After three years, God sent Elijah to show himself to Ahab. Obadiah, a God-fearing official, had protected a hundred prophets from Jezebel's persecution. When Ahab accused Elijah of troubling Israel, Elijah turned the charge around: Ahab had troubled Israel by forsaking the commandments and following the Baals.
On Carmel, Elijah confronted the people's divided loyalty. How long would they limp between two opinions? The contest was simple: the God who answers by fire, He is God. Baal's four hundred fifty prophets cried, danced, and cut themselves, but there was no voice. Elijah mocked their god as perhaps busy, traveling, or asleep. Then he rebuilt the Lord's altar with twelve stones, recalling God's covenant with all twelve tribes, and drenched it with water.
Elijah's prayer was short and focused on God's glory: that the people would know Yahweh is God and that He had turned their hearts back. Fire fell and consumed everything, even the water. The people confessed, Yahweh, He is God. The false prophets were judged according to the Law. Elijah prayed, and his servant looked seven times, until a cloud like a man's hand rose from the sea. In the New Testament, James says Elijah was a man like us who prayed earnestly, and the sky gave rain (James 5:17-18).