Humiliation in warfare
This week is on 1 Kings 18:25-29:
I love this story. You can read further in that chapter of the first book of kings to find out God's response, but this part of the story is where God and his prophet Elijah humiliate Baal and his followers. It's a raw demonstration of God's power over this supposedly powerful force. If there's one thing evil can't stand, it's being humiliated. It draws their powerlessness to the forefront, and reminds them that there exists a greater force that can punish them.
Baal was a false god who was worshiped by some of Israel's neighbors. The government in Elijah's time dabbled in the occult, and supported the Baal worshipers as part of their administration. There was a program, similar to what was going on in some countries in modern times, where believers in God were being arrested and killed in a campaign of genocide. Most believers had gone into hiding, some of them literally underground in caves. But God called Elijah out of hiding in order to humiliate the religion of Baal.
Humiliation is a necessary component in a fight against an evil that claims the high ground. A simple defeat is not enough to send the message. Someone's followers might stick by them in a normal defeat. A humiliating defeat spells out clearly who the victor is. A bully who is called out by a teacher and sent to detention still has the power to intimidate. A bully who is beaten bloody, wets himself, and then is dragged off to detention has lost his power forever. And that's the task that Elijah was called out of the underground to take part in.
Elijah taunts the false god Baal. "Maybe he's sleeping? Maybe he's deep in thought." When faced with God's power, Baal, if he even existed, has no power to act. The followers of Baal humiliate themselves by shouting and begging and defiling themselves to try to get the sacrifice to burn. They went all day, doing everything they could to try to get a response and got nothing. Their "god" was powerless and had abandoned them. Baal was worse than useless.
Elijah then douses his sacrifice in water and God burns it with such power that even the water is consumed. God wins the demonstration of power, hands down. Baal and his followers are humiliated and defeated. Who is going to worship a useless imaginary god when a powerful real one already exists?
I think there's a lesson in here for our prayer lives, or at least a better understanding of how great God is when compared to all else. Baal completely captured the Israelites during Ahab and Jezebel's reign but God utterly defeated him when they faced each other. When we pray about something that others consider sacred, do we hide in fear or do we face it openly like Elijah? Do we taunt it and laugh about its weakness in the face of God?
Defeat of an enemy often comes through something addicts refer to as "rock bottom." It's that place of humiliation where you realize your false god is false and cannot deliver what it promises. Without the humiliation, can its powerlessness be as clear as it is when it is brought low? I've heard of witch doctors becoming Christians because none of their curses worked on the missionaries who came to their village. I've heard of people getting free from bondage to various things that captured their attention when those things were exposed as unable to provide what they were going to them to get.
One of the methods some evangelists use in places controlled by witch doctors is to go to a village and call for all of the sick people to be brought out. They then pray for them to be healed, and when they are healed, the powers of darkness in that village are exposed as impotent. They use humiliation of the witch doctors by showing that God can heal sicknesses they've either cursed people with or were unable to heal with their magic, and then people reject the false gods and come to God.
Prayer then, as warfare, can sometimes benefit from causing a bit of humiliation to powers that would be in opposition to God. When God burned up the wood, the sacrifice, and the water, the people who saw what God had done realized that he was God. But because of how Baal and his followers were humiliated, it was easy for Elijah to command their execution. There was no doubt or question of which of them was supreme, so when it came time to eliminate the problem, it was easy.
Thank God that the enemy is defeated. But how awesome is it when the defeat is so clear and so overwhelming that it leaves no doubt? Pray that we can be bold in our prayers, like Elijah, and be as convinced of God's success as the people who were there that day.
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.” 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.
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.” So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. 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.
I love this story. You can read further in that chapter of the first book of kings to find out God's response, but this part of the story is where God and his prophet Elijah humiliate Baal and his followers. It's a raw demonstration of God's power over this supposedly powerful force. If there's one thing evil can't stand, it's being humiliated. It draws their powerlessness to the forefront, and reminds them that there exists a greater force that can punish them.
Baal was a false god who was worshiped by some of Israel's neighbors. The government in Elijah's time dabbled in the occult, and supported the Baal worshipers as part of their administration. There was a program, similar to what was going on in some countries in modern times, where believers in God were being arrested and killed in a campaign of genocide. Most believers had gone into hiding, some of them literally underground in caves. But God called Elijah out of hiding in order to humiliate the religion of Baal.
Humiliation is a necessary component in a fight against an evil that claims the high ground. A simple defeat is not enough to send the message. Someone's followers might stick by them in a normal defeat. A humiliating defeat spells out clearly who the victor is. A bully who is called out by a teacher and sent to detention still has the power to intimidate. A bully who is beaten bloody, wets himself, and then is dragged off to detention has lost his power forever. And that's the task that Elijah was called out of the underground to take part in.
Elijah taunts the false god Baal. "Maybe he's sleeping? Maybe he's deep in thought." When faced with God's power, Baal, if he even existed, has no power to act. The followers of Baal humiliate themselves by shouting and begging and defiling themselves to try to get the sacrifice to burn. They went all day, doing everything they could to try to get a response and got nothing. Their "god" was powerless and had abandoned them. Baal was worse than useless.
Elijah then douses his sacrifice in water and God burns it with such power that even the water is consumed. God wins the demonstration of power, hands down. Baal and his followers are humiliated and defeated. Who is going to worship a useless imaginary god when a powerful real one already exists?
I think there's a lesson in here for our prayer lives, or at least a better understanding of how great God is when compared to all else. Baal completely captured the Israelites during Ahab and Jezebel's reign but God utterly defeated him when they faced each other. When we pray about something that others consider sacred, do we hide in fear or do we face it openly like Elijah? Do we taunt it and laugh about its weakness in the face of God?
Defeat of an enemy often comes through something addicts refer to as "rock bottom." It's that place of humiliation where you realize your false god is false and cannot deliver what it promises. Without the humiliation, can its powerlessness be as clear as it is when it is brought low? I've heard of witch doctors becoming Christians because none of their curses worked on the missionaries who came to their village. I've heard of people getting free from bondage to various things that captured their attention when those things were exposed as unable to provide what they were going to them to get.
One of the methods some evangelists use in places controlled by witch doctors is to go to a village and call for all of the sick people to be brought out. They then pray for them to be healed, and when they are healed, the powers of darkness in that village are exposed as impotent. They use humiliation of the witch doctors by showing that God can heal sicknesses they've either cursed people with or were unable to heal with their magic, and then people reject the false gods and come to God.
Prayer then, as warfare, can sometimes benefit from causing a bit of humiliation to powers that would be in opposition to God. When God burned up the wood, the sacrifice, and the water, the people who saw what God had done realized that he was God. But because of how Baal and his followers were humiliated, it was easy for Elijah to command their execution. There was no doubt or question of which of them was supreme, so when it came time to eliminate the problem, it was easy.
Thank God that the enemy is defeated. But how awesome is it when the defeat is so clear and so overwhelming that it leaves no doubt? Pray that we can be bold in our prayers, like Elijah, and be as convinced of God's success as the people who were there that day.
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