“Elijah”…”Elijah”…”Elijah”…the name kept coming to mind. It’s the oddest thing. Just randomly. “Elijah”…what the hell is there about Elijah, I thought to myself as I finished scanning my can of tuna while fumbling to use the self check-out.

Sure, I’ve heard of Elijah. Who hasn’t? He’s only one of the most famous prophets in the bible. But so what?! Makes no sense why I’d be thinkin about him now, or why I’d be randomly hearing his name in my head. And write about him?…I know squat about Elijah. I heard some stories, sure, but I remember very little detail of him. So, I googled. Then I looked up scripture. Elijah was an odd duck.

He’s best known for his calling down fire from the heavens to beat the prophets of Baal. That’s the story I remember being told anyway. Turns out, there was much more detail to that story than I remember and some things about it that Scoobied me. I’ll explain it the best way I can…

So there was this king, “Ahab”, and he was a total prick. He even had a lady named “Jezebel” and she was a total nightmare. Anyway, the land was suffering from a great famine and the people were all praying for the gods ta save them and Elijah had some stones and challenged the prophets of Baal to a contest of sorts. The parameters were simple-ish. They were to build two alters, complete with two slaughtered bulls on each, and call on their “god” to burn up the bulls. It was 450 prophets of Baal to 1, Elijah. Whoevers god answered with fire would be the one true God.

The prophets of baal surrounded their alter and did their chants and dances…and nothing happened. For HOURS they did this. It says that around noon Elijah started mocking them…and that part made me smile, ’cause Ida been all over that shit. 450 pissed off prophets of Baal…and Elijah is talkin shit. That right there is stones of epic proportions.

So then it’s Elijahs turn. He gets ta light the alter by fire. Only this guy…he was either really arrogant or frickin crazy, cause he tells them to dig a trench around the alter and to fill it with water. In fact, they dumped buckets of water all over all of it. Then…Elijah called on his god…and God answered. Says that fire fell from the heavens. Burnt up the bull, the alter, and Licked up every ounce of the water that was in the trench.

Pretty cool, aye?

This is where things get weird…

God just did this great thing for Elijah, I mean JUST dropped fire from the heavens at the request of Elijah, His prophet…and they think he faked it. Legit. Like, here’s this dude that calls fire from the sky and they don’t believe him. So Elijah is like, screw it, kill’em all. And…I get it. At that point, they had it comin. But what’s worse, is news of this gets back to Ahab and his bitch Jezebel and they decide ta kill him. They get told that Elijah called down fire from the heavens, killed 450 of their prophets, and they think they can just go kill him?! (I hear of some dude that does that, my first response is gonna be: Uh…leave that dude alone)

But nope, they are so arrogant, they totally ignore common sense and set out to kill Elijah.

…and Elijah hears of this and flees! The dude just had God do him a solid and he believed the words of death coming from the mouths of Ahab and Jezebel…what. the. frick!? 

…I’d be like…Uh, come at me bro! (Got a God that drops fire, yo!…that’s kinda like a personal dragon) 

So, Elijah gets away, Ahab and Jezebel suffer horrible deaths, etc. You can look up and google all about it. But what scoobied me about the stories of Elijah was…people talk about him as a great man of faith, and he was…but he was also a man of disbelief. A man of fear, anxiety, and depression. Elijah is a dichotomy of belief. He put weight in the words of two people that truly had no power over him; after having JUST SEEN, with his own eyes, the power of God.

…just goes ta show ya, sometimes we’re shown the truth…and we still don’t believe it.

”  ⁶ Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; ⁷ and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 4:6-7

Copyright©2021 Jacob C. Larson All Rights Reserved

***I understand that some of my readers don’t “believe in God”, “believe in the bible”, etc. I personally don’t care. Don’t message me expecting me to listen ta your childhood traumas about it. Spare me your drivel and contact a pastor. 

****I also understand that some of my readers are “Believers”, possibly well-versed in the Bible and the story of Elijah and may feel the need to “enlighten” me on the subject. Don’t. I’ll gladly admit to having slaughtered it, am a novice of the subject, and simply have written about it to put my thoughts on the screen. That’s it. Save your sermons for Sunday morning. Thx.