ODJ: hedging bets
Then Elijah stood in front of them and said, “How much longer will you waver, hobbling between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him! But if Baal is God, then follow him!” (v.21).
READ: 1 Kings 18
Millions of people say they believe in God, but to guarantee the good life they also put their trust in capitalism, science, or immoral pleasures. Recently, however, we’ve seen further proof that these gods cannot deliver. Free markets have collapsed, sending the economies of most countries into deep recessions. Scientific breakthroughs have produced cloning and greenhouse gasses. And the sexual revolution left us with AIDS and increased divorce.
Our predicament is not unlike Old Testament Israel, which hedged its worship of Yahweh by betting on Baal, the god of fertility. Baal was the storm god who, with lightning in one hand and thunder in the other, promised to send rain on the Israelites’ fields and make them rich.
God responded by striking Israel at their point of compromise. You worship Baal for the rain he provides? Then “there will be no dew or rain during the next few years until I give the word!” (1 Kings 17:1).
After 3 years of drought, the parched Israelites agreed to meet Elijah on Mount Carmel for a faceoff between Baal and Yahweh. The prophets of Baal shouted and cut themselves, but they couldn’t persuade Baal to drop a lightning bolt and burn their sacrifice. Elijah scoffed that perhaps the pagan god was “daydreaming” or “relieving himself,” “Or maybe he is away on a trip, or is asleep and needs to be wakened!” (1 Kings 18:27).
When the exhausted Baal worshipers had finally given up, Elijah called down fire on his waterlogged sacrifice, a fire so intense that it consumed even the stones of the altar. Then Elijah seized the prophets of Baal and slew them.
Capitalism, science, and sex are good gifts from God. But if we put our trust in them (instead of Him), He may use these very things to destroy us.
—Mike Wittmer
How can you know when something such as science or money has taken the place of God, instead of being used to serve Him? Why does God take such drastic measures to end idolatry?
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Loading ...ODB: God’s mercies
March 11, 2010
READ: Genesis 32:3-13
I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies. —Genesis 32:10
Less than the least of all God’s mercies.” This was the motto 17th-century English poet and clergyman George Herbert engraved on his signet ring, and it was the phrase with which he signed his letters and books. Jacob had spoken these words when he pondered God’s goodness despite his own sin and shame: “I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which You have shown Your servant” (Gen. 32:10).
The word “mercies” is from the Hebrew word chesed, meaning “God’s enduring love.” I think it is significant that it rose from the heart of one who saw himself as utterly unworthy.
Relying solely on God’s faithful love, Jacob cries out: “Deliver me!” What an odd combination of thoughts: “I am not worthy . . . . Deliver me” (vv.10-11). Unlike some who seem to have it all together, Jacob knew that everything he brought to God had been ruined by sin. He thought of himself as a man undeserving of God’s grace. But his hope lay not in his worth but in the promise of God to look with favor on those who throw themselves on His mercy. Humility and contrition are the keys that open the heart of God.
As He did with Jacob, God hears us when we humbly cry out to Him for mercy. — David H. Roper
Mercy is an unearned blessing bestowed by God on an unworthy recipient.
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