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

Elijah’s words hung in the air like a thick cloud.

Although thousands covered the mountain top the silence was deafening. No one moved. No one responded. They barely breathed.

They were about to see one of the greatest spiritual contests in history. God versus Baal. Good versus evil. One prophet of Jehovah versus 450 prophets of satan.

You undoubtedly know the story in I Kings 18:20ff. The prophets of Baal built an altar, laid wood on it, cut up the ox but didn’t light a fire. They were to call upon their god for him to send fire, if he was truly real.

Hours spent in ritual dancing, cutting themselves, and calling out to their god only brought them to exhaustion. But no fire came.

Late in the afternoon Elijah built his altar to the true God, laid down the wood and cut up his ox. But before he began summoning God he had the altar drenched with several barrels of water. He wanted to make sure when fire came no one doubted that only God did it.

Instead of dancing, cutting himself or begging God to respond, Elijah simply prayed and asked God to demonstrate His reality and power by sending fire on the altar.

He said, “O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, today let it be known that You are God in Israel and that I am Your servant and I have done all these things at Your word. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that You, O Lord, are God . . .” [I Kings 18:36, 37]

“Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.” [vs. 38]

I don’t know about you but every time I read this passage is gives me chills. Just imagine how that felt to experience such immense power.

Several years ago I had the privilege to go on a tour of Israel and stand on Mount Carmel. Not knowing this to be one of my favorite passages in the Old Testament, the group leader asked me to read these verses as we all stood in the exact spot where this took place. It is something I will always remember.

My mind was brought back to this section of Scripture this week as I had another hard week of sales. One week of poor sales is bad, two weeks is tough, but three weeks in a row of lousy sales is simply dreadful.

The thought I kept coming back to is, “Is God really God or not?”

Sounds like a simple, even silly, question but I think it is very profound. One we have to ask ourselves as we face difficult situations and trials in life.

Is God really God? Is the Bible fully and completely true or just mostly true? When God said He would provide our needs did He actually mean all the time or just most of the time?

When He directs me to do something, or not do something, can I fully trust that it is for my good and the outcome will be the best?

When He says if I seek first His kingdom and His righteousness then all the necessities in life He will taken care of [Matt. 6:33], can I actually hold on to that?

When He says He is intimately aware of everything in our lives, that He truly cares for and is sovereign over all aspects of our lives, do I believe that all the time or just when things go well?

I heard someone say this week it’s easy to have faith when things are going your way.

I had to ask myself, is my faith and trust in the Lord only strong as long as my life is good?

The question “Is God really God” is not to be answered simply theologically. It has to be answered in life, and it is answered by my life by whether I truly trust Him and rest in His promises and provisions. Even when they don’t come in my time or the way I would choose.

If God is God, if His Word is really true, if what He says can be fully trusted then I have to do what Elijah challenged the people of His day, I must stop wavering and choose to completely believe and follow Him. Partial trust is not really trust at all.

I don’t know about you but I’m definitely not there yet. I want to trust the Lord, I want to rest in the assurance that He is in control and will work everything out. I want to, but often I don’t.

What I had to do this week is what I’ve said before, to force my mind to think on the Lord. His past provision, His enduring promises. To stop and make a mental list of things He has done that I’m grateful for. In a word, to gaze on Him and glance at the situation.

I also had to keep bringing my heart back to a sense of expectancy, looking forward to what God would do with “our” problem. How He would work in a way I never expected or planned. To wait with anticipation to see Him provide.

Being impatient, I assumed He would take me down to the wire throughout the week only to give me several sales on Friday. I had 10 people to contact that day for their decision to buy. Ten people should mean four or five sales. That would end the week nicely I figured. I would trust Him four days and He would provide on the fifth.

Friday came and went and only one sale. Not what I was expecting or hoped for. I even prayed asking for five sales.

It got me down initially then I realized I have to keep forcing my mind to think on the Lord, remembering His work in the past and maintain the sense of anticipation. [Phil. 4:6-8]

God rarely works in our timetable. But He does work. In His way, at His time, for His purpose.

Is God really God? YES!

It’s up to me to believe that, to trust Him, and to rest and wait to see what He will do. I have to do my part, go out again next week and make sales calls, but I have to do it with a heart of acceptance of and anticipation in Him working.

That’s what’s on my heart this week.
Mark