You Were Made to Crave God

6/8/2016

Step #1: Lectio / Read

1 Kings 18:20-39

Ahab sent to all the children of Israel
and had the prophets assemble on Mount Carmel.

Elijah appealed to all the people and said,
“How long will you straddle the issue?
If the LORD is God, follow him; if Baal, follow him.”
The people, however, did not answer him.
So Elijah said to the people,
“I am the only surviving prophet of the LORD,
and there are four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal.
Give us two young bulls.
Let them choose one, cut it into pieces, and place it on the wood,
but start no fire.
I shall prepare the other and place it on the wood,
but shall start no fire.
You shall call on your gods, and I will call on the LORD.
The God who answers with fire is God.”
All the people answered, “Agreed!”

Elijah then said to the prophets of Baal,
“Choose one young bull and prepare it first,
for there are more of you.
Call upon your gods, but do not start the fire.”
Taking the young bull that was turned over to them, they prepared it
and called on Baal from morning to noon, saying,
“Answer us, Baal!”
But there was no sound, and no one answering.
And they hopped around the altar they had prepared.
When it was noon, Elijah taunted them:
“Call louder, for he is a god and may be meditating,
or may have retired, or may be on a journey.
Perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.”
They called out louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears,
as was their custom, until blood gushed over them.
Noon passed and they remained in a prophetic state
until the time for offering sacrifice.
But there was not a sound;
no one answered, and no one was listening.

Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come here to me.”
When the people had done so, he repaired the altar of the LORD
that had been destroyed.
He took twelve stones, for the number of tribes of the sons of Jacob,
to whom the LORD had said, “Your name shall be Israel.”
He built an altar in honor of the LORD with the stones,
and made a trench around the altar
large enough for two measures of grain.
When he had arranged the wood,
he cut up the young bull and laid it on the wood.
“Fill four jars with water,” he said,
“and pour it over the burnt offering and over the wood.”
“Do it again,” he said, and they did it again.
“Do it a third time,” he said,
and they did it a third time.
The water flowed around the altar,
and the trench was filled with the water.

At the time for offering sacrifice,
the prophet Elijah came forward and said,
“LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel,
let it be known this day that you are God in Israel
and that I am your servant
and have done all these things by your command.
Answer me, LORD!
Answer me, that this people may know that you, LORD, are God
and that you have brought them back to their senses.”
The LORD’s fire came down
and consumed the burnt offering, wood, stones, and dust,
and it lapped up the water in the trench.
Seeing this, all the people fell prostrate and said,
“The LORD is God! The LORD is God!”

Step #2: Meditatio / Meditate

Whenever I encounter the first reading from 1 Kings, I am always struck by how much we are like the prophets of Baal in our modern culture. Let me explain.

To start, let's note Elijah's first words in the reading, "How long will you straddle the issue? If the LORD is God, follow Him; if Baal, follow him." How often are we like that? We play this half in and half out game. We try to be juuust Catholic enough, juuust enough of a follower of Christ that we can feel good about ourselves, but the entire time we hang on to our sins. We refuse to go all in. Part of the reason is, we're afraid. The rest of the reason is, we don't actually believe that God is going to make us happy. We doubt. We don't trust.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says about the Fall in the Garden of Eden, the first sin, "Man, tempted by the devil, let his trust in his Creator die in his heart and, abusing his freedom, disobeyed God's command." Isn't that us in a nutshell? We don't trust that God is actually going to make us happy, so we refuse to let go of the things that we know are killing us spiritually, our comfortable sins.

You see, as humans, we are made to crave happiness. Everything we do is aimed at discovering permanent, perfect, lasting, complete happiness. We get anxious, though, feeling like God is somehow opposed to that happiness because we believe that our sins can actually bring us happiness and we know that God stands against our sins.

Here's the reality though; you were made to crave God. That craving for happiness within you has a name and it is Jesus. Only when the love of God has been poured into your heart through the Holy Spirit will you experience the true and lasting peace of real happiness. Maybe you've caught a taste of that happiness on a retreat or at a youth conference so you know what I mean. By following God with your whole life, you can know that "peace that surpasses all understanding" at the deepest level of your being.

When we try to let anything else be our God (like Baal), it becomes our idol and eventually enslaves us. Look at how the prophets of Baal hop compulsively around the altar of Baal trying to make fire come down and eventually end up slashing themselves until they're covered in blood. Isn't that what happens with our idols? Whatever our idols are - the right clothes, being popular, social media, being attractive, money, a perfect GPA, the lead role in the play, starting on the team, etc. - if we aren't careful, we will eventually replace God with these idols. The end result: they will hurt us. Only one God is Lord, and it's the Father of Jesus Christ and your Father too. Let Him fill your heart.

Step #3: Oratio / Pray

“How long will you straddle the issue?
If the LORD is God, follow him; if Baal, follow him.”

What are the things in my life that I need to let go of to let God have more of my heart?

How can I let the love of God into my heart more every day?

Do I trust God, that He really wants what is going to make me happy?

Step #4: Contemplatio / Contemplate

God, you are my God.

There is no God, but the God of Israel.

Come into my heart, Holy Spirit.

Father, I trust in you.

For the Rest of Your Day...

Live today trusting that Christ will actually fill your heart. Be at peace, don't let anxiety into your life. Don't chase the things of this world. God is enough. He's all you need.

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Today's prayer was prepared by Tim Glemkowski, a Director of Evangelization for a Parish in Denver, Co.

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