udochi here, this is of course besides the very obvious fact that we should not murder,
that we should not be killing anybody.
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But from a logical standpoint, that makes no sense.
From a logical standpoint don't do it, but it also makes no sense.
I don't get that.
I don't, I don't understand.
What do you gain by slashing yourself?
I don't understand.
This is, I will put a trigger warning before this section in case and tell y'all where
(25:02):
to skip to if you don't want to listen to this.
But like, how does that make sense?
Like how does, how does that make sense?
I don't get it.
I really don't.
And it didn't work.
As the Bible said, no one paid attention.
No one paid attention.
So verse 30, then Elijah said to all the people, come here to me.
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They came to him and he repaired the altar of the Lord, which had been torn down.
You see what I'm talking about?
Who tore it down?
I'm sure it says it in somewhere.
I'm pretty sure in the episode before this you'll see who tore it down.
I think it may have been Jeroboam.
It may have been Jeroboam.
You know what?
Actually I'll do, let me not pressure future Udoji, but future Udoji if you're listening
(25:47):
to this, pause this and go find out who did it.
Okay?
If the Bible says, thank you.
Go to a commentary.
Thanks.
Editor Udochi here.
So I don't think we know who tore down that altar.
All we know, well, from the sources I looked at, all we know is that there once was an
altar at Mount Carmel that in some way, shape or form was destroyed.
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Verse 31, Elijah took 12 stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, period,
to whom the word of the Lord had come saying, your name shall be Israel.
Talk about it.
With the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord exactly.
And he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two saiyas of seed.
A saiyah is 24 pounds.
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Man, that's like a, right?
Two saiyahs.
That's like, that's like a small child.
I think I weighed that much like first, second grade.
Dang.
I was not playing around.
Verse 33, he arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood.
(27:00):
Then he said to them, fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and
on the wood.
Do it again, he said, and they did it again.
Do it a third time, he ordered, and they did it a third time.
The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench.
I do have a question about this because I thought there was a drought.
So where'd he get the water from?
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Here's one thing I've always been confused about.
If future Doji has an answer, she'll put it in right here.
Look, I genuinely do not know where they got that water from.
Like, did the water appear because God had a point to prove?
Maybe or maybe, maybe Elijah brought the water with him because when he was at the widow's
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house he wasn't really, he wasn't lacking or anything.
They were making cakes daily so they had to have had some water.
Guess who, editor Udochi.
So maybe according to what I looked at, it's possible that the people had water but just
not a lot of it.
So they were struggling but they could still do like basic things.
(28:07):
Another place said that Mount Carmel was close to the Mediterranean Sea so maybe that place
had water.
But I'm confused because if they had water, why were they complaining so much?
So I don't know how much I believe either of those choices but that is a potential answer.
Take it or leave it.
Where'd they get the water from?
I don't know.
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But what I do know is that there was water and it was poured onto the sacrifice.
Basically saying that like not only, gosh there's a bug, not only do I have confidence
in my God's ability to send down fire, I'ma make it even harder.
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Y'all had problems just doing the bare minimum.
I'ma make it even harder so y'all can really know who's running stuff around here.
That's what Elijah did.
He poured water even to the point where the trench surrounding the sacrifice was full
of water.
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So then Elijah says, 36, at the time of sacrifice the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed,
Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in
Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command.
Answer me, Lord, answer me.
So these people will know that you, Lord, are God and that you are turning their hearts
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back again.
What a prayer.
I want to talk about this because I guess a few minutes I had mentioned how sometimes
it could feel like God doesn't answer us or like we may be scared to like put God's name
to the test or basically what I said before about trying something and it not working.
(30:00):
I want to clarify that Elijah had this set up because God told him to.
Here at the beginning of 18, after a long time, the third year, the word of the Lord
came to Elijah, go and present yourself to Ahab and I will send rain on the land.
Like God is, God told Elijah, put my name to the test.
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Let me show you what I can do and let me show them what I can do, them being the children
of Israel at that time.
So I do want to just clarify that Elijah was doing this because God told him to.
It was not for ego, it wasn't to puff himself up, it wasn't to show I'm so close to God,
it wasn't for any of that.
