Confidence is key

Today we’re going to look at the most well-known chapter and story in the book of 1 Kings from the perspective of confidence – confidence in our God.

We first meet a local hero – Obadiah – who has the confidence of the evil king Ahab. He is his palace administrator. Ahab has enough confidence in him to send him out to look for grass to feed their animals – at a time of famine, a time where there is no grass. Ahab trusts Obadiah.

However, he is also a ‘devout believer in the Lord’. While Jezebel is out killing any prophets she can find, Obadiah hides a hundred prophets in two caves. Obadiah knows what is right and has the courage to do it. He trusts God.

But when Elijah comes to him and asks him to go to Ahab to say ‘Elijah is here!’, Obadiah’s confidence in Elijah and in God does not stretch that far –

Obadiah: What have I done wrong that you are handing your servant over to Ahab to be put to death?

As surely as the Lord your God lives, there is not a nation or kingdom where my master has not sent someone to look for you. And whenever a nation or kingdom claimed you were not there, he made them swear they could not find you.

But now you tell me to go to my master and say, ‘Elijah is here.’

I don’t know where the Spirit of the Lord may carry you when I leave you. If I go and tell Ahab and he doesn’t find you, he will kill me.

Yet I your servant have worshipped the Lord since my youth. Haven’t you heard, my lord, what I did while Jezebel was killing the prophets of the Lord? I hid a hundred of the Lord’s prophets in two caves, fifty in each, and supplied them with food and water.

And now you tell me to go to my master and say, ‘Elijah is here.’ He will kill me!

(Basically – You can’t be serious! No way! You can’t ask me to do this. Haven’t I already done enough?)

Elijah: As the Lord Almighty lives, whom I serve, I will surely present myself to Ahab today.

(Basically – You can trust me. I won’t let you down.)    1 Kings 18:9-15

So Obadiah puts his confidence in Elijah and tells Ahab about him. Ahab goes to meet Elijah.

And Elijah sets up a great contest between the one true God and Baal. He shows immense confidence in his God.

“How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.”  1 Kings 18:21

The scene is set.

The stage – Mount Carmel.

The players – Elijah and four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal.

The challenge – to light a fire under the altar without actually lighting a fire.

The god who answers by fire—he is God. 1 Kings 18:24

Elijah taunts the prophets of Baal when their gods do not answer. They shout, they dance, they cut themselves, they prophesy….for hours and hours…..no response.

Then he gets the people to pour water on his own altar and offering –

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. Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.”

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.

When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The Lord—he is God! The Lord—he is God!” 1 Kings 18:36-39

God is God. The people now know this.

God is God. Elijah had never doubted it for a second.

The prophets of Baal are seized and slaughtered.

Elijah tells Ahab that the rain is now going to come.

And of course –

….the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy rain started falling…. 1 Kings 18:45

Elijah’s confidence in His God and in His God’s power knows no bounds. Obadiah has some confidence in God whilst he can do what he does in secret but is unhappy for this confidence to be tested in public.

Elijah’s faith is out there for all to see. He sets up an impossible challenge, makes it harder for himself than it needs to be and teases the enemy.

And this is a real enemy. This is an enemy that has been killing prophets like Elijah. This is a life and death situation.

But at no point does Elijah doubt that His God is the one true God, that His God will hear him and answer him and move in power.

I cannot ever imagine having that amount of confidence – but then I am not being called to, I don’t think. Not at this stage, anyway.

Looking back to yesterday’s passage, Elijah’s confidence in God had started to be tested and to develop and grow as he had trusted God for the smaller things, the essential things like food and water.

Learning to trust God in the everyday and have confidence in God to provide and protect and guide in thousands of small ways every day helps us to test our confidence in our God and see it develop and grow. So when the big tests come, we are more ready, more prepared, more confident.

So that our confidence in our God cannot be shaken, whatever may be asked of us or happen to us.

Halfway through our church service yesterday, something happened that really shook my confidence in Christians and church…..I was deeply hurt and wanted to walk out, walk away from the hurt. It made me question what being a Christian really is and what being church really is….I wanted nothing to do with a group of people who would treat me that way. But I didn’t. I went back to my seat and focussed on God. On who God is. On what God has done and can do and will continue to do. On who I am before God. On grace and love and mercy.

My confidence in people was shaken but my confidence in God was not.

And actually, when I prayed with a friend walking down the street on the way home, I realised that God is still working in love through His individuals and through His church – and that is where He wants me and that is where I will be and that is where I will go to sing and pray and listen and worship our amazing God.

So that unpleasant experience worked for good to build my confidence in the God who will always love me and protect me and provide for me.

I can have confidence in Him.

I can trust Him.

Just like Elijah did.