January 12, 2007

Good morning and it is cold once again. Europe may be wondering where winter is, but we have the answer to that question! Rain or shine, hot or cold, God is with us every moment of the day. This week in Bible study we discussed the very dramatic moment when God confronts the prophets of Baal who worked for that infamous woman, Jezebel. God only sent one prophet, Elijah. We remember the incident fondly because it is one moment in history where God very plainly showed great power and great gentleness and control. You will recall that the fire consumed; the sacrifice, the wood, the stones of the altar, the soil, and all of the water. Yet Elijah, King Ahab, and the people of Israel standing nearby were not harmed at all. The Baal prophets were harmed later, but that wasn’t directly from the fire. I cannot help but contrast with that one great sacrifice which occurred on the cross hundreds of years later. Jesus could have performed a similar feat while hanging on the cross and if the party most deserving of sacrifice had been consumed in fire, it would not have been the Son of God who was consumed. However, from the Bible we know that it didn’t happen that way, Jesus went quietly to his execution. He even told Peter in the garden at his arrest that he could call down 12 legions of angels to defend him, but declined to do that so that the will of the Father might be served. We owe much; we owe everything, to Jesus our Lord. The true strength of his sacrifice lies in both what he did for us and in our place, and in what he did not do that he could have done. May God be forever praised for the gentleness of Jesus our Lord.

Bucky