How long will you linger between two opinions? - Collin De Villiers
Mar 08, 2010
More than ever before in the history of mankind, we are bombarded with options and opinions. Everywhere you look someone or something tells us about this amazing product, or that great holiday destination, or this life-changing program, or ideology. We get so inundated with information that we suffer from the inflation of information,
THE MORE YOU GET, THE LESS YOU HAVE.
Unfortunately this rampant consumerism has also crept into the modern day church. Surely there are limitless ways and options for you to come to Jesus. If only you do this, or say that prayer, buy this book and CD; you will surely see the other side of heaven. “Really?” like RT Kendall says. There is a portion of scripture in 1 Kings 18 that gripped my heart around this multiple option nonsense.
Elijah, the anointed prophet and “troubler of Israel”, was tormenting Ahab and Jezebel, the wicked king and queen of the nation of Israel. Jezebel was from a foreign nation and she brought all of their religious options and styles of worship into the royal palace. Jezebel was bent on killing all of God’s prophets, including Elijah. One of Ahab’s servant’s, Obadiah, hid a 100 of the prophets in two caves, sustaining them with bread and water. This speaks to me of the Word of God, that we should hide it away in the caves of our heart. The Bread of Life and the wellspring of Living Water should continuously feed us.
So the story goes that Elijah meets Ahab, Jezebel, her many Baal prophets and all of Israel on Mount Carmel, the place reckoning. Elijah is brilliant to put everyone before a choice, don’t linger between two opinions, if God is God then serve him, if Baal is God, then serve him. No insecurities in this statement, just solid belief in the One he knows personally. They take two bulls and prepare them for sacrifice; the only problem is that there were no firelighters. The god that answers with fire, He is God.
We all know how it turned out for the Baal dudes, lots of chanting, dancing, shouting, cutting themselves with swords and spears, but hey no fire. After many hours Elijah calls everyone together and prepares the sacrifice to God. He rebuilds the altar that was in ruins on Mount Carmel. If we want to serve the God that answers with fire, we should make sure that the altar of worship that is seated in our hearts, are in good condition and ready for use. He digs a trench around the altar and fills it with water. He pours so much water over the sacrifice that the trench is filled. No David Copperfield tricks here!
He prays that God would answer his prayer with fire, but more than that, that the nations hearts would be turned back to God. Immediately the fire of God fell on the sacrifice, the wood, and the stones of the altar, even licking up the water in the trench. When the people saw this they fell prostrate on their faces and cried out- The Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God! Sounds like a scene from a Hollywood movie, just one big difference, IT REALLY HAPPENED. God has a very specific way that He wants to be worshipped, not with shouting, jumping, dancing and cutting but from the heart. He is jealous for the affection of His children that is why He will overpower and defeat all other idols that fight for our affection. Don’t get me wrong, God is not needy for your worship but He is a loving Father that wants to see us excel and mature, not stagnating and unfulfilled.
So capture the false prophets with their opinions and lies and put them to death. Elijah and the Israelites did that with every single Baal prophet. They allowed God to turn their hearts back to Him, rebuilt the altars and killed the false prophets. Life is to short to dance between two opinions, call out to the God that answers with fire and He will ignite your life again.
