Key People: Key People From The BibleSample

Elijah

This chapter describes a great showdown. It’s not between Elijah and Ahab, it’s between God and false belief. The showdown was designed to make Baal look particularly powerless. Baal was the god of storms, so he should have been able to make lighting strike. Mount Carmel typically had large amounts of rainfall, so Baal was considered to be more powerful there. Baal had 450 prophets representing him; God had only one. Baal’s prophets worked very hard to get Baal to respond, but Elijah said only a simple prayer. It’s as if God was saying He can beat Baal with one hand tied behind His back!

You probably aren’t tempted to worship other gods, but you may be tempted to depend on things other than God. You may also be tempted to put extra effort into alternatives, like the prophets of Baal did. We take our focus off God when we rely on our own efforts like: working late, constant monitoring of your investments, withholding money from God, or being overly-cautious. God will care for us in this life and in eternity, but we need to trust in Him.