A Blessed Prayer Day

What a solemn scene is displayed before us in the above words! The history is known well enough. Elijah, the prophet of the Lord, has been instructed, after three-and-a-half years of waiting out the judgments of the Lord upon the land, to appear. He has been sustained by the hand of the Lord by His appointed means—first, in utter seclusion by the brook Cherith and, then, by the widow of Zarephath.

Now he is commanded to show himself to Ahab (verse 1). The Lord will lift the judgment of drought and famine from off the people but not at the expense of His honor. Elijah must reprove the wickedness of the king and the people publicly, but it will also be proven on this day that there is a God in Israel who hears His servants and alone turns the hearts of the people to Himself (verses 18-20).

The double-minded people of Israel are called to witness and confess who they will follow, in whom they will confide—the idol set up by their wicked leaders or the LORD. The unlikely location is Mount Carmel, and upon first meeting with King Ahab himself, Elijah gathers here with all the children of Israel. A multitude will call unto their gods, and a lone servant of God will call upon the name of the LORD in prayer.

Time and space would fail us to elaborate on all the events that go before our text words. We read, “And it came to pass…” From morning until midday hundreds of prophets of Baal made futile attempts to move their god to hear or see them. They had hastily prepared their sacrifice. They called, they cried aloud, they leaped on the altar. They cut themselves with knives and lancets, all to no avail. “The idols of the heathen are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they see not; they have ears, but they hear not; neither is there any breath in their mouths. They that make them are like unto them: so is every one that trusteth in them” (Psalm 135:15-18).

Then, what a difference from the chaos and confusion—the prophet calmly calls all the people to gather near to him. He reverently repairs the broken-down altar of the LORD. Silently, twelve stones are set up, and the wood is placed orderly on them. The bullock is cut in pieces and laid on the wood. Three times four barrels of water are poured upon the sacrifice, saturating the wood and filling a trench round about the altar. To the natural eye it seems an utter impossibility that the LORD would answer by fire.

At the same time that the people are gathering far away in the temple in Jerusalem for the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet humbly bows his knees on Mount Carmel and prays saying, “LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am Thy servant, and that I have done all these things at Thy word. Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that Thou art the LORD God, and that Thou hast turned their heart back again.”

“Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.”

Dear reader, numerous are the applications that can be made concerning the times in which we live and all that takes place within our nations and governments. We will leave those; we would rather draw your attention to the season of our own denominational Prayer Day and the state and condition of the church and our souls.

Without elaborating on them, have we beheld the judgments of the Lord upon us in light of our own departures, base backslidings, and double heartedness? We read upon the question of Elijah to the people, “How long halt ye between two opinions?” that they answered him not a word. In which way are we silent under the hand of the Lord? Have we learned to put our mouth in the dust in guilt and shame, or do we silently go on, halting between two opinions? Whom do we serve? Are we not conformed to the world? Is there not a drought of true conversions? Are there people who are grieved under the barrenness of their own heart? What separations and divisions have made themselves manifest, not only in the nations, but in the church! What difficulties and disagreements!

No, we do not believe that the Lord has been a land of complete darkness in the past season. Are there not those among us who have been sustained by the brook and the birds? May I ask you, is the brook still bubbling, or has it perhaps now dried up? Others may have found, by the faithfulness of the Lord, a little oil in the cruse and a handful of meal in the barrel in the house of the Lord. However, do not the local congregations also sit as lonely widows when the broader ecclesiastical meetings cannot take place? Let this burden be felt, and may the Lord arise in due season for His honor and for our denomination. Oh, that it might become evident, “My doctrine shall drop as the rain, My speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass” (Deuteronomy 32:2).

In the meanwhile, when, the Lord willing, we receive the opportunity again this Prayer Day, may we be moved to gather together to call upon the name of the LORD. May it be orderly, with solemn importunity and with a great sense of our guilt. Elijah had to wait until the hour when the evening sacrifice was offered. He acknowledged the God-ordained time and desired the togetherness of the worshipers in Jerusalem. Oh, people of the Lord, separated and scattered in these days, may there be a meeting at the throne of Grace!

Ah, friends, where does it lie? Not in the first place because of our coming together but something much deeper, much more wonderful. “It came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near…” At the moment the sacrificial lamb was slain, which pointed to the great sacrifice the Messiah would make, Elijah drew near.

There can only be a true Prayer Day—a drawing near to the altar of the covenant-keeping Jehovah in holy confidence, a receiving of a blessed answer, and a lifting of His righteous judgment—because the fire of God’s eternal wrath fell upon His beloved Son. How necessary to receive this personal application!

By the word of the Lord, Elijah received this precious faith; he knelt by the altar that pointed to the cross, and he was not put to shame. How evident the Lord’s eternal salvation by Christ’s sacrifice is in the life of His people. This becomes and will remain an eternal wonder to them. This may also be seen in Elijah. He, together with Moses, appeared with Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration and “spake of His decease which He should accomplish at Jerusalem” (Luke 9:31b).

Oh, that the Lord would lead His people further in this season, from the brook, from the widow’s house, and unto the Altar and the only Sacrifice for sin. May there be new ones converted unto the Lord this year. We read, “And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, He is the God; the LORD, He is the God.” May this be the fruit for us and our children this Prayer Day.

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