Waver no longer

I want to ask you the same question Elijah asked the people of Israel: “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, then then follow him” (1 Kings 18:21). 

The Baal deity in Canaanite religion was typically associated with fertility. Elijah was a prophet of the Lord who announced a famine throughout the land. The showdown on Mt. Carmel would prove which God was true. 

“You call upon the name of your god,” Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal, “and I will call upon the name of the Lord, and the God who answer by fire, he is God” (1 Kings 18:24). 

You probably know how the scene unfolds. The prophets of Baal made fools of themselves calling out to their god, but there was no voice, and no one answered. Of course not, because there is no other God but the Lord. 

When Elijah’s turn came, he prayed, “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. Answer me, O Lord, that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back” (1 Kings 18:36-37). 

And the fire fell. The false god proved lifeless. The false prophets were seized and slaughtered. The people of Israel fell on their faces in recognition of the Lord alone as God. And soon the rain came. 

Friend, we can no longer waver between opinions. We can no longer claim to follow the Lord as God while flirting with the gods of this age. You cannot serve God and money. You cannot serve God and fame. You cannot serve God and immorality. You shall have no other gods before Me, says the Lord. 

It is time to draw the line and declare that the Lord alone is the one, true, living, and eternal God. He alone is the Maker of the heavens and the earth, righteous, just, sovereign, omnipotent, faithful, merciful, gracious, kind, loving, majestic, and glorious. He is the only one who hears and answers the prayers of His people. 

And He alone is worthy of the full devotion of our lives. He alone is worth following wholeheartedly in confident faith, glad obedience, and unshakeable hope. 

What’s more, we have even greater assurance than Elijah because we know that this is the God who became man – Jesus, the image of the invisible God, the radiance of God’s glory, the Word made flesh. And He is the One who died in our place on the cross to pay the penalty for sin and who rose again in victory over death. 

“And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). 

Waver no longer. Turn to Jesus alone as Savior and Lord, and follow Him with undivided allegiance.