Thayer Thursday – the Lone Voice
Chris Thayer is the Director of Discipleship at Good Shepherd Church in Charlotte, NC where he oversees adult life groups and Biblical education. On Thursdays I share his weekly “Thayer’s Thoughts” for small group leaders, which are based on the previous Sunday’s sermon. Click HERE to watch or listen to the accompanying sermon.
My son’s namesake is a prophet from the Old Testament who only appears twice in the Bible: Micaiah.
His story is told in 1Kings 22 and 2Chronicles 18. Only two chapters in all of scripture – and they both tell the same story. He was the only prophet who was willing to speak the truth to King Ahab when 400 other false prophets were telling the king a lie. He was alone, yet remained faithful to the One True God. My prayer for my son since before his birth and through today has been that he would always follow God and speak the truth even if, just like the prophet Micaiah, everybody else around him deserted him and God.
So when I read the story from 1 Kings 18 about Elijah and the prophets of Baal – something inside me bubbles to the surface: an excitement and a challenge.
16 So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah. 17 When he saw Elijah, he said to him, “Is that you, you troubler of Israel?”
18 “I have not made trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied. “But you and your father’s family have. You have abandoned the Lord’s commands and have followed the Baals. 19 Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. And bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.”
20 So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. 21 Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.”
But the people said nothing.
22 Then Elijah said to them, “I am the only one of the Lord’s prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets. 23 Get two bulls for us. Let Baal’s prophets choose one for themselves, and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. 24 Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by fire—he is God.”
Then all the people said, “What you say is good.”
25 Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire.” 26 So they took the bull given them and prepared it.
Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. “Baal, answer us!” they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made.
27 At noon Elijah began to taunt them. “Shout louder!” he said. “Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.” 28 So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. 29 Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.
30 Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come here to me.” They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord, which had been torn down. 31 Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, “Your name shall be Israel.” 32 With the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seahs of seed. 33 He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, “Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood.”
34 “Do it again,” he said, and they did it again.
“Do it a third time,” he ordered, and they did it the third time. 35 The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench.
36 At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. 37 Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.”
38 Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.
39 When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The Lord—he is God! The Lord—he is God!”
I’m excited as I read the account because Elijah not only stood in the face of adversity at the risk of his life and reputation – but God came through and tangibly revealed Himself to be the One True God in the face of a throng of people who cried out otherwise. It forces me to stand in awe.
I’m also challenged, however, by the trust in God that Elijah (and Micaiah after him) showed. It forces me to face myself in the mirror. If everybody around me were to stop following the one true God, and follow another god (be it an idol of old such as Baal or a modern one such as fame, money, power, or sexual identity) – would I stand firm in my foundation? Would I be willing to place my life and my reputation on the altar – knowing that the one true God would come through to show Himself for who He is?
I’m glad that I have a community of believers, a “…great cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1) that surround me and encourage me; that I don’t have to walk this journey of faith, of trust in God, alone. Praise God that He gave us this community to encourage us and help us run our race with perseverance. However, my prayer for my son, for me, and for you is that when we are faced with any circumstance in which we must choose between the gods we make or the God who made us is that we would risk all we are for the One who is. Because ultimately, it is not our name or reputation that is on the altar – it is His.
Chis Thayer
Categories: Blog, Hebrew Bible, Thayer Thursday