seek + Elijah (spring break log 2)

---This is pretty much what I got from reading about Elijah in 1 Kings 17/18---

not exactly sure why i'm posting. i don't really have that much to say.

spring break is great. lots of naps, i think i could definitely pull off a 70 hour sleep week. tennis and running today, good weather, Smash Bros Brawl + church yesterday. playing worship at church yesterday morning was a bit difficult, but i guess it was sorta good. i hope anyways.

just finished reading the story of Elijah in 1 Kings. Elijah is introduced in chapter 17, and i started reading in chapter 11, so at least in the six chapters leading up to Elijah, the setting is that Israel is split up. David's son, Solomon, followed well after David for most of his life, but he later took for himself like 600 wives and 300 concubines, who got him to serve foreign gods. the next chapters are about kings killing other kings and these kings of Israel fighting with themselves and serving foreign gods and that they were more evil than the kings before them. at its worse, Ahab is king, and he marries Jezebel and establishes a temple for Baal.

elijah is introduced and tells Ahab that it won't rain until elijah says so, at the word of God. then elijah leaves and is brought meat and bread by ravens for a while and drinks from a brook. but the brook dries up, so God tells him to go into a city, where he has commanded a widow to provide for him. (hold on and think about that...that would be a bit humbling. to be a prophet of God and yet to "leech" off of a widow, who makes it clear that she and her son are about to eat their last meal and then wait to die.) and yet the widow and her son seem to be weak, God sustains them as long as they provide for Elijah, though they do not have enough flour nor oil.

the widow's son ends up dying, and elijah prays to God and the son is brought back to life. the widow acknowledges God is real. interestingly enough, she said she was about to prepare their last meal when Elijah comes up and asks not only for a cup of water, but some bread, and she agrees to meet his requests. maybe it was the beckoning of God, but what she essentially chose to do was give her and her son's last meal to this stranger who had just approached her. the result was life to the fullest (John 10:10 - "I [Jesus] have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly"). what this greater life required of her was everything she had, and yet the result was prolonged life, the life of her son, and perhaps eternity (at least the knowledge of God, in which is understanding, according to Proverbs).

God tells Elijah to go back to Ahab, so Elijah goes, and it hasn't rained for three years. Elijah pretty much challenges Ahab and the 450 priests of Baal to a showdown in front of all of Israel at Mount Carmel. Elijah asks, "How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him" (18:21).

now this is no blind faith. i think Christians are commonly criticized for blind or impersonal faith, that we are simply following rituals to make ourselves feel self-righteous and better than other people. like there's actually no substance to the Christian religion or faith. but for Elijah to say this..."if the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him," is risky. either God is really real and Elijah knows God...or Elijah will be ridiculed, his name ruined, his life forever marked by shame.

but what happens next shows Elijah really had faith, and his faith wasn't in vain. Elijah put it all on the line for this faith, for this belief in God, and the results confirmed that God is God. Elijah challenges all of the prophets of Baal, saying that they will both take two bulls and put them on altars, and they will call out to their respective god and Elijah will call out to his God, and the god who sends down fire to the altar will be God. the prophets of Baal go first, and they pray to Baal "from morning even till noon, saying 'O Baal, hear us!' But there was no voice; no one answered. then they leaped about the altar which they had made" (18:26). then Elijah starts making fun of them, saying that maybe Baal is asleep or he is busy; the prophets of Baal start cutting themselves with knives, "But there was no voice; no one answered, no one paid attention."

it's then elijah's turn. now, before this, by the word of God, it had not rained in Israel for three years, and it was elijah who had approached King Ahab to tell him this. so elijah was in danger. after elijah sets up his altar, he gets some people to fill four waterpots with water and then pour it over the altar. and then he tells them to do it again. and again. there is a trench around the altar and he even fills that with water. (by then, skeptics would be saying "i hope you know what you're doing" and those with similar confidence in God of Israel might smile to themselves and say "now he's just showing off.")

anyways, Elijah prays to God, saying "let it be known this day that You are God in Israel...that this people may know that You are the Lord God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again" (18:37). and fire falls down.

not a blind faith. Elijah's faith was first based on relationship with God and obedience to His commands. and i think that's important. things are better when they're not a blind faith - when you are actually in communication with God, things change. you are fulfilled, you have a sense of purpose or identity, and you have someone to turn to. and you partake in the plan of God - for Elijah, God fed him with ravens (and later fed him with angels) and sent fire to burn up a bull in front of an entire nation. but things shouldn't even be of blind faith...

school should help you out...the purpose of schooling is to become educated, because it actually has real world applications. in the same way, religion should help you out. it shouldn't have to be blind either, not the Christian faith. it should actually help you out. we all have real problems...with family or ourselves or just certain things not being fulfilling. i'm not saying that the only reason God is God is to fulfill our lives and make everything convenient, but i'm trying to say that He is real and His love is real - real enough that you see actual change in your life.

the thing is that we have all these influences around us and we invest ourselves in them a lot, and a lot of them can make us feel good and a lot of them can make us feel bad. i guess the real question is where it takes you in the end. with anything that you invest yourself in for the long run, i think you start to see changes in your life. from personal experience, i liked the long term result of trying to be committed to God. i was overall much happier, with less mood swings, more reason to live life, and i liked how i seemed to be maturing. and i think maturing comes with age, but i think the way it came for me, a lot of it was also because God was changing me.

in Proberbs 9, wisdom (somewhat personified) says, "'Whoever is simple, let him turn in here...Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine i have mixed. Forsake foolishness and live, and go in the way of understanding." several verses later, it starts talking about a foolish woman (like a harlot or prostitute) who says, "Whoever is simple, let him turn in here...stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant." they both seem to be saying very similar things: both seem to offer something great, something worthwhile.

life is a learning process. if you don't know where to go, it makes sense to seek out the best choice and go with that. but even then...it shouldn't be blind faith. see where it takes you, see what you like about it, what you don't. question how it might change you and whether you like that change. and it's never too late to start a new path. i can say i wasted at least three years of my life following after things that were having a negative effect on me, and that would be an understatement. but God still led me to Himself, and i think having gone through those tough years and problems that were the result of my own choices for my life led me to understand just why i needed/need God so much.

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anyways, i guess maybe i did have something to say. spring break is still a beautiful thing, catching up on sleep and hanging out. and i guess i can see how long i can go without doing anything school related.