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?”