How long do you think you could survive without rain? A month? Two months? For three years it did not rain in Israel because of Ahab’s worship of false gods. Three years! Imagine how hungry and thirsty they were. Also imagine how terrible it would be to have awful Ahab as king. What would God do about this situation? He raised up the prophet Elijah to bring a message to Israel.

“Go . . . to Ahab,” God told Elijah, “and I will send rain upon the earth” (1 Kings 18:1). Elijah met with Ahab. This was risky because Ahab’s wife, Jezebel, hated the prophets and had many of them killed. It was also risky because Ahab hated Elijah for predicting the drought. “Is it you, you troubler of Israel?” (18:17), Ahab asked. (It’s sadly true: people who don’t like God usually don’t like what he has to say through his messengers.) Elijah replied, “I have not troubled Israel, but you have . . . because you have abandoned the commandments of the Lord and followed the Baals” (18:18). Next, Elijah offered a challenge to invite all the people to Mount Carmel. He said to bring 450 prophets of Baal (the false god) and 400 prophets of Asherah (a false goddess).

What was Elijah up to? God had a plan for a big showdown to prove who was the real God, to show Israel who they should worship. Baal? Asherah? The God of Israel? The plan didn’t seem fair—850 prophets against one little old Elijah! Ah, but if God is for us, who can defeat us? No one! “Let’s prove who the real God is by seeing who sends fire down from heaven to burn up these sacrifices,” Elijah said. The false prophets prepared a sacrifice, and from morning until night they screamed to the sky, “O Baal, send fire.” Nothing happened. Elijah teased them, “Maybe your god fell asleep or is using the bathroom!” Elijah then prepared his offering, and he poured four massive jars of water on it three times. He knew God would answer his prayer. And God did. As soon as Elijah called upon the Lord, “fire . . . fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water” (18:38). When the people saw it, they declared, “The Lord, he is God” (18:39).