18.Mar.2009 How long will you waver?

I Kings 18:21

Then Elijah stood in front of them and said, “How much longer will you waver, hobbling between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him! But if Baal is God, then follow him!” But the people were completely silent.

It is an interesting pattern to note that when times turn tough, people either turn to God or turn away from God. The longer the rough times remain, the easier it is to turn away from God and blame Him and those who follow Him. Elijah’s words are spoken in a time of hardship where the entire nation of Israel has shifted away from God due to the heavy influence of Queen Jezebel, King Ahab’s wife. She shifts the entire nation into service to the pagan god Baal. Because of this, Israel is hit with three years of hard times.

We are in hard times now, and the questions remains, will you waver? Christians have a bad habit of wavering in their morals and principles when the world turns against them. “Oh no, society is accepting this new sin, maybe we should downplay what God thinks of it and try to be loving and accepting.” The sin becomes accepted by the church, and the decline begins. Usually, such a decline starts in times of prosperity. You see, when we prosper, we relax. We relax in our finances. We relax in our morals. You see, it is hard to stay in God’s way. God’s way has boundaries. He has gives us a large, beautiful, adventure-filled pasture for which to live our lives, and yet, He has placed down boundaries in order to stop us from losing control of ourselves. But, in times of gain and plenty, we begin to resent those boundary lines. So, we inch a little past them just to see how it feels to be “free.” We begin to relax. Everything is going fine. Let’s keep at it. This must be the right system, so keep it working! And then, we start to move the line. It’s ok not to give this week. Go ahead and spend that little extra. Sure, love who you will. Go out and have a good time. The line moves a little bit each time until we lose sight of the line or it is erased all together. So, when hard times fall, we are lost because we have no line for which to measure our standards.

And in our confusion, the voice of the Holy Spirit cries out, “How long are you going to waver?”

Waver? How have we been wavering? We believe in God! Israel believed in God, too. Let me paint a picture for you: It has been three years since it has rained in Israel, a country that thrives on agriculture. No rain means death. They are in economic failure. What do they do? Do they turn back to God? No. They keep doing what they were doing. They keep crying out to Baal, to the system that is not working. You see, the system of the world (Baal) feigns working for a short period of time until we are used to doing that way instead of God’s way, so when the fake system breaks, we try to force it to work instead of changing.

Elijah comes into the midst of this with a challenge from God. Let’s see who’s god is the real god:
I Kings 18:22-24
Then Elijah said to them, “I am the only prophet of the Lord who is left, but Baal has 450 prophets.Now bring two bulls. The prophets of Baal may choose whichever one they wish and cut it into pieces and lay it on the wood of their altar, but without setting fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood on the altar, but not set fire to it. Then call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by setting fire to the wood is the true God!” And all the people agreed.

The prophets of Baal cry out to their god for the better part of the day and nothing happens. When the system you follow gives no answer, you are following the wrong system. The prophets dances, yelled, and cut themselves until the bleed with no result. Ever felt like you were beating against a wall? Does it feel like that right now? It is because the system you have placed your trust in is wrong.

Elijah stands up. It is his turn. The first thing he does is repair the alter of God. The alter is a place of sacrifice. It is a place of repentance. Repentance is humbling yourself, broken before God, and asking for forgiveness. You confess that you have turned away from Him. You ask His forgiveness, and you realign yourself with His way.

Next, he prepares the sacrifice. You have to cut the bull in order to truly turn back to God. No more blaming outside sources. No more playing the victim. Get real with God. You and Him. Nothing else. It’s no one’s fault save your own. You turned. Now you turn back. You cut the bull and place the sacrifice before God and wait.

He digs a trench that holds three gallons of water and has the people fill it. The water drenches the sticks and the sacrifice and fills the trench to the brim. Funny how God requires you to give what is so sacred to you in times of need. The people need water, but Elijah had them pour three gallons of precious water over the sacrifice. What is so preciousto you now that you are clinging to it? Finances, maybe?

Lastly, Elijah prays:
I Kings 18:36&37
At the usual time for offering the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet walked up to the altar and prayed, “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, prove today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant. Prove that I have done all this at your command. O Lord, answer me! Answer me so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God and that you have brought them back to yourself.”

And the Lord answer. Fire falls from Heaven, consumes the sacrifice, the alter, the wood, and the water. And the people knew who was their God.

But that is not the end of the story. Yes, you have repented and turned back to God. You have offered Him control of the things you hold closest and are afraid to lose. You have renounced the old world. Now, you need to seize the giants in your life and kill them. Elijah ordered the people to seize all the false prophets and drag them into the Valley of Death, where he killed them–950 prophets in all. What giants of negative thoughts or secular beliefs reign in your heart? With the power of God, seize them and kill them! Reestablish the boundaries in your life! That is the last step.

So, yes, life is tough right now. Examine your heart. Have you wavered? Then you know what to do. Rebuild your alter. Cut the bull. Get right with God. Allow the Holy Spirit to come in and pinpoint the areas where the alter needs to be rebuilt. Offer your sacrifice, and then, slay your giants.