It was because God told him to.
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Let some of y'all go ahead and start doing crazy stuff in the name of quote unquote faith
and God never told you to do it.
I'm not advocating for that.
But I'm not saying God can't come through for you.
He can, he's a merciful kind God, but don't be dumb.
There's a verse that says, one shall we continue in sin that grace may abound, basically saying
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don't take advantage of God's goodness just because he's good does not mean you should
start messing up and saying, oh God will forgive me.
No, no, no, no, no.
He is there for the brokenhearted and binds their wounds and he is there for those who
are suffering, but don't take advantage.
Okay?
If you know better, do better.
And if you can't do better, pray to God to help him.
Pray to God so he can help you do better.
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There's another verse I wanted to say, test not put the test, not the Lord, put not the
Lord your God to the test.
I don't remember.
I don't remember.
But yeah, don't be, don't try this because let me bring up a great example.
There's a time it was either with Peter or Paul.
You don't you will answer what this is here.
(31:53):
Good to you, Dachi.
Sorry, girl.
I got you working on this episode.
I do apologize.
Anyway, I think it was Peter.
It was Peter.
This editor Udochi.
You already know.
And if you want to read more, it's an Acts 8 chapter 9 to 25 where Peter is doing a bunch
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of miracles and there is this guy that came up was like, I also want to do miracles.
Tell me how he's like, I will pay you money to do miracles.
And they were like, it don't work that way, bub.
It don't work that way.
Remove yourself.
And there was another time where this guy saw Paul casting out demons.
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And this is so disrespectful.
And the guy was like, okay, let me do a little something.
And he went and tried to cast out a demon and the demon looked at him and said, I know
Paul and oh Jesus, who the heck are you?
And then he pounced on him and he shook him so violently that he was naked.
And then he had to run away.
And I was like, see, this is why you don't start getting into fights that you're not
ready for.
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No one told that guy to do that.
He was doing it for ego's sake and not because the Lord told him to.
So let's make sure that we're being motivated by the right spirit when we do things.
Don't go up somewhere and start doing dumb stuff and say, oh well, God did it for Elijah.
Okay, but God told Elijah to do it.
Let's use our number six.
Let's use our sense.
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Let's use wisdom and discernment.
Go read Proverbs if you need to.
Elijah says all of that stuff in there, but let's be smart.
Anyway, after Elijah says this prayer is like basically show yourself as God, show everybody
here that you are God.
Editor Udochi here, the audio got weird.
So he brought up the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, who for the most part trusted
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God.
Though some of them did some, some stuff we don't approve of looking at you, Abraham and
Isaac and look, they all did something.
But Abraham got told Abraham to leave his place to and he lived in tents for his whole
entire life.
And God basically promised him that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky
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and the sand and the sand near the sea.
And Abraham was waiting for that promise.
He was waiting a long, long time before he got Isaac.
Isaac also was basically he entrusted God to find his spouse.
And that's exactly what happened.
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And obviously Deborah, that's not her name, Rebecca.
He married Rebecca after his servant went and found her.
And if you read that story, we should do that story.
But if you read that story, it was basically super divinely orchestrated how the meeting,
how the servant met Rebecca and how Rebecca ended up coming with him to marry Isaac.
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And listen, Israel was, Israel, well, Jacob who became Israel, he was living on a promise,
okay?
He was living on broken promises and then the Lord came and restored.
What a life that man had.
But these are all people that basically showcase the character of God.
He made promises to them and he's stuck by them.
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God stuck by his promises.
Proving or put, which allows weight to be put on his name.
It's not just a God who's been here for a few, a few centuries or stuff like that.
This is a God that is known to our ancestors and has consistently come through for us.
It's consistently shown his might and his power.
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That is the God that we are believing will answer us by fire.
And so right after Elijah pray that, verse 38, then the fire of the Lord fell and burned
up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil and also licked up the water in the
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trench.
This is crazy because remember we use water to put out fires.
The fire consumed the water that was in the trench.
It consumed absolutely everything.
Oh my gosh, stop.
The other time that God answered by fire was with Gideon.
