1 Kings 18:30-35 – How’s the altar of our lives?

Despite the frenzy but hilarious display, nothing worked for the Baal’s prophets. They had cried from the time they started their jigs till the time of the evening sacrifice, nothing happened. Embarrassed by the silence of Baal, his throng of prophets had to step aside for the one true servant of the LORD to demonstrate what his God could do.

Elijah put his absolute trust in the LORD. When it came to his turn to call for fire, he up his game. Calling the people to attention, he urged them to draw closer. Elijah first called for the altar to be repaired. For the prophets of Baal had damaged it in their fruitless attempt to prove what their powerless god could do. Twelve stones representing the sons of Jacob were used for the repair. What Elijah did was to acknowledge that Israel had 12 tribes and the Northern Kingdom comprising only 1o tribes was not an adequate expression of the whole of Israel. In a sense, this was done to give the picture that God was the LORD of the whole of Israel and not just part of it. On top of repairing the altar,  he also had them build a trench around it to hold two measures of seeds. Elijah then arranged the wood on the altar, cut the ox into pieces, and laid them on the wood. Then he ordered four pitchers of water be brought and poured over the offering and the wood. He drenched everything, altar, wood, and sacrifice, four times. It was said that even the trench was filled with water.

Elijah’s logic was simple. When the fire of God came down and licked up the offering and dried up the water, no one could say that it happened because of coincidence. His purpose was to make the situation impossible for the people to deny that the fire came from God. What does the altar symbolize? The altar speaks of our fellowship with God. It speaks of surrender and yielding to God to serve Him alone. The altar of the people of Israel was in a shambolic state. It’s an indication of how far they had meandered away from God. What is the state of our personal altar with God?  Does the altar of our life need repair? Is it telling us the state of our relationship with God? Take time to evaluate and repair the altar of our life if it has been torn down. Be willing to put ourselves at the altar of sacrifice and allow God to ignite us with a redhot passion for Him alone!