Repair Your Altar
What’s the craziest Bible story you’ve ever read?
One of my favorites (hands down) is the story of Gideon—how God used the youngest son of the weakest family of the weakest tribe of Israel to lead 300 Israelite men against an enemy army that far outnumbered them.
That’s not even the craziest part, though.
The craziest part is that not one Israelite man held a sword that day. Each of the 300 men only held a torch, a trumpet, and a glass jar. And God delivered the enemy army into their hands with these three items alone!
But that’s a story for a different day (you should definitely check out Judges 6-7, though, for a better look at the crazy things our God can do!).
Today, we’re diving into the story of Elijah facing off against 450 of Baal’s prophets on Mount Carmel. We’re watching from the sidelines as Elijah chastises the nation of Israel for her unfaithfulness and invites God to showcase His sovereignty and might.
But first, let’s jump into 1 Kings 18 and set the scene. So, grab your Bible, your favorite highlighter, and a cup of coffee. Because sister . . . God’s got a story for us today!
When we pull up to 1 Kings 18, we find several things:
The nation of Israel led by an evil king and queen: Ahab and Jezebel. They are the reasons why God’s prophets are being hunted and slaughtered.
Israel has turned to yet another false idol, Baal. We see Baal a lot throughout Israel’s history, so it’s no surprise that (yet again), Israel has crawled back to her “ex-infatuation.”
God sends Elijah to meet Ahab. This meeting has been in the talks for a while (mostly on Ahab’s part, and not for any good intentions), but now it’s finally happening.
Words are exchanged. The first thing Ahab does when he sees his enemy Elijah is to say, “Is it you, you troubler of Israel?” To which Elijah firmly replies, “I have not troubled Israel, but you have.” So, in this whole “meet-me-outside-after-school” moment, Elijah commands Ahab to assemble the 450 prophets of Baal, the 400 prophets of Asherah (another idol), and all of Israel on Mount Carmel. There’s about to be a gigantic showdown.
Elijah calls out the people of Israel. I don’t know how long it takes one king to assemble 850 prophets and allof Israel on one mountain, but it happens. And when it does, Elijah all but draws the line in the sand when he chastises Israel for her behavior:
“How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, then follow him.”
There are literal crickets. The next line literally says, “the people did not answer him a word.” They were silent. Baffled. Stunned. And I’d dare to say they were even offended and shamed, all wrapped up in one uncomfortable emotion sitting in the pit of their stomachs.
A heavenly showdown happens. Elijah doesn’t stop with roasting Israel. He’s determined to show them once and for all who their God is. He challenges the prophets of Baal: choose a bull to sacrifice, prepare it on an altar, but set no fire to it . . . they’ll call upon the name of their god to send the fire. And Elijah will do the same with his God. Well, you can imagine what happens next. The prophets spend all day “limping” around the altar, cutting themselves according to their religious customs, and asking Baal to bring fire. But the Bible says that “there was no voice. No one answered; no one paid attention” (1 Kings 18:29).
God shows up and shows out! Elijah prepares his altar a little differently. He repairs the altar of the LORD that had been thrown down on Mount Carmel. He takes 12 stones that represent the 12 tribes of Israel and arranges them. He digs a trench large enough to hold 7 quarts of water all around the altar. He then arranges the wood, cuts the bull into pieces, lays the pieces on the altar, and throws twelve jars of water over the whole thing. He completely drenches the entire altar. But our God . . . He immediately answers Elijah when Elijah calls on Him to show Israel that the LORD is God and that He is the one who turns back their hearts (1 Kings 18:36-37). God brings down a fire that consumes everything. The bull, the wood, the stones, the water, and even the surrounding dust . . . all of it is gone.
Our God is a mighty God!
Truly, this is the point of our story today. That the LORD, He is God . . . the same thing the Israelites saw and recognized that day (1 Kings 18:38-39).
But there’s several kernels of application that God is wanting to unearth for us in this story. So, take another sip of that coffee and grab a new highlighter if you need to and let’s dive in, shall we?
Repair Your Altar
When reading this story last week, I totally skipped over the word “repair” in verse 30.
