Bible Men: Elijah: A Man of like Passions as We Are

Now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel unto mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, which eat at Jezebel's table. 1Ki 18:19  

Mt. Carmel: When Faith Leapt into the Sky

The Jews, those people who thirst for God as a man thirsteth for water in a dry land, sang “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help” (Ps 121:1). 

A mountain invokes worship. The soul lifts, gathering the wind in its palms, and then it breaks forth into that shaking song.

It isn’t that God lives on a mountain. The Jews knew that, and every poet whom God has inspired knows that “My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth” (Ps 121:2). 

At first it was Sinai, the mount of God, which smoked, and where the bush burned but it did not consume. Then the earth trembled and his voice thundered.

Since then mountains have gripped man’s imagination. So too has the journey of faith, in its upward trajectory, before it enters the gates.

Caleb may have prayed for much more than the physical hill when he entreated Joshua to “Give me this mountain.” Gallant deeds can aid faith just as small ones can hinder it.

So it was natural for Elijah, as a child of the law and the prophets, to choose a mountain place for a showdown between his God and Ahab’s retinue of false prophets. And what makes the heart throb is that Elijah was a man of like passions as we are.

The Genesis of Unbelief

Something draws out the heart to the novelty.

God had been very good to Adam and Eve, giving them everything. Yet our fall (as the serpent told our first parents) was predicated on the one thing we thought we didn’t have. “Ye shall not surely die.”

The children of Israel wanted a king so that they might be like other nations. It staggered them that they were different.

Does it confound you, dear child, that you are born different? If it’s a gift from God, then it’s a joy. It may sound boring now, but eternal fruits take time to ripen. “For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.” 

We may react to a wilderness experience in several ways. It might enlighten us, or it may stoke anger, bitterness and death. Choose well brethren.

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;  While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. 2Co 4:17-18  

For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. 1Jn 2:16-17  

Lust is a Leaf in the Wind

We know life here on earth is brief. The apostles have viewed that life as a breath, others as grass, and as a passing cloud. Lust is an enemy for the believers’ soul as the apostles have warned.

Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul. 1Pe 2:11  

If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.  Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.  For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.  When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.  Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Col 3:1-5 

This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. Gal 5:16-17  

And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. Gal 5:24  

From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Jas 4:1  

But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.  Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. 1Co 10:5-6 

Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward; 

How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will? Heb 2:1-4 

The Cure of Unbelief

A believer’s greatest arsenal against lust is faith through the word of God. “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb 12:2). 

These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. Heb 11:13  

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. Heb 12:1

Bible Men: Elijah: A Man of like Passions as We Are

And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word. 1Ki 18:21  

Decision is Life

To decide is destiny. And not to decide is destiny still.

Moses faced the children of Israel in the wilderness and frankly asked them to choose one. He meant to stump in their minds the weight decisions carry in one’s life.

I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live. Deu 30:19 

It is the introvert’s curse that every day he hovers between two opinions. The sun rises, and the sun sets, and yet he is still standing at the road junction.

I pray that by the end of this blog I shall have convinced someone to turn to the right.

The Intersection of Marriage and Decision

There is a physical and a spiritual dimension to the meaning of marriage. The Bible says the married become one flesh. That is spiritual. The physical is that they move into one house.

It underscores the point that what you choose is what you get married to, you become one with it.

God had a purpose for saying marriage is for life. He meant for a person to have conviction, and thereby to escape the jail of indecision.

It is not wrong to change decisions. In the day to day affairs it’s sometimes the wisest thing. But in the matter of Christian faith, to change decision might be to change destiny.

The Example of Israel

God had given Israel the law and its set of commandments. These were not merely letters but God breathed instructions. God had established a covenant (agreement or “marriage”) with them, to be their God and them his people.

But they transgressed the law. They became unfaithful as a wife becomes unfaithful to her husband. This is what is called apostasy. They abandoned their agreement with God.

God meant for them to be fixed in their decision (of one God), but now they were having other or multiple decisions (gods).  

Another word for this behavior is compromise. They believed in one God yes, but they also dabbled in the worship of other gods.

In Old Testament writings God called out Israel for being a prostitute. He chose them, and married them, yet they went to find other lovers. They were not satisfied with him. In language which trembles with feeling, God opens out his pain with his first “wife” Israel.

And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live.  I have caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field, and thou hast increased and waxen great, and thou art come to excellent ornaments: thy breasts are fashioned, and thine hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare. 

Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord GOD, and thou becamest mine.  Then washed I thee with water; yea, I throughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil.  I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badgers' skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk. 

I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck. And I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head.  Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver; and thy raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and broidered work; thou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil: and thou wast exceeding beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a kingdom.  And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord GOD. 

But thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy fornications on every one that passed by; his it was. Eze 16:6-15 

So the prophet Elijah looked at Israel and his zeal burnt. It wasn’t for himself. It wasn’t for his God either but for his people. They were foolish. Jeremiah wailed that they had chosen broken cisterns. Jesus looked at Jerusalem and wept.

Created for Higher Dreams and Decisions

God created us for himself. He is our husband and we are his wives, metaphorically speaking. We struggle in this world to find the meaning of life, but we look for it in the wrong places. We look for it in our many “lovers”, our many teachers and many ideas. “Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions” (Ecc 7:29).  

But our inventions will always leave us hungry. They will always leave us empty. That is why the famous King Solomon gasped, “I hated life” and “Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity” (Ecc 1:2).  

And so it is even to this day.

In the book of Proverbs Solomon exhorts his son to choose God because that is the path of wisdom. He implores him to decide wisely. Choosing God is choosing life and rejecting him is choosing death.

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. Pro 9:10  

Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Pro 3:5-6 

Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding. Pro 4:7  

Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not.  Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors.  For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the LORD. But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death. Pro 8:33-36 

Doth not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her voice? Pro 8:1 

So weigh your decisions very, very carefully. It is your life or your death. Please, I beg you, allow this to sink just for a short while. “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”