Proof Positive

06.16.13

1 Kings 19.36-37 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. 37 Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.” (ESV)

Elijah seems to me to have been somewhat of an anomaly in Israel. The country by and large had left the worship of God and had turned to ungodly Baal worship and the sexually perverted worship of Asherah. What happens when a nation turns their backs on God?

Israel, in Elijah’s day under king Ahab, was a country in turmoil and a country of confusion. The people didn’t know who to worship, and my guess is they mostly didn’t worship anything. I’d guess most of them tried to simply remain unaffiliated; a lot like many do today.

But enter the Love of God; and enter God’s servant. Someone had to stand up for truth and lead, and God had His man: Elijah. Elijah’s life wasn’t easy because in the terms of the times Elijah wasn’t politically correct – he bucked the king’s religion and stood faithfully against the agenda of the king’s foreign wife; she had little love for Israel or her God. What they needed was a father to turn the hearts of the children back to their Father: back to God.

Elijah was a father (although it appears he never married); Elijah was a father for a nation helping them to turn back to God by showing them proof-positive God’s power and presence – something that neither the worship of Baal nor Asherah could ever do. The greatest calling on a man’s life is to be one who turns the hearts of his children back to God. Again.

Many times had Israel sinned and many times they had been turned back again. This time God chose Elijah the Tishbite to call them back again. Our children need to be reminded again and again where their Hope and Help come from; they need to be reminded until they get it – and Elijah did it for the children of God.

My children need to see my faith; they need to see it in action, in service, in love, in respect, and in wisdom because a father’s job is to: “… turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.” A land without familial love and care is a land that is destined for destruction. With God the hearts of the children and parents both are turned. Without God it’s a train wreck.

Lord God, this Father’s Day may I, like Elijah, be used by You to help my children, grandchildren, and others turn back to You. May my faith shine faithfully apparent; and may my life be a living demonstration – proof positive – of Your power and presence, that they may see: You alone are God – in Your Name, amen.