I’ve always heard it said, “if you want to hurt somebody, hit em’ in the pocketbook.” Meaning if you really want to get someone’s attention, dry up their income source. There is indeed great truth here, when your income goes away, you definitely take great notice as to what caused it…quickly. But also growing up in Texas, I’ve seen another way to not only get the attention of an individual, but an entire state. Drought.
I’ve lived through many droughts in Texas, some beyond severe. According to drought.gov, “Since 2000, the longest duration of drought in Texas lasted 271 weeks beginning on May 4, 2010 and ending on July 7, 2015. The most intense period of drought occurred the week of October 4, 2011 where it affected 87.99% of Texas land.” I vividly recall this period, Margie and I were working together and travelling all over the West Texas region. Entire lakes were dried up, boat ramps were 100’s of feet from their new anemic shoreline. Pasturelands were brown, burned to a crisp without hydration in the harsh Texas sun. Entire neighborhoods could not water at all, the resulting landscape looking like God had only brown left on His palette. Yep, if you really want to get people’s attention, stop the rain.
And that is exactly what God does to deal with the evil of Ahab today in 1 Kings 18. Recall that God tells us Ahab was the most evil of all kings thus far, quite the statement considering there were some real rapscallions before him. But Ahab set the new bar and he set it high. He moved farther from God that any other king had yet moved. And how did he do it? Not by simply forgetting God and all worship to Him, but by adding a few more gods into the mix.
As Marge and I have been travelling here in Mexico, God has allowed us to have many conversations about Him with locals. And you know what we have found? People love God. They love the idea of God, they love that He is good and they love that He does good stuff for them. But they also love other gods. Other religions crowd the scene here and it commands that you spread your “godly love” around. I mean just like hedging your bets on Wall Street, why put all your money in one place? I mean aren’t we given the wise proverb, “don’t put all your eggs in one basket?” So, if this proverb rings true, then why limit yourself to worshiping one god? And so it rings true in this world. Why not worship Almighty God the creator, along with Buddha, Allah, Mary, Krishna, Vishnu, and hey, go ahead and throw yourself in there too. I mean if you’re going to diversify your godly worship, you might as well include as many gods as possible right?
And so was true with Ahab, his wife Jezebel, and the entirety of Jerusalem during this time. We don’t see an absolute snub of God, just Him being worshiped in addition to the many other gods available. If Almighty God didn’t give you what you wanted, scamper on over to the next temple and try that god. Folks, some things never change. You see this all over the world today, just as Marge and I are seeing firsthand. The world walks the buffet line of gods and picks the ones that please them and the ones that they think can give them what they want. Let’s get a god that will give is money (Maneki-Neko, the Japanese money cat, Lakshmi, Hindu god of wealth and prosperity) or maybe a god that will let our dead ancestors have an influence on our current lives (Chinese pinyin, Indian sraddha, or the Latin Dia de la Muertos) In Ahab’s day he had chosen the god of sex, Asherah, and the god of rain, Baal amongst others. So as God sought to get the attention of His people, guess which god He chose to humiliate with a seemingly endless drought? Yep, Baal, the god of rain.
As we see the famous dramatic mountaintop showdown between Elijah and the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah, we find this powerful and dramatic statement from Elijah that caps our point perfectly.
“And Elijah came near to all the people and said, “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
You see, the first commandment that God handed to Moses on Mount Sinai was this:
“You shall have no other gods before Me." Exodus 20:3
Pair it together with these powerful verses:
“You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me.” Exodus 20:5
“For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.” 2 Cor 11:2
“I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.” Isaiah 42:8
Folks, no matter what you think, feel, believe or are told, there is but one true God. The God of creation, the God of the Bible, the God of our Salvation. There is no other. If you are worshiping at the feet of any other god today, Almighty God has a question for you. How long will you keep limping between these gods and the one true God? How long will you keep waffling between the truth and what you want to believe is true? One interpretation of the Jewish root of this verse paints a picture of a bird hopping between two branches, unsure on which one to settle. An apropos picture of those in this world today that shop their list of gods with little to no thought of their ramifications.
Today, I challenge you to find the one true God. He promises that if you seek Him, you will find Him. If you are seeking Almighty God in the depths of your heart today, pray this prayer.
Almighty God, I seek your face. I seek the truth of who you are. Please reveal yourself to me so that I can see, feel and witness the power of your truth. And as you do, allow me to understand the power, majesty and glory of who you are. For it is only in this revelation and understanding that I can truly understand who Jesus Christ is. And I also pray that as you reveal the wonders of your glory, that you provide a mature believer in Christ that can help me to better understand. God, help me to find you and understand you. Amen.
God bless you in your journey to find, love and worship the one true God today.
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