From the Editors October 17, 2011 Issue

A reason for hope

The Editors

Polls and pundits don’t offer much hope these days. Unemployment, housing foreclosures, and government deficits in the United States and abroad are embroiling many. Distrust of government is not uncommon. Fear and confusion overshadow public thought at a time when courage and hope are most needed. 

The Bible offers many proofs of God’s help at times when all hope seemed lost. Take its account of Elijah and the 450 prophets of Baal. If you go by numbers, 450 men praying to their god, Baal, to accept their sacrifice against one man’s prayers to his God, didn’t seem like good odds for Elijah. But Elijah didn’t go by numbers. 

The agreement was that each group would prepare a sacrifice, and that the god who answered by fire would be God. Baal’s prophets prepared their offering and called and jumped around it to attract Baal. But nothing happened.

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