Hearts Turned Back

1 Kings 18:37
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."

This is the climax of Elijah's confrontation with the prophets of Baal and Asherah that hung out with Ahab and Jezebel. In this reading of the chapter I noticed the physical work Elijah did there on Mount Carmel as the people of Israel watched, after the pagan prophets had failed. He started by building an altar in the traditional way, from twelve stones. Then he butchered the bull--think of that job alone! The cut-up pieces were laid on the firewood, which was then all soaked with water.
Where the desperate pagans had not only shouted and danced, but slashed themselves to let their own blood flow, Elijah prayed a simple, to-the-point prayer, of which this verse is the end.
Many of the past verses have been about the heart devoted to God. I like this verse because it shows that the heart turning to God is itself a work of God. This time He did it with a grand gesture--the fire burning bull, wood, water, and all. I would just pray that He would do what it takes today to turn hearts to God.