1 Kings 18:1
Elijah Meets the King’s Servant
18:1 Some time later, in the third year of the famine, the Lord told Elijah, “Go, make an appearance before Ahab, so I may send rain on the surface of the ground.”
1 Kings 18:27-40
18:27 At noon Elijah mocked them, “Yell louder! After all, he is a god; he may be deep in thought, or perhaps he stepped out for a moment or has taken a trip. Perhaps he is sleeping and needs to be awakened.”
18:28 So they yelled louder and, in accordance with their prescribed ritual,
mutilated themselves with swords and spears until their bodies were covered with blood.
18:29 Throughout the afternoon they were in an ecstatic frenzy,
but there was no sound, no answer, and no response.
18:30 Elijah then told all the people, “Approach me.” So all the people approached him. He repaired the altar of the Lord that had been torn down.
18:31 Then Elijah took twelve stones, corresponding to the number of tribes that descended from Jacob, to whom the Lord had said, “Israel will be your new name.”
18:32 With the stones he constructed an altar for the Lord. Around the altar he made a trench large enough to contain two seahs of seed.
18:33 He arranged the wood, cut up the bull, and placed it on the wood.
18:34 Then he said, “Fill four water jars and pour the water on the offering and the wood.” When they had done so, he said, “Do it again.” So they did it again. Then he said, “Do it a third time.” So they did it a third time.
18:35 The water flowed down all sides of the altar and filled the trench.
18:36 When it was time for the evening offering, Elijah the prophet approached the altar and prayed: “O Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, prove today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command.
18:37 Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, O Lord, are the true God and that you are winning back their allegiance.”
18:38 Then fire from the Lord fell from the sky. It consumed the offering, the wood, the stones, and the dirt, and licked up the water in the trench.
18:39 When all the people saw this, they threw themselves down with their faces to the ground and said, “The Lord is the true God! The Lord is the true God!”
18:40 Elijah told them, “Seize the prophets of Baal! Don’t let even one of them escape!” So they seized them, and Elijah led them down to the Kishon Valley and executed them there.
1 Kings 18:45
18:45 Meanwhile the sky was covered with dark clouds, the wind blew, and there was a heavy rainstorm. Ahab rode toward
Jezreel.
Psalms 68:9
68:9 O God, you cause abundant showers to fall on your chosen people.
When they are tired, you sustain them,
Jeremiah 14:22
14:22 Do any of the worthless idols of the nations cause rain to fall?
Do the skies themselves send showers?
Is it not you, O Lord our God, who does this?
So we put our hopes in you
because you alone do all this.”
James 5:17-18
5:17 Elijah was a human being
like us, and he prayed earnestly
that it would not rain and there was no rain on the land for three years and six months!
5:18 Then
he prayed again, and the sky gave rain and the land sprouted with a harvest.