Hey Church!

I recently heard a preacher say, “If these are the days of Ba’al and Ashtoreth and Molech, then these must also be the days of Elijah.” 

What an inspiring perspective! If we are living in an age of wild idolatry (and I don’t think I really need to convince you that we are), then we should be confident that God is raising up prophets for His name. Are you ready to stand and be counted among them? 

It is easy to remember caricatures of our faith-heroes and forget their humanity, or the impossible odds they faced. When we think of Elijah, for example, we picture the man who called fire down from heaven. But we gloss over the darkness that surrounded him on every side: the wicked worshipers of Ba’al before him, the murderous king and queen behind, and a deep depression within his own mind. Do you think he considered himself a hero? (see 1 Kings 19:4)

Or take Martin Luther a more modern example. We picture the legendary tough-guy who nailed his ideas to the church door. But we overlook the fact that two centuries of likeminded prophets suffered horrible deaths for seeking the same reforms he sought. He was excommunicated from the Church he loved, his works condemned, his teachings twisted and used for violence by a radical sect of his followers, and spent two years in exile to escape certain martyrdom. Not really the makings of a hero story there either!

Go ahead! Pick your hero: Charles Spurgeon, C.S. Lewis, Dietrich Bonhoeffer… Notice how each one planted a small seed in unforgiving soil. Surrounded on all sides by opposition, they had little-to-no reason to believe that their light would make much difference at all. And the point I hope to make is not that these men were anything less than extraordinary (because they were!), but that those acts that we deem radical shouts of triumph today were, in the moment, often nothing more than trembling whispers of obedience spoken in the dark.

In this day of idolatry, will you rise up and take your place as a prophet of the Lord? You may not think you can make any difference but you were born for such a time as this. Rise up and be courageous in your day-to-day obedience to Christ. None of our heroes considered themselves heroes for that “long obedience in the same direction.” But if these are the days of Ba’al, then these must also be the days of Elijah.