September 1 At the Altar

1 Kings 18:30-32 Then Elijah said to all the people, "Come here to me." They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord, which was in ruins. 31 Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, "Your name shall be Israel." 32 With the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seahs of seed.

ELIJAH has allowed the Baal priests to call on the name of their idol. Now he prepares to call on the name of the Living God. As "call on the name of the Lord" means worship, Elijah begins to worship God with a proper preparation of a twelve-stone altar. This is to obey God's worship command found in Exodus 28:21.

    The altar is so constructed of 12 stones because it is Israel's reminder that they are the people God purposefully formed from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. From Jacob came 12 sons - the fathers of Israel's 12 tribes. As Elijah invites the Israeli people to come around him, their attention would move from the "no god" Baal to the Creator God who had formed them to be his people. The altar is a reminder of God's power from the past, and it is where God will show he is still sovereign over all events.

    On this day, God will come to stir Israel's emotions. They will see stirring evidence of who the true God is at this place of reckoning between sinful Israel and the holy God.

Prayer: Lord God, thank you for the altar of the cross. May it always remind me of your gracious call to save me.  In Jesus' precious name, amen.