1 Kings 17

Suddenly, the prophet Elijah appears on the scene. And his first recorded prophetic act was to go right to king Ahab and declare, "As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word." (vs 1)

This was a really loaded statement. First, Elijah said, "As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives..."If you remember from your Bible reading, Ahab was the most wicked king to ever rule over Israel. And, instead of acknowledging the one true God of heaven, he chose to worship Baal. So, Elijah wanted to make sure to remind him that the Lord was the true God of Israel. (And that He was still alive!)

Second, Elijah added these words: whom I serve. Here, Elijah was setting up a direct confrontation between the Lord, the God of Israel, and Baal, the god that didn’t exist. Ahab served Baal. Elijah served God. And the showdown would be over one thing: rain.

Why do you suppose God chose to pick a fight over rain? Did He want to start a famine? Did He want people to starve? No. The reason rain became the issue was because the worshipers of Baal believed that Baal sent the rain. He was the god of the harvest. And in prostituting themselves to him, they attempted to assure that they would have great weather for crops and, thus, an abundant harvest. It was their way of having "control" over their future.

So, if Israel was hell-bent on worshiping the god of the rain, He was determined to let Baal take over the weather. If the Israelites wanted to trust in Baal to send the rain, then God would let them see just how good a job he would do. Now, of course, since Baal didn’t exist, God knew there wasn’t going to be much rain falling on the land of Israel. Hence, severe drought.

Should have been a wakeup call!

What should have been even more of a wakeup call was the thing that I found most interesting about this drought. Apparently, Ahab’s reign came, in part, during the reign of King Asa in Judah. (You will remember that Asa was heralded as a king who was totally committed to God.) And although Samaria (capital of Judah) was less than 50 miles from Jerusalem (capital of Israel), there is absolutely no recorded drought in the history books for Judah.

In other words, the drought that occurred in Israel during this period wasn’t some worldwide phenomenon caused by cyclical weather patterns. It was a direct consequence of Israel’s insistence to trust Baal for their needed rainfall. And when King Ahab heard that his neighbors in Jerusalem were still using umbrellas, that should have made him go hmmmmm.

The lesson for the Israelites (which they apparently missed for the most part) and the lesson for us is that God is the only provider. He is the only God of heaven and earth. No one else can engineer or sustain life. No one else can provide what you need for this day... or for your future. Thus, it is foolish (and dangerous) to put your trust in anything or anyone else.

Our God is the God of everything. And the great news is that, unlike the false god Baal, we don’t have to take drastic measures to get God’s attention or win His favor. We already have His favor and His attention. And He is more than willing to provide us with everything we need for this day... and all the days to come.