Turning Their Hearts Back Again--by Andy

I was reading 1 Kings 18 today, the chapter on the well known story about the confrontation between Elijah, a prophet of God, and the 450 prophets of Baal on mount Carmel in front of a large audience of Israelites, including Israel King Ahab. The story has been one of my favorites and I have always enjoyed reading it. Each time, I would try to picture the scenes as the plot unfolds, and the ending would always leave me with a good feeling as if I was part of the winning team in a great battle between good and evil.

What caught my attention this time, however, was Elijah's little prayer as it came to his turn to call on his God. I don't know Elijah's exact prayer up there on top of Mount Carmel, but what the author recorded in verses 36 and 37 was, "O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, O LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again." What specifically touched me was the part about God turning hearts. It then dawned on me that the message of this whole action-packed heroic story may have been about God's wanting to turn the hearts of His people Israelites back to Him, away from the idols that they have been led to worship by king Ahab. As I was thinking these thoughts, the story about Elijah and the widow in the previous chapter 17 came back to mind. After having received miraculous provision of food for herself and her son and especially after the resurrection of her son, the widow said to Elijah, as recorded in verse 24, "Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the LORD from your mouth is the truth." This response, I thought, was similar to the response Elijah was asking for on Mount Carmel--a change of heart. God changed the widow's heart in the town of Zarephath, and He changed the Israelites' hearts on Mount Carmel. All of a sudden, my hero Elijah, and other characters in the story, began to fade into the background, and the true Hero began to emerge. What I had always thought a juicy battle between the good and bad prophets now became a merciful act of changing hearts by a kind and gracious God.

And a changed heart is what I truly and really need when I search deep within myself. I remember reading Jer 17:9 where it says, "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" I am humbled by and grateful to the God who could see and understand my deceitful heart and yet chose to give me the cure for it. I thank Him for turning my heart back to Him and giving me a new life of faith in His Son Jesus Christ who died for me on Calvary.