I did an episode on Gideon.
(36:20):
Great great episode.
You should listen to that one as well.
When Gideon also put a sacrifice and God consumed everything or the angel of the Lord.
It was God.
God consumed everything.
We're seeing the exact same thing.
It's an example of how God does not do his stuff halfway.
He doesn't just like dip his toe and say, okay, we're done.
He does it fully.
He went and he ate up everything.
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I never realized the soil, the soil that was there, it caught strays as well.
It was gone.
It was burnt by the fire.
Hello?
He left nothing.
A complete God.
And when all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, the Lord, he is God.
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The Lord, he is God.
Basically, they fell on their faces, they knelt before him and said, oh, oh, you're
the real deal, which they already knew.
But I think it's also special when God shows up for you personally or like shows up for
you in your situation.
And he did that.
He was like, I'm tired of y'all.
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Let's get some truth in here.
And I think that coupled with the drought, it's like these are two examples that go hand
in hand in proving and showcasing God's character.
So y'all better be serious and get your act together.
So Elijah said, round up the prophets of Baal.
And they killed them, which is kind of sad.
I still struggle with the violence that is shown in the Bible, that they were killed.
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And so Elijah said to Ahab, go eat and drink for there is the sound of a heavy rain.
This is also so, so amazing is that God showed himself as God and then provided for the people.
And because the drought was not just affecting Ahab and his raggedy self, it was impacting
all of Israel.
I also do want to say while Ahab was the main person, Israel also was not showing up in
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the way they were supposed to, or most of Israel was not, which is why God did this.
But he could have been like, serves y'all right.
I told y'all I was a real God.
Y'all didn't want to listen to me by then.
No one's getting water.
Okay.
Go, go back to your things and serve Baal since y'all want to serve him so badly.
He could have done all of that.
And this is, I'm not going to lie.
(38:36):
There is a version of me that would also do that.
But in his kindness and his compassion and his care, after proving he was really God,
he was like, okay, here's your teddy bear.
Here's your rain.
Here's the rain y'all were desperately seeking.
Go get your animals.
Go get your crops.
Here we go.
So Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah climbed to the top of Mount Carmel and bent
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down to the ground and put his face between his knees.
And so he kept doing this until he did it seven times until he heard the rain or until
his assistant, can we call him assistant?
What are we going to call this man?
His servant.
Okay.
So his servant said there was a small cloud that was coming.
(39:23):
And then Elijah, well, the spirit of the Lord fell on Elijah and he ran.
He basically ran back, I guess, to the center point, which is the main part of Israel.
And he even out ran Ahab who was on a chariot.
And he out ran him.
Yeah, I'm not going to lie.
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I actually don't really know why that was there.
Yeah, what an interesting part.
I actually don't really know why the power of the Lord fell on Elijah at that point.
Maybe it was like another testament.
Maybe it was like an excitement.
(40:05):
Maybe it was like another show for Ahab.
You don't you look at a commentary and put it in here.
I'm sorry girl, I got you working.
Anyway, not that anyway.
So I looked at the Blue Letter Bible commentary and they're saying that this happened because
Ahab saw Elijah and didn't give him a ride on his chariot.
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So he ran before him.
Then another commentary said we have no idea why this happened.
I'm not sure the answer is super clear, but we know that it did occur and that it was
important enough for God to include it.
Maybe it was relevant to the people of the time.
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Maybe it meant something.
Maybe this is a by and by question where we're up in heaven partying and like, so God, why
was Elijah running?
Why did you give him supernatural strength to run?
Who knows?
I know that I do not know.
And I was going to stop, but I am going to talk about this second portion or the first
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part of chapter 19.
It says, now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all
the prophets with the sword.
And so let's take a poll.
If you were Jezebel and you saw your prophet get utterly demolished, not your prophet,
(41:35):
your God get utterly demolished, he got ate up in a fight.
What would you do?
Cause there is a part of, well, not a part of me, cause I don't worship Jezebel.
I do understand why she got upset, but I don't as well because girly, this is proof that
your God is not a thing.
(41:58):
Isn't it time to get off your high horse and just agree to worship the God of Israel?
