1 Kings 18:21, 38-39 – And Elijah came near to all the people and said, “How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” And the people did not answer him a word. . . . Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, “The Lord, he is God; the Lord, he is God.”
.
During the days of Elijah, the northern kingdom of Israel was extremely wicked. Under the leadership of King Ahab, they worshipped false gods and rejected the law of the Lord. Elijah told Ahab that there would be no rain, a time of famine, because of the nation’s rejection of God. And thus there was drought and famine in Israel for three years.
After 3 years of famine, Elijah came to the people of Israel, and, as we read above, told them to stop fooling around. He called them to choose whom they would serve, the Lord or Baal. Then he challenged the prophets of Baal to a contest at the top of Mount Carmel to see who truly is the one true God. In their contest, the prophets and Elijah were to prepare an altar for burnt offering, one for Baal and one for the Lord. They were not, however, to set fire to their offering. They would then call upon their particular deity, asking him to set fire to the offering. The one who set fire to his burnt offering would be the only true god in Israel.
The prophets of Baal spent all day calling out to him, dancing, and even cutting themselves to get his attention. But Baal did not answer. Then, when it came to be Elijah’s turn, he had the people douse his altar with water to prove that the fire had to be supernatural. Elijah then called on God, and God sent fire from heaven, consuming the offering and drying up the water on the ground around the altar. The people were amazed, and they declared that truly the Lord is God.
Not unlike the days of old, many people live like the people of Israel. Many people think that they can choose a little of whatever religion suits their fancy. The dominating mindset for the world today is that no one religion is more real than another, no one truth is more true than another, and no one god is more god than another. These people believe that they are somehow living by a new philosophy. They act as though their post-modern view of the world is a new enlightenment of the human way of understanding truth. However, as we can read in 1 Kings 18, a post-modern ethic is little different than what was posited by the people of Israel a little less than 3,000 years ago. They wanted to have a little of one god and a little of the Lord. They wanted to mix in a little obedience to God’s law and a little immorality. They did not want to over-commit themselves to one dogmatic way of thinking. They wanted to do whatever seemed to “work” for them.
In ancient Israel, God proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that he is God and that Baal is a false god, an idol. The Lord sent a consuming fire on the altar to demonstrate his power to the people. He affirmed the call of Elijah to the people, when Elijah demanded that the people take a side and choose whom they would follow. And God demands the very same thing today. He demands that you and I choose our side. We will either love God or we will not. We will either follow God, or we will not. There is no such thing as middle ground. If God is God, then we must serve him. If God is not, than there is no reason for us to pay any attention to him or to his Bible.
Let me add that those people who met God on Mount Carmel had reason to complain against God. They were not convinced that the Lord is God by the Lord doing all sorts of nice things for them. They were suffering a great famine and drought. If they were our people of today, they would be on CNN declaring for anyone who would listen that they would never want to follow a god who would send drought on their land, causing famine and starvation. The people of old, if they are anything like us, would try to reject God simply because they would not approve of his way of doing things and would be very upset over the fact that he did not make everything go their way. And, if they made such an argument, like the arguments many make to day, they would not be any more correct. The Lord is God, regardless of whether you have prosperity or poverty, health or disease, peace or war, plenty or famine, happiness or tragedy. God proved that by the fire on Mount Carmel, and he proved it by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The call for me and for you is to choose today whether or not we will follow God. We can not make that choice based on whether or not our life circumstances are what we want them to be. We can not choose a little of God and a little of something else. This is an all-or-nothing choice. You will either follow God, or you will reject him. There is no other way. And, since we can read of the awesome power of God in the scriptures, it is wise for us to choose to follow the Lord, for he truly is God.
Dear Lord, you have proved yourself time and time again. The glory, beauty, power, and majesty of creation point, in a dim way, to you and your glory. Your revelation of yourself in the Bible teaches us even more of your holiness, majesty, and awesome power. The resurrection of Jesus is the final bit of proof that any of us should need to believe that you are God, and that there is no other like you. Lord, we know that we can not half follow you and half follow someone or something else. So, Lord, I give all of myself to you. I yield all of my life to following you. Regardless of my life circumstances, I will follow you, because you are God. Nothing I can do or experience will ever change that you are God. So, I pray that you will help me to follow you faithfully, to remember your great power, and to never be trapped by the worldly temptation to follow you and something or someone else.
Pastor Travis Peterson 