Pray for changing hearts

Haifa residents live in fear of their lives today as explosives from Hezzbola guerrillas strike homes and businesses. In turn, Israeli forces pound away at targets in Lebanon. Innocent lives on both sides of the Lebanese/Israeli border are been sacrificed.

Haifa, built around Mount Carmel, was the scene of another confrontation some 2,900 years ago. Elijah was on one side and Ahab and his wife Jezebel were on the other. The big question of the day was whose god was real: the god of Ahab, Baal, or the God of Elijah, The Lord.

Both sides agreed to a rule of their warfare: the side whose god could produce fire to burn a sacrifice of bull would be the victor. Fair enough everybody thought. King Ahab brought out 450 prophets of Baal together to tug at Baal’s heart for a marvelous and powerful display of his glory through fire. Elijah worked alone.

First up were the 450 prophets of Baal. They prayed. They whooped. They cried out. They danced. They mutilated their own bodies to prove their sincerity. Blood gushed from their bodies. They prophesied all day, you might say until the cows came home. Nothing happened. As a very interested onlooker, Elijah suggested their god was asleep and they should cry out louder, which they did. But to no avail. No fireworks. Just dead meat.

Then it was Elijah’s turn. He repaired the altar which was in shambles as you can imagine after 450 prophets had done their thing. Prophets can make a mess of things when they don’t know what they are doing. To make matters perfectly clear, Elijah dug a trench around the altar. The altar was made of 12 stones and stacked wood on which he laid an ox cut into pieces. He had some of the rubbernecks in the crowd to fill the trench with water and thoroughly wet the wood and the sacrifice. Elijah wanted the people to see a miracle that was totally beyond human manipulation.

After making all the preparations, Elijah prayed, “O God, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, make it known that you are God in Israel, that I am your servant, and that I am doing what I am 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” (The Message Bible).

Seeing the violence, deaths, and destruction in Haifa and southern Lebanon, that should be our prayer also. Mount Carmel needs another manifestation of the true and only God. The only fire that reigns down on Mount Carmel today is the fire of man’s hatred and retribution. It’s the fire of which Alfred Nobel repented — the fire of dynamite — and so inaugurated the Nobel Awards.

Elijah prayed and the fire of the Lord fell consuming the sacrifice as well as the wood, the stones, and every drop of water near the place. One against 450. The one won! All the people fell on their faces and declared, “The Lord, he is God.”

The issue that day and still today is the heart of the people. What is the condition of the hearts on both sides? There will never be a political solution in Palestine until hearts are changed. One of the greatest modern historians was Arnold Toynbee. As he retired from writing history and when asked to summarize his understanding of the world situation, Toynbee said, “The heart of the matter is there must be a change of heart.”

Only God can bring down the fire that purifies our motives and means. So, please pray for peace. Do your bidding for peace wherever you can. Pray that men of might may look at their hearts more than at their arsenals. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem and Haifa and Washington and London and ...