Things, people and God

Today: Amos 1-5

"There's a person behind the hand on the other side of your coffee cup. A person! Do you see them?"

This past weekend, I heard these words from Pastor Paul Scanlon. He was talking about the importance of truly caring for people. (Check out his book "The 15 Revolution" via the link above for more on that.)

When I read today's passage, Pastor Paul's message came to mind. Through the prophet Amos, God describes His disappointment in nations that have disregarded Him. Here's how He described His own people--the people of Israel and their view of people:

People for them are only things—
ways of making money.
They'd sell a poor man for a pair of shoes.

They'd sell their own grandmother!

They grind the penniless into the dirt,

shove the luckless into the ditch.

Everyone and his brother sleeps with the 'sacred whore'—

a sacrilege against my Holy Name.

Stuff they've extorted from the poor is piled up at the shrine of their god,

While they sit around drinking wine they've conned from their victims.
"In contrast, I was always on your side..."

It's interesting in this passage to see how Israel's treatment of people--particularly the vulnerable and less fortunate of society--was a reflection of their treatment toward God. They dismissed God and they totally dismissed the people He created. They were selfish and sacrilegious--giving idols items stolen from people--real people--God's people.

It doesn't seem to make any sense! However, I think this passage illustrates that when our views of God are off track, our views of people and things are warped, too. If we love God, we love the people He made and died for. Money and things can't top human lives created in God's image. When we really love God, we stop allowing idols to drive our actions. We live to love God and people more than ourselves or our things.

Tomorrow: Amos 6-9

The showdown at Mt. Carmel (and the brave comedian)

Today: 1 Kings 18-20

I don't know about you, but I love a good showdown--especially the classic good guy versus bad guy. And I like it when the good guy wins.

Today's chapters depict one of the biggest showdowns in Scripture: The contest at Mt. Carmel.

In one corner, we've got 450 prophets of idol Baal. They're backed by the queen. They've got lots of power and resources at their disposal.

In the other corner, we've got Elijah. One guy. The good guy. God's guy.

Take a look at Elijah's contest set up:

"I'm the only prophet of God left in Israel;
and there are 450 prophets of Baal.
Let the Baal prophets bring up two oxen;
let them pick one, butcher it, and lay it out on an altar on firewood—but don't ignite it.
I'll take the other ox, cut it up, and lay it on the wood. But neither will I light the fire.
Then you pray to your gods and I'll pray to God.
The god who answers with fire will prove to be, in fact, God."

All right--we've set the stage. You know the rules. The 450 prophets of Baal won the coin toss and had the first opportunity to ask their god to ignite the fire. They prayed. They begged. They pleaded. They cut themselves (ewww...). And Baal didn't answer.

This part I'm including just for fun--because I think our friend Elijah the underdog enjoyed watching their silly rituals that yielded na da:

Desperate, they jumped and stomped on the altar they had made.
By noon, Elijah had started making fun of them, taunting,
"Call a little louder—he is a god, after all.
Maybe he's off meditating somewhere or other,
or maybe he's gotten involved in a project,
or maybe he's on vacation.
You don't suppose he's overslept, do you, and needs to be waked up?"

Oh, I love our brave comedian. :) He challenged the prophets of Baal, but he also challenged God, drenching his altar with water before asking God to set it on fire. Check it out:

The altar was drenched and the trench was filled with water.
When it was time for the sacrifice to be offered,
Elijah the prophet came up and prayed,
"O God, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel,
make it known right now that you are God in Israel,
that I am your servant,
and that I'm doing what I'm doing under your orders.
Answer me, God; O answer me and reveal to this people that you are God,
the true God, and that you are giving these people another chance at repentance."
Immediately the fire of God fell
and burned up the offering, the wood, the stones, the dirt, and even the water in the trench.

Wow. I love how God immediately showed up and showed He was real. Elijah didn't have to sing, dance, yell or cut himself--God answered his simple prayer in a miraculous way. Even though Elijah might have seemed like the underdog (1 guy versus 450), he knew he was on the winning team. He trusted God and took some brave steps to prove it. I would have liked to witness that showdown...it sounds pretty stinkin' awesome.

Tomorrow: 1 Kings 21-22