Weeks 28 and 29: 1 Kings and Psalms 4 – 17

1 Kings 18 will be one of those passages that is forever etched on my heart and mind.  I was on a plane to Israel, the trip of a lifetime, and was reading through the passages of scripture that corresponded with the different sites we would be visiting.  On day one of our tour, we would go to Mt. Carmel, the famous Biblical sight of the showdown between Elijah and the 450 prophets of Baal.  As I read through chapter 18 of 1 Kings on the plane, Elijah’s question to the people gathered at Mt. Carmel landed on my heart like a ton of bricks!

“‘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.”  1 Kings 18:21

I was reading the passage for historical context on the tour sight, but God’s word, alive and active as it is, had something to say to me!  There I was, on my way to Israel to go see the physical places that Jesus’ feet touched the earth, to see the landscape that God’s people looked upon as they lived out the stories that fill the pages of my Bible…I was on my way there, and yet this question that Elijah posed to the people of Israel and the prophets of Baal pierced me as if he were talking directly to me.  “How long will you go limping between two different options?”

My heart was limping between two opinions.  No one would have been able to tell looking on from the outside.  Inwardly, however, I had not committed to follow God and submit to His Kingship with my entire self.  I would have said that I had, but in that instant, the Holy Spirit helped me to see in truth. He highlighted a few specific things that had a hold on my heart.  Just like the people in 1 Kings 18:21, I could not answer Him a word in that moment.  I could not argue with Him.  I had no defense for myself.  Sitting there in my middle airplane seat, flying over the middle of the ocean, the Lord exposed my wavering heart.  Simultaneously, He filled me with His incomparably perfect love.  He assured me that my time in Israel would be the beginning of Him addressing the specific strongholds that Elijah’s question had revealed in me.  I did not know what that meant, but I did know that I could trust Him.  Looking back now, I can see that He was so faithful.  That trip was the start of a fresh wave of sanctification.

Let’s take a moment to geek out on the original language of Elijah’s question.  The ESV version (which I am using for our 2-year reading plan) uses the phrase “limping between two different options” when referring to the people’s fickle hearts.  “Limping” seemed like a strange word to me since I was familiar with words used in other versions such as “waver” (NIV), “hesitate” (NASB) or “falter” (NKJV).  It caught my attention when the same word was used in verse 18:26, describing the prophets of Baal as they were trying to conjure up a response from Baal.  “And they limped around the alter that they had made.” 1 Kings 18:26.  In other translations, the same word is not used to describe the wavering hearts in verse 21 and the conjuring actions in verse 26.  The NKJV and NASB both use the word “leaped” in verse 26, while the NIV uses the word “danced.”  The actual Hebrew word used in both of those verses is the same: “pacach,” meaning to hop, skip over, to hesitate, limp dance, halt, become lame, leap and pass over.

Taking all of the definitions of the original Hebrew word into consideration, I picture the subject of both verses flailing around clumsily, very unstable and without any coordination.  That is a very accurate description of me when I am awkwardly trying to juggle allegiance to God AND the idols of my heart.  It does not make for a very stable state of heart or mind.  When I’m “limping” between loyalties to things or people other than my Maker, I get tripped up.  My motives get tangled.  My stories get twisted and mangled and I feel extremely disoriented.  Furthermore, when I exert myself with dancing and leaping about (figuratively) to conjure up power from the idols of my heart, it ultimately leads to my unsteady limping and faltering.

When we arrived at Mt. Carmel on that first day of our tour of Israel, my imagination was caught up thinking of Elijah and the prophets of Baal as they cried out to their God/god.  Just like Elijah, the prophets of Baal were desperate to prove that their hope was in a reliable and strong source.  They were willing to mutilate themselves in order to bolster their sense of security in the deity they worshipped.  But…they got no response.  Nothing happened.  Baal failed them.  Baal humiliated them and left them more desperate than they were before.  It was there, in their state of utter helplessness and hopelessness that God, the One and Only, showed up.

How much of my life have I spent exerting myself to assert my claims of hope in things other than God?  I have built alters of my own and have brought sacrifices in vain, hoping that the idols of my heart would give me what I think I need.  In turn, all my leaping about to provoke my false gods have led to crippled limping and flailing about.  Broken hearted at the realization of my fruitless efforts, I have felt powerless and humiliated.  In those moments, when I was sure there was no solid ground for me to regain my footing, the LORD Himself has shown up.

As I stood on top of Mt. Carmel looking out over the Holy Land, I was moved to tears.   It was in that very place, on that very mountain top that God revealed Himself in consuming fire out of His passionate jealousy for His people’s hearts.  Can you imagine the sight!?…

“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.’”  1 Kings 18:38-39

I cannot help but wonder what the people were thinking as they watched the fire of God come down and consume stones and lick up water.  That was no ordinary fire!  They were no doubt awe-struck and humbled given their face to the ground response.  I wonder if they also considered that the fire was God’s judgement, and that judgement was actually intended for them.  They were the ones who should have been consumed by fire.  How close those flames must have come as they lapped up every last drop of water that had been poured out over Elijah’s alter?  God’s consuming fire came so close, but He did not allow it touch them.  They stood by, pardoned, as the burnt offering and was utterly consumed in an astounding display of God’s wrath.  Was it the power of God that brought them to their knees, or was it His mercy?  Perhaps it was both, being shown to them at the same time.

As we consider Jesus on the cross, do we remember that it should have been us?  We were the ones who God’s judgement should have fallen upon.  Instead, God kept His covenant promise to us, that we would be His people and He would be our God.  He took the punishment on Himself in Christ.  Because He took the consuming fire, the very wrath of God’s judgment that we deserved, all of God’s promises to us are yes and amen!

Looking back on my trip to Israel, it was the goodness and mercy of God that struck me the most.  Every interaction that Jesus had at the different places we visited was marked by unprecedented grace and kindness.  As the stories of His ministry came to life in each of those places, I began to feel a shift in my fickle allegiances.  My wavering heart that God had exposed on the plane ride there was being won over by His breath-taking other-than-ness.  Being there, I became certain that there truly is none like Him.

As we consider God’s mercy and kindness towards us today, may the cry of our hearts resonate with that of the people on Mt. Carmel when Elijah called on the name of the LORD:

“The LORD, He is God; the LORD, He is God.” 1 Kings 18:39

If the LORD is God, follow Him.  He is worth it.  Nowhere else will we find such astounding mercy and love as in the outstretched arms of our God in Jesus Christ.