DRAWING A LINE IN THE SAND

Nested in the history of Israel we find the story of King Ahab and his wife Jezebel. They were an abominable duo who did more to defile the land than any leaders before them.(1 Kings16:33). Their ungodly reign caused the faithful of God to be burdened with the consequences of their idolatry. Jezebel had the prophets of the Lord killed and was desperately seeking to kill the prophet Elijah. (1 King 18:13). Clearly, Ahab and Jezebel were no friends of God or of His people.

Such was the prosecution of the prophets that King Ahab had men hunt nations and kingdoms in search for Elijah to end his life.  The Bible recounts of a day when the Lord spoke to Elijah telling him to present himself to King Ahab. How would you like that calling? Here he had been protected of the Lord and know he is being asked to meet Ahab face to face. (1 Kings 18)

Can you picture this great confrontation? The arrogant wicked King sees Elijah and has the audacity to say  “O troubler of Israel”. Elijah responds with the boldness of a lion proclaiming Ahab is the trouble- maker because he has forsaken the Word of the Lord and followed the baals.  Elijah tells Ahab, gather the people of Israel and the prophets of baal and asherah to Mount Carmel.

 Elijah stands before the people and in a proverbial sense DRAWS A LINE IN THE SAND saying:

 “How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him” (1st Kings 18:21).

 Now God’s people had not completely stopped following Him.  History tells us they tried to follow God and the false gods of the day. Elijah’s words were clear, concise and left no room for interpretation.

The Bible says that after Elijah spoke the people of God answered him not a word. 

Elijah than challenges the false prophets saying let’s make sacrifice, you call on your gods and I will call on the name of the Lord. The one who answers by fire HE IS GOD!

Baal didn’t answer then Elijah prepares the sacrifice and prays this powerful and amazing prayer:

"O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, O LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again."(1 Kings 18:36-37)

As Elijah finishes his prayer the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the sacrifice down to the wood, stones and the dust.  The people of God saw this and fell on their faces saying:

“The LORD, He is God! The Lord He is God!

In an instant they went from faltering between two opinions to proclaiming HE IS GOD, THE LORD HE IS GOD.

 GOD’S drawing a line in the sand is not about hate, intolerance, inequity, injustice, unfairness and single mindedness. It’s about LOVE, HIS LOVE for HIS people, plan and purposes. 

In His mercy, loving-kindness He revealed Himself in power so that Israel’s heart would turn to Him.

Have the voices of today brought you to falter? Has the accuser of the brethren caused you to doubt? Do you have little strength left?

The Lord is calling‑ rebuild the altar of your broken heart and tell the world:

              HE IS GOD, THE LORD HE IS GOD…

DOES GOD HAVE AN IDENTITY CRISIS?

Just this week I read an interview of a famous performer’s reflections about God and Jesus Christ. As I read the article as beautiful as it sounded full of compassion, love and mercy the words on the page reflected a  dichotomy more than a representation of the biblical ONE TRUE GOD. 

Here is an excerpt of the performers opinion on God and Jesus:

“I accept the Old Testament as more of an action movie: blood, car chases, evacuations, a lot of special effects, seas dividing, mass murder, adultery. The children of God are running amok, wayward. Maybe that’s why they’re so relatable. But the way we would see it, those of us who are trying to figure out our Christian conundrum, is that the God of the Old Testament is like the journey from stern father to friend. When you’re a child, you need clear directions and some strict rules. But with Christ, we have access in a one-to-one relationship, for, as in the Old Testament, it was more one of worship and awe, a vertical relationship. The New Testament, on the other hand, we look across at a Jesus who looks familiar, horizontal. The combination is what makes the Cross. – “

“The God of the Old Testament”, that statement always seems to bother me. The first time I heard it I was sitting in the front row at church when the Pastor suddenly declared, “ Aren’t you glad don’t serve that mean God  of the old testament”.  To my surprise this type of thinking is extremely prominent in western Christianity.

Does God truly have an identity crisis?

The reality is the Bible does not support this type of distinction. Throughout scripture we can see the different characteristics of God at different times and circumstances but scripture clearly tells us HE IS THE SAME, YESTERDAY, TODAY AND FOREVR! (Hebrews 13:8)

The Apostle Paul in his letter to the Colossians says, “For in Christ all the fullness of the deity lives in bodily form”.   This scripture has to be one of the most important points in all of Christianity declaring all the full measure of God has made residence in Jesus.  It’s not that Jesus is simply a human being that looks familiar to us. He was and is the bodily form taken by God Himself, HE IS GOD IN ALL HIS FULLNESS. 

When we use language that makes a distinction between the old testament God and the new testament Jesus, we minimize Jesus and disregard the Father.  I encourage you to go back and search the scriptures entirely, from Genesis to Revelation. You may be surprised to find some of the greatest examples of grace and mercy. (Joseph, the Exodus, Ruth, Jonah, David and many more)

He is the immutable God, meaning He is forever constant. He is and has always been good, loving, holy, righteous, perfect, merciful,slow to anger, abounding in love, faithful and forgiving…

Zoe Love

Ever so often my job requires me to travel to other offices within the company. As I pack my six year old Zoe sits by my suitcase and starts counting the days until my return.  This past week I returned from a two day trip and as I walked to the baggage claim there was Zoe with the genuine flames of love beaming out of her big beautiful brown eyes.  She ran towards me and blessed me with the biggest hug and kiss, as if I had been gone for years. Each kiss and hug was a reminder of her unconditional love, such was her joy she strolled my laptop bag to the car with one hand and tightly held my hand with her other hand. As we drove home she gave me a minute by minute status of all I had missed and in between each event she would say, Mom, I love you so much!

As the night came to a close I started meditate on “Zoe Love” suddenly I found myself praying and asking the Lord to teach me to love like Zoe loves. The beauty of that pray is that her name means “as God intended it to be” a simple prayer deeper than at first can be thought.

What, Zoe didn’t know was that I had endured some hardship while I was away and my heart was broken. Her acts of love where like a healing balm touching the depths of my soul. Just like the scripture says love drives out fear and it covers a multitude of wrongs. 

The apostle John left us many words of wisdom when it comes to the counsel of love. The same man who could call down fire upon men is also able to speak of the pure fire of love.  Beautiful it is when our flames become cleaner and our temper changes to compassion, unforgiveness to forgiveness, vengeance to mercy, frustration to peace.

Let’s acquire this love from the altar of the Almighty, we love because HE loved us first, nowhere else can this treasure be found. Though the journey at times can be painful I intend to advance towards the throne of God to understand the mystery and depth of this Love.