| In 1 Kings 18, Elijah gives the game away when he prays that God will let people know that he is God and that he is turning their hearts back again (v37). So an international drought, a widow’s son raised from the dead, and the impending defeat of the prophets of Baal are all part of God’s plan to woo his people back to him. He does this in three ways: by disciplining his people, by defeating his enemies, and by demonstrating his power. By the end of the chapter we are forced to confess with the Israelites, “the Lord, he is God”. And we start to recognise that so much of God’s activity in our lives is not mysterious, but simply a Father’s discipline, a clouting of the competition, and a modest sabre-rattling, all calculated to call us back to where we should be. As Elijah says, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, then follow him!” This is the straight-forward logic of the gospel: Jesus declares himself to us and says, “Follow me!” A no-brainer, if he is truly God. But in practice we waver inconsistently between him and the competition, inviting only further disciplines, defeats, and demos. |  |
Discipline, Defeat, Demo
Posted in Kings.
– Jun 23, 2010
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