More Than Enough

The issue on the Mt. Carmel was lighting the altar without using any fire.  When Elijah set the rules for the mountain top contest he said, "...the god who answers by fire is indeed God."  ( I Kings 18:24)  So the prophets of Baal prepared their altar, did their praying and dancing, but no fire came.  When they were past exhaustion, Elijah prepared his altar, drenched it with water, and called upon the Lord to light it.  "Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, and the dust, and even licked up the water that was in the trench."  ( I Kings 18:38)

 

What makes the story such a miracle is not the fire falling from the skies.  A few days ago a powerful bolt of lighting came crashing down on a nearby wheat field ready for harvest and by the time the fire was put out over twenty acres of wheat had burned.  What makes the Mt. Carmel story so miraculous is not the fire falling from heaven, but its precision and timing.  Everyone on that mountain should have been running for cover in the seconds that altar was set ablaze.  It was indeed a moment which was surely retold in a hundred stories around many a campfire. 

 

The fire from heaven was more than enough.  God has a way of doing things in a more than enough fashion.  He let David pick up a handful of stones from the creek bed before going to face Goliath although one was going to be enough.  When Jesus fed the five thousand there was more than enough as baskets of leftovers were collected.  When we fall short of what God expects of us, when we sin till our bucket is full and running over, there is always more than enough grace in the hands of God to take care of the sin which is bringing ruin and guilt into our lives.  When God decided to let the world know how much love He had for all of us, more than enough was poured out on Calvary.  Indeed, He has always been and will always be the God of more than enough.