Isn't this your time to say Ahab?
Okay, let's cut the nonsense.
Obviously their God has won, even if you're mad about it.
Obviously the God of Elijah has won.
Let's relax.
But that's not her response.
(42:19):
She's like a double down person where even though she's wrong, she going double down
on it.
God be careful people like that because they're willing to destroy everything around them
so that way they can feel powerful so they can show their anger.
What are you gaining?
Your prophets are gone.
(42:40):
Why aren't you scared that Baal didn't do anything?
Why is your concern?
Why do they keep making their concern?
Elijah, I don't get that.
Meanwhile his God is one that brought back water so that way y'all can live in the peace
that you want to as King and Queen.
It's not like people going to come and attack you or what?
Oh no, they could.
But like you're living in relative luxury.
(43:05):
What do you gain?
Like what else do you want?
At least cut your losses and just move on.
What are you gaining?
Anyway, she didn't do that.
And she said may the gods deal with...
What gods girly?
What gods are you talking about?
The one that just got ate up?
Weirdo.
(43:25):
Anyway, Jezebel sent a message to Elijah saying may the gods deal with me be it ever
so severely if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.
She's so unserious girl.
What you going to do?
This is the same God that kept Elijah for three years.
Girl be serious.
Anyway Elijah ran away.
Elijah was afraid and he ran away.
(43:46):
Which I find so fascinating because I think it's a human thing as well.
Because he just saw some of the biggest miracles that God could put on.
He saw himself be sustained through a widow for three years.
(44:06):
He saw God send down fire and absolutely demolish everything around it.
The soil and the water after drenching the sacrifice.
And he saw him just run at supernatural speed.
The power of the Lord fell on him and he was out running a chariot.
(44:30):
That's like a human being out running...
Well they weren't that fast.
But our equivalent is like a Lamborghini and a human is running faster than it at full
speed.
So then how did that not translate to this moment?
There's a part of me that feels like Elijah was like okay this is the time.
Fine they're going to stop their nonsense.
We're all going to be good.
So when Jezebel did what she did by saying I'm going to try to fight you, I'm going to
(44:55):
try to find you and kill you, I assume it makes sense for him to be afraid.
It's hard because once again he just experienced all of these miracles.
But it's a very very human reaction.
Especially when it seems like, if of course this is just my conjecture, that he probably
had a really specific belief about what would happen after this huge miracle.
(45:21):
So the fact that that didn't come about like oh whoa what's going on.
Also Ahab stand up.
Ahab get up.
Ahab get up.
Get up.
Get up.
Get up.
What do you like about the ground so much?
What is there for you?
What is on the ground that you want to stay there?
What is it?
Let us know.
(45:42):
Because you witnessed what God did.
God could have told them to take you and slaughter you like they did the prophets but he didn't.
So why don't you stop Jezebel?
I don't get that you're king.
(46:02):
You witnessed all of this stuff and you're just going to let Jezebel send a messenger
to go destroy Elijah?
After Elijah sent back, after Elijah told you that water was going to come after your
prophets got ate up?
Confusion, confusion, confusion.
Get up.
(46:23):
Everybody in the story needs to get up.
Elijah ran away though.
And he was like I want to die.
There's nothing here for me.
I'm so sad.
And this is so funny to me.
You know this is really interesting.
Why do I feel like I did an episode on this?
Ravens fed him.
Oh my gosh.
(46:43):
It's because Elijah did that before.
I was like why does this sound so familiar to me?
It's because before when Elijah ran away the first time he also was like I'm tired of this.
Leave me alone.
Please I don't want to do anymore.
And Ravens fed him.
I was like why does this sound so familiar to me?
(47:05):
And basically the same thing happened here where Elijah was like I'm done.
And an angel of the Lord, well God basically put him to a deep sleep.
He was like take a nap.
You've done a lot.
Take a rest.
Some of y'all need to hear that.
Some of y'all need to take a nap.
Some of you are getting three hours of sleep a night.
I don't mean to call anybody out but some of you are.
(47:27):
Not me.
I get five hours.
I need to sleep more.
