Obadiah was the governor of Ahab's household. He had much respect for God--so much so, that when Jezebel cut off all the prophets, and was having them put to death, he hid a hundred of God's prophets in caves, feeding them.
Ahab sent Obadiah to search the land for grass to feed the animals. While Obadiah was searching, he met Elijah. When he saw Elijah, he fell on his face and said, "Elijah!...is that you?"
Elijah said, "Yes. Go tell Ahab I want to see him."
"There is no way I am going to tell Ahab you are here! After you last seen him, he sent everyone in search of you. We had to swear by the kingdom that we hadn't seen you when we couldn't find you. If we said we saw you and you weren't there when he got here, he will kill me."
Elijah promised he would see Ahab that day, so Obadiah went to tell Ahab, and Ahab went to meet Elijah.
When Ahab saw Elijah, he said, "Are you the one causing all this trouble in Israel?"
to which Elijah replied, "I have caused no trouble. You are the one causing all the trouble by not following God. Now, I want a meeting with all of Israel at Mt. Carmel. Make sure you bring all 450 prophets of Baal, including the prophets of the grove.
So Ahab did as Elijah wanted. When they got there, Elijah stood before them and said, "How long will you ride the fence? If the Lord is your God then serve Him and only Him; but if Baal is your god, then serve him." No one spoke a word. So Elijah continued, "I am the only prophet of God left. There are 450 of Baal's prophets here. Let's see which God is the true God. Go get a young bull. Build an altar. Put wood on it, then let the true god light the fire to burn the sacrifice. I will pray to my God. You pray to yours. I will let Baal's prophets go first."
The people agreed.
Baal's prophets prayed, chanted, danced, yelled, leaped and made a big thing of it, but there god never brought fire for the altar. They kept trying. Finally, around noon, Elijah began making fun of them:
"Yell louder!" he said. "After all, he IS a god, is he not? Maybe he's busy talking to someone else. Maybe he's chasing someone. Maybe he can't hear you because he is on a trip somewhere? Hey! Maybe...maybe he's ASLEEP and you need to yell louder to wake him up!"
They kept trying until time for the evening sacrifice. Then it was Elijah's turn.
He called all the people to come near him. Then, he repaired the altar that was broken by Baal's prophets in their frenzy to get their god to answer. Then, he dug a trench around the altar and told the people to pour water all over the altar, the wood, the sacrifice and fill the trench so that it was all soaked wet.
Then Elijah prayed: "Dear Lord, let these people know that you are the only true God and that what I have said is truth!"
Fire came down and devoured the sacrifice, the altar, the wood and all the water around it.
The people of Israel bowed down, saying, "The Lord is God, the ONLY God!"
They took all the prophets of Baal and killed them. Then Elijah said to Ahab, "Eat, drink; rain is going to come now!"
Elijah went to the top of Mt. Carmel and sat with his head between his knees and told his servant, "Go, look toward the sea for rain." The servant went, and came back, saying, "I don't see anything." Elijah told him to go and come back seven times. On the seventh time, the servant came back and said, "I see a cloud!"
Elijah said, "Hurry, go tell Ahab to get his chariot and run to safety! It's going to storm!" Ahab ran to Jezreel with Elijah leading the way.
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There is only one God. When He makes Himself known, He leaves no doubt as to who He is or what He is about. When He gives, He gives abundantly. When He provides, He provides enough--but He refuses to bless those who do not serve His purpose. He does not let His children down, but He does not claim those who do not follow Him as His own.
What gods are you following? Who do you serve. I take Joshua's lead: "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!"
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