Who is Elijah? He is THE prophet! Remember during transfiguration, Moses and Elijah appeared with Jesus. Moses represented the law, Elijah represented the prophets. Ganun sya ka astig! =) Sinasabi pa nga dati na si Elijah yung babalik from Heaven when the time comes.
Anyway, the story shows God’s great power unleashed by Elijah’s great faith.
In the reading, the 450 prophets of Baal took the whole day – dancing, praying, shouting and even hurting themselves so Baal would listen to them and accept their sacrifice. All this time, Elijah was just watching, and even taunted them to shout louder because Baal might be doing something else. Then when the time came, we see Elijah’s faith and confidence in God. He asked that water be poured on the offering, not once but three times. Then he prayed. Immediately, God sent fire to consume the offering, including the overflowing water. Astig talaga si God!
Elijah’s purpose in this is not to make himself known. Hindi para sumikat sya na may powers, or na malakas kay God. His intention was for the people to make the decision – to follow Baal or to follow God. Kailangang pumili, hindi pwedeng best of both worlds. Elijah had faith that God will help him as he serve him and ask the people to decide. This faith of Elijah, kahit na 450 prophets ni Baal yung kalaban nya at inasar pa nya, tapos pinalagyan pa nya ng madaming tubig yung offering, enabled God to manifest his great power. This event converted many people to the faith, not formally, but they made the choice to follow God. They proclaimed that “The LORD is GOD.”
Where do we see ourselves in the story?
Are we like Elijah, who is actively serving God and having faith in God and his great powers kahit na in the sense of the world, mas madami yung kalaban ni God? Natatakot ba tayo pag mukhang malakas yung kalaban or mukhang alanganin tayo? Are we confident enough with our faith in God, and in our God in whatever we are facing?
Are we like the people who are undecided wether to follow Baal or God? Do we claim to follow God in some aspects, but cling to other gods as well in forms of horoscopes, predictions of the future, and the like? Are we following God only on aspects of faith that are comfortable and beneficial to us, but not on doctrines that require more from us, like going to mass, confession, forgiveness, etc? When will we take a stand and choose?
We are encouraged to have faith like Elijah. We can have faith like Elijah. Tao lang din naman sya eh, parang tayo! He is not an angel, nor someone who came down from heaven. We can have faith like Elijah’s if we pray, work hard in building and strengthening our faith and relationship with God. Eto nanaman ulit – nanjan ang bible na dapat natin basahin at gamitin. There’s the mass. We have the sacraments that will help us grow deeper in the faith. The things that we need are readily available, we just need to make the decision – decision to choose God and to improve and strengthen our faith and our relationship with him. As we do this, then we can be used by God, like Elijah, to bring others to Him.
Father God,
I am sorry for not choosing you all the time. Sorry Lord that minsan, hindi buo ang pagsunod ko sa inyo. Hindi buo ang pag lingkod ko sa inyo. Lord, I ask that you help me make the decision. Alam ko naman kung ano yung dapat eh, I just need to make the decision to stick to it and choose you everytime. Thank you Lord for the gift of faith, and I ask you to help me strengthen my faith. I know that as I choose you, my faith will be strengthened and you will use me to unleash your great power and bring people to you. All this I ask in faith in Jesus name, Amen.
Have a blessed day!
In Christ,
-g-
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