But the Holy Spirit is amazing in the way He brings Scripture alive for us. Not one original read or re-read is ever the same (and that’s amazing)!
“Then Elijah said to all the people, ‘Come near to me.’ And all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD that had been thrown down.”
In the quiet moment that I read this, I felt the Holy Spirit whisper, “Repair your altar.”
Can I be fully transparent with you?
Last week (the first week of April) has been the first week in a long, long time I spent time with God and read my Bible with any consistency. And I’m not talking weeks. I’m talking months.
My morning and evening quiet times with Him? Broken.
My whispered prayers to Him throughout the day? Broken.
My ability to hear the Holy Spirit’s still, small voice and feel Jesus sitting beside me during our morning quiet time? Broken.
My “altar”—my place and process of meeting with God, worshipping Him, and hearing from Him—was broken.
And in even more full-blown transparency, it’s the reason why The Found Woman has been offline for a couple of months. I’d love to say it was for Sabbatical reasons, but . . . it wasn’t.
But this isn’t about me.
This is about God, telling me—telling us, His beloved daughters—to repair our altars.
Find a new quiet time routine that works for you.
Find new ways to pray to Him throughout the day.
Find new ways to feel connected to the Spirit and to Jesus.
Find new ways to meet with God, to worship Him, to hear from Him.
God needs us to repair our altars first before we follow up with the next step:
Lay Your Idols Down
“And the people did not answer him a word” (1 Kings 18:21b).
I bet it just got really quiet in your mind, didn’t it?
I bet your heart dropped into your stomach.
I bet shame flooded your heart.
I bet your eyes got wide.
Wanna know how I know that?
Because it was my exact reaction when the Holy Spirit also whispered this phrase to me.
And because it was the exact reaction the Israelites had in 1 Kings 18:21.
Sister, I know this is difficult to hear. Because as I’m sitting here typing this and letting the Holy Spirit guide my words, my hands are still metaphorically holding onto so many idols. Idols that He’s been convicting me to let go of for months, but that I simply have refused to let go. Because I’m just a modern-day Israelite, truth be told. And my hands white-knuckle grip anything that brings me joy or value or a false sense of hope.
But more than God needs us to repair our altars, He needs us to lay our idols down on that same altar.
Lay the phone down.
Lay the gossip down.
Lay the alcohol down.
Lay the drug down.
Lay the addiction down.
Lay the guilt down.
Lay the shame down.
Lay the pride down.
Lay the cuss words down.
Lay the selfishness down.
Lay x, y, z, a, b, and whatever else you are idolizing in your life down.
Throw it down, place it down gently, chuck it over your shoulder. Whatever you have to do to let go and let God.
Oh, I know that can sound so cliche sometimes. Let go and let God.
But from one sister struggling with idols to another, there’s literally no other thing you can do that will be better for you spiritually, physically, emotionally, and mentally. Nothing will be better for you than loosening your shaky, white-knuckle grip on that idol controlling your life right now.
Lay the idol(s) down.
God’s got the rest from here, sister! He wants to take care of you, show you how much He loves you, and provide for you.
But He needs you to repair your altar and lay down your idols first.
Going back to Elijah’s story, it has about as happy an ending you can get considering how unfaithful the nation of Israel was: Israel recognized God’s sovereignty again, and the 450 prophets of Baal were hunted and killed (just as God’s prophets had been by Ahab and Jezebel).
But unfortunately, it won’t be the last time Israel turns her back on God.
But how amazing it is that we serve and belong to a God who is always willing to step up and show out for us in a heavenly showdown where he rains a fire so powerful and intense it literally licks up the dust of the earth!
God wants to turn our hearts back to Him.
So, you may not need to hear this story today. Or a month from today. Or even five years from today.
But there will be one point, daughter of God, when your Israelite heart will act up again and turn away from God.
And when God grabs your attention by raining down fire from heaven (okay, maybe not literally, but you get the point) . . .
. . . I pray you heed the Holy Spirit’s words today from this story:
The Lord, He is God.
Repair your altar.
Lay down your idols.
And may your heart cling to the God of fire . . . and the God whose own heart bleeds for you. ❤️
