Wishy Washy

 

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.”

—1 Kings 18:20

The Prophet Elijah had the right idea. He was bold and was always prepared to speak God’s word and do God’s business.

In this story found in 1 Kings 18, from which we quote the verse at the beginning of this blog post, we read how Elijah came to the God-fearing Obadiah, servant of the evil King Ahab and Ahab’s wife Jezebel. Both Obadiah and Elijah knew that Ahab intended to kill the Lord’s prophets, in order to set up the thousand or more prophets of Baal over the people of Israel. Elijah came prepared to challenge Ahab, through Obadiah and through the test that would lead all the people to testify, “The Lord, He is God!” Elijah exemplified strength in the face of a weak and wishy-washy nation.

The people of Israel knew that they belonged to God. Down through the generations they had been taught that God had chosen them out of all the people on earth. Some Israelites even intended to worship only God. But sadly, too often good intentions go awry, causing those who think they will never fall to bitterly fail.

Peter intended to follow Jesus, said he would give his life for his Master. But, when it came to the test, Peter denied Jesus. You can read the story of Peter’s denials “before the rooster crowed” in Matthew 26:69-75.

In the Book of Romans, the powerful Apostle Paul admits to this wishy-washy attitude at work in him. We read in Romans 7:21-23:

So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.

I love the way Puritan writer Stephen Charnock puts it:¹

In the fall, man was wounded in his head and heart; the wound in the head made him unstable in the truth, and that in his heart, unsteadfast in his affections… We waver between God and Baal. While we are resolving, we look back at Sodom… Our resolutions are like letters written on water. With John we love Christ today, and as Judas tomorrow we betray him… How hard it is to make our thoughts and affections keep their stand! Place them on a good object, and they will be flying from it like a bird from branch to branch.

Like the Apostle Paul, we can thank God and fully rest our unstable nature on God’s unchangeable grace. He knows our weakness. And, when we acknowledge it like Peter did, we can know His forgiveness and His empowering boldness in the face of our inadequacy.

Like Elijah, we can know God’s power to strengthen us before incredible odds. We have hope because we have Christ! Let us bow in our weakness before our Lord Almighty and pray with words of hymn-writer Robert Robinson:²

O, to grace how great a debtor
    daily I’m constrained to be!
Let that grace, Lord, like a fetter,
    bind my wand’ring heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord I feel it;
    prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it;
    seal it for Thy courts above.

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1 Charnock, Stephen (author) and Richard Rushing, editor. Voices from the Past: Puritan Devotional Reading – Volume 2. Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2016. p. 278.

2 Robinson, Robert. “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing.” Public Domain. Stanza three.