Many Christians talk about God but do they really believe that He is with us? We live in a time of much uncertainty. This uncertainty happens because people do not depend on the word of God. They do not know what God expects or what it means to have God with us. Our day is very similar to Judges 2:10. “After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel.” Disobedience leads to a void of the Holy Spirit in our lives. This story of Elijah helps us understand this better. The condition of Israel was appalling. 1 Kings 18 said, “Jezebel was killing off the Lord’s prophets, Elijah said to Ahab, “You have abandoned the Lord’s commands and have followed the Baals.” 1 Kings 21:25 (There was never anyone like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the Lord, urged on by Jezebel his wife.” This was the situation plus there was a famine in the land. Now it was time to confront the evil. Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal and said, “The god who answers by fire—he is God.”
1 Kings 18:36 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.” 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 trench.
Before this happened, “21 Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.”
But the people said nothing.” As a Christian we are not to waver. Do we believe that God is with us or not. We all have the bible; do we believe it or not? It would have been better to answer before the fire fell. In the upper room those who believed were there. They obeyed the directive to wait and in their obedience the fire fell and the church exploded. Back to the people after the fire fell. “39 When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The Lord—he is God! The Lord—he is God!”
It is so important for us to proclaim this because we believe. It is better to believe because God said so than it is to wait and see it and then believe. There will be some of each kind of people. John 20:27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” 28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” Sadly as Jesus departed some doubted still. We will have those types too. The good news is that God has said, 17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: 20 Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.”
Another example is found in 2 Kings 5:15 Naaman was told, “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.” 11 But Naaman went away angry and said, “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. He turned and went off in a rage.” When he came to his senses and obeyed “he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy. Then Naaman and all his attendants went back to the man of God. He stood before him and said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel.”
No matter what is happening in your life, you need to know. “Psalm 46:10 “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
