How Long?

How long?

So Ahab sent word through all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.” But the people said nothing.

We worship at the altar of Instagram.

We scroll through pictures and videos, finding inspiration to make our houses prettier, our lives better, and our bodies healthier.

We look for answers on an app.

Sometimes we win but, more often, we lose.

How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow Him.

We worship at the altar of Target.

We comb the aisles looking for cute clothes, accessories for our living rooms, and the next delicious health food to stock our shelves.

We spend money looking for answers.

Sometimes it works, but never for long.

How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.

We worship at the altar of food and drink.

We eat to fill loneliness, celebrate victories. We drink to silence the defeat, to rejoice in the good fortune.

In the moment, it fills but again we’re hungry and thirsty.

How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.

We worship at the altar of our screens.

Emails to answer, followers to accumulate, likes to rack up. This is how we show our worth, our value to others. This is how we make it okay—others need us.

It’s never quite enough though.

When Israel had lost its way yet again, God raised up Elijah to minister to His wayward people. The current leaders hated Elijah for the truth he spoke and the way he called out their false gods. To prove the Lord is God, Elijah invited four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal onto a mountain for a test. He instructed Baal’s prophets to slaughter a bull and then call to their god, Baal, to set it on fire. After they were done, Elijah would do the same with his God.

Baal’s prophets killed their bull and placed it on their altar. They called to their god and asked him to burn it up. They called to Baal all morning, screaming and dancing as they tried to show their god’s power.

Nothing happened.

By noon, Elijah started taunting them, asking where their god was. “Shout louder!” he said. “Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.”

So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.

We don’t worship Baal today, but we have replaced Baal with just as damaging false gods. We bleed our heart and soul on social media but have no real-life relationships. We have pretty houses but no one to fill them and no use for those extra bedrooms we demand in our house searches. We can make pretty meals from beautiful cookbooks but we’re not actually feeding people who are hungry. We answer emails efficiently, but don’t spend time with those who are hurting, people who are starved for our attention, who need our conversations.

We bleed ourselves dry for our false gods just as the Baal worshippers did.

We do it differently with a carefully chosen filter and the ugly parts cropped out, but we bleed just the same. We cut ourselves like they did to please fake gods and fake friends.

Once Baal’s prophets were through calling to their god who never answered, it was Elijah’s turn. He repaired the Lord’s altar that had been torn down. He instructed those around him to douse the altar in water. “Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood.”

Do it again, he said.

And they did it again.

Again, he said.

They did it again.

Again.

And they did it again.

The bull, the altar, the trench around the altar—all of it was soaking wet surrounded by standing water.

And then Elijah called to his god, the Lord: “Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.”

Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.

How long?

How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.

How long will we keep spending our free time on our phones, getting to the end of the day and making excuses that we just didn’t have time to read our Bibles or spend time in prayer today?

How long will we keep spending our money on things we don’t need without first giving to God what is God’s?

How long will we proclaim to be your followers while our words and actions never match up?

How long will we pretend to live in community to impress others when we’re actually dying of loneliness?

How long will we curate a pretty exterior life while our interior life screams and shouts for attention?

How long will we have hundreds of friends but no one who really knows us?

How long?

God, set fire to our lives. Let your cleansing fire rage and roar. Get our attention. Speak loud. And use that same fire to destroy the false gods we worship. Ravage what is taking our attention from you. Cover our wounds. Make the bleeding stop. Make us healthy and whole in a way only you can.

Lord, use your holy fire to get our attention.

(Hey, random side note: when I talk about a Bible story, I’d love for you to go check it out and make sure my words ring true before you take them as truth. You know, compare my truth to The Truth. So if you’re interested, the story I’m referencing today is found in 1 Kings 17-19. Get in there and discover some stuff for yourself, yo.)