Day 13: The Threat of False Gods

"Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again."  1 Kings 18:37

Main Character:  Elijah
Scripture:  1 Kings 18:16-39
Symbol:  Stone Altar

Have you ever encountered a modern day street prophet?  I'm talking about one of those guys that wears a sandwich board and screams doom, gloom, and repentance.  There was one of these men that would visit our campus at the University of New Hampshire on a regular basis.  He would stand in the middle of the quad screaming through a microphone at all of the students walking back and forth to class.  I must admit that I would intentionally walk the long way to avoid him.  I used to think that he was destroying the work of all the other campus ministries by his antics.  After all, people didn't want to hear that they were going to hell they wanted to hear how they could get to heaven.  Do you see the difference?

We meet the prophet Elijah in today's lesson.  He may in fact be one of the most well known prophets of the Old Testament.  I can just imagine that when people saw him coming they had the same reaction I did to the street prophet.  Elijah was a true prophet sent by God to preach repentance to the people of Israel.  He did not come to comfort the people but rather to confront their poor behavior.  How quickly the Israelites forgot God's faithfulness and turned to worshipping the false god, Baal.

The "moral" of today's story is that there is a time and place for confrontation.  We need to be careful of our methods, but it is important to point out behavior that is disobedient to God.  I can almost guarantee that we will find ourselves in a situation a some point where we will need to be a little more like Elijah.  If he had not stood up for what was right, the whole nation of Israel may have turned away from the true God.  We need to remember that confrontation is not always fun, but it is necessary.

Ponder Points:

• Have you ever been confronted by someone?  Did you listen to that person or did you ignore them?  Why?
• Discuss what makes a successful confrontation.  Usually, it is done privately, with love, and focuses on one specific behavior.
• Elijah was on God's side before he confronted anyone.  How can we make sure God is on our side before taking a stand?
• Talk about the power of prayer.  Also, it is important to turn to scripture to see what God has to say about the topic.
• What is an idol?  What are some things in our lives that we turn into idols quickly?  What can we do to turn away from this idol and back to God?
• Remember, an idol is anything that turns us away from God.  This can be anything from work to video games to sports.