Do we trust God or try to manipulate him?

A Confrontation on Mount Carmel

…with their ecstatic behaviour they tried to cajole their gods to respond. 450 “prophets” shouting together, cutting themselves, dancing around the unburnt sacrifice (Altar). At noon Elijah taunts their behaviour…” Call out louder since he is a god…maybe his is on the loo, or travelling! Perhaps he is sleeping and you need to wake him!” (I Kings 18:27)
“ So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. “Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.” (NIV 1 kings 18: 28-29)
The narrator does not give us any insight into what Elijah is thinking or his manner of action. Instead we hear that Elijah repairs the altar of the Lord, which was in disrepair as people were sacrificing to the Ba’al’s and not God. He rebuilt the altar using twelve stone to represent the twelve tribes of Israel. Symbolically he was rebuilding the life and worship of the people of God. He built a trench around the sacrifice and had water poured, once, twice, three times over the sacrifice (about 15 litres in total?). Then we see the stark contrast, without any ecstatic behaviour he prays. “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."(vrs 35). There is a stark contrast between Elijah and the prophets of Baal. They believed that their sacrifice(cutting themselves, child sacrifice, screaming and shouting and dancing till they were exhausted etc) brought magical appeasement to the gods. And yet we see a very different response of faith…Elijah makes it clear that it is God who triumphs…it is not about Elijah or his behaviour. He prays…simply that God’s people will respond in faith. What does this say about our prayer…do we act like the ba’al worshipers with ecstatic behaviour trying to twist the arm of God self-flagellation, yelling, and deprivation of ourselves? Or do we respond with a stillness of faith knowing that the creator of the universe, our redeemer will listen and answer our prayer. Then are we willing to recognise that the answer may not be the one we are trying to exact from God. This doesn’t mean that people cannot be passionate in their prayers…I am an exuberant and passionate person and it would be untrue to my nature to be anything but, however in prayer I respond in faithful acceptance that God will bring about his will in a situation.

The noise of hundreds of people praying at once does not reflect the nature of God who brought order to chaos. Paul eludes to this idea of orderly worship in the letters to the Corinthians. While it might make us feel good hearing the buzz of lots of people praying at once…is it really edifying God or are we using manipulative techniques that distract from our faithful Lord? Isn’t this new trend in flashy prayers just a continuation of the sackcloth and ashes prayers of the Pharisees or even as I have alluded to before, the pagan form of worship of gods who don’t answer?

Conundrum: Where does feverant prayer end and lack of faith start?