But some of y'all need to sleep more.
Some of y'all need to take a rest.
There are so many important things that your body does during sleep.
It helps with your immune function.
It helps you consolidate memories.
Sleep is there for a reason.
There's a reason that God created sleep and rest.
(47:48):
And our world doesn't prioritize that.
And I also think in some of the spaces that do talk about it they don't acknowledge all
the barriers that can come when you're trying to get a good night's sleep.
I do.
I understand.
And it's not just like oh they're scrolling on social media.
Sometimes you're scrolling on social media because you're trying to numb your feelings
(48:10):
or this is the only fun time you have during the day.
There's different reasons.
But if you are having difficulties with having the ability to sleep I would definitely pray
about it because we're supposed to be resting and I don't think it's good for us to not
rest when we need it.
So God put him into a deep sleep.
He was like go to sleep sir.
(48:31):
You're doing too much.
And then when he woke up the angel of the Lord touched him and said get up and eat.
He looked around and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals and a jar
of water.
He ate and drank and then lay down again.
And then the angel of the Lord said the same thing.
Get up and eat for the journey is too much for you.
(48:51):
So he got up and ate and drank.
Strengthened by the food he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb
the mountain of God.
There he went to a cave and spent the night.
I don't think I'm going to talk about the second half but I remember I was at church
and there was this sermon.
A sermon was preached about this particular part and the pastor said this phrase and I
agree with him.
Sometimes you just need a nap and a sandwich.
(49:15):
Like when you're upset ask yourself have I slept?
Have I eaten?
Sometimes you just need to take a quick little power nap.
I don't well there's some research that says power naps may not work.
But sometimes you just need to take a rest and eat a sandwich.
Go get some food.
Have you eaten today?
(49:36):
Like let's take care of the basic stuff before we start to assume it's work before we start
to despair.
Take a nap.
Go eat some food.
The basics.
And it's also okay if you are in this despair mode because God wasn't like Elijah get up.
Didn't I just tell you?
Didn't you just do this?
What are you doing?
He was like I understand.
(49:56):
You're tired.
Go to sleep.
I know you're hungry.
The angel lord was like you need to eat because there's a lot more for you to do.
So eat that bread.
And he gave him water.
So once again about God meeting more than just like our physical or more than just like
our spiritual need he can meet our physical needs as well.
(50:18):
He can see everything that we need and answer.
Because that's just what he do.
Love that.
So that's the story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal.
Great great story.
This is where God's showing up.
I think oftentimes when we're asked to do things it can seem so hard and so difficult
like oh is he really going to?
(50:39):
Because I can imagine it's stressful to go up and challenge the king.
Challenge the prophets when there's 450 and it's just you by yourself.
And to then put water on it.
Make it even more difficult and then still trust that God will come through.
(51:00):
It's hard.
But I think one thing that has given me comfort and I hope gives you comfort is that God would
not call you to a place if he has not equipped you with the ability to prosper there.
Or if he has not or if he is not raising up people to help you.
God's not mean and he's not nasty or rude.
(51:23):
He doesn't delight in our pain or he doesn't delight when we have difficulties and struggles.
And so there are some struggles.
There's some pain, some discomfort, some things that we go through that we may never know
on this side of glory.
I have lots of questions.
I have lots of questions about the stuff that I've been through.
The things that I've seen of the events that have happened to me.
(51:48):
But through them all I'm still assured that God would not take me somewhere.
One to just leave me or to have me suffer there just for suffering sake.
Everything that we do has a purpose.
There is a reason.
There is something that God has for us there.
(52:08):
Yeah.
So be encouraged that God is providing.
A great example of that is Abraham and sacrificing Isaac.
Or when God told him to sacrifice Isaac.
We should talk about that because that's another loaded one.
But yeah.
(52:29):
Trust that if God calls you, he has equipped you with the ability to walk into whatever
season or to walk into whatever he has for you and prosper there.
Yeah.
Okay.
So that was Elijah.
This was first Kings chapter 18 and I guess the first half of 19.
19, 1 to 9.
(52:51):
All right y'all.
Hope y'all have a blessed rest of your day.
Bye.
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