God's Math

   Our Sunday school lesson yesterday was on the contest between 450 prophets of Baal and one prophet of God. Elijah laid out the challenge for the contest. Each contestant would lay an animal on an altar and the god who sent fire would prove to be the one true God. Of course, Elijah's God won the contest because Baal was a powerless figment of their imagination and did not exist.

   We can learn some lessons from this story. First, Elijah had great faith in his God. He laid out the challenge and trusted God to send fire in answer to his prayer.

   Second, it might seem he was taking a great risk. What would happen if no fire came? Elijah was not afraid because he knew his God. What He says He will do. Do I have such great faith? Do you hesitate when God asks you to do something that seems impossible? "For with God nothing shall be impossible."

   Third, Baal was a pantheistic nature god. They believed he brought rain. God had shut off the rain and Baal was not able to do anything about it. God could have used some other method to deal with Israel, but the three-year drought underscored the truth that the rain god was a fraud. Baal let them down in bringing rain and failed again by not responding to their frantic pleas for fire. The false gods people serve today (money, fame, etc.) will let us down too. There is a God-size hole in our hearts that only He can fill.

   Fourth, when the fire came down and totally burned up the Elijah's sacrifice, (wood, stones, water, and dust) the people acknowledged Elijah's God was the true Lord God. The prophets of Baal were destroyed and the drought was broken with a tremendous rain. Repentance always brings blessing. 

   I had the lesson prepared when I went to bed Saturday night. Before I was fully awake Sunday morning, God's math equation popped into my head. Adding faith subtracts fear, multiplies blessing, and divides sorrow. It was the cherry on the top of the lesson.