The Misery of Limping Along (1 Kings 18:20-29)

This year in my read through of the Word, I am using the ESV (English Standard Version, 2011) instead of my normal study version I have used for many years (NASB, 1995). I have found the past few years that changing up the version (while making sure it is a reliable translation) I read from in my quiet time each day causes me to notice things that might have become so familiar in the wording as to pass me by in the NASB.

As I finished reading through 1 Kings this morning, the ESV's stating of a verse caught my attention through the presentation of the struggle the people of Israel were having with their faithfulness towards God as an image: “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).

The NASB states Elijah’s question to the people in 1 Kings 18:21 a bit more straightforward, like this: “Then Elijah approached all the people and said, ‘How long are you going to hesitate between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.’ But the people did not answer him a word.” The translation of hesitate has a note that tells the reader that it means “limp.” It carries the same meaning as the ESV translation, but it leaves the image absent unless a reader goes in search of deeper meaning, which I had not to this point in my previous readings of this chapter. The question that follows is the same in both versions and clearly indicates the struggle between two masters that the Israelites have. Both versions indicate that the people had no words to speak in their outright refusal to choose between God and Baal. The way they have been living their lives has brought them to this point. 

God demands obedience and is a jealous God, as Deuteronomy 4:24 clearly states: For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.” He will not share His glory with a false god, and the truth of HIs word is upheld in His consumption of not only the wet sacrifice but even the rocks of the altar Elijah built before Him as He accepted Elijah's sacrifice.

Both texts means the same thing, but the visual image of limping between two opinions stops men today. I need to be stopped and reminded every single day who the God I worship is. This battle that the children of Israel still fought hundreds of years after God had delivered them from Egypt is the same struggle we still face today. While no priests leap (or limp) around visible altars in their ceremonial dances while cutting themselves until the blood gushes out of them or cry out loudly and rave on to Baal to answer their pleas in my world, I find that people do really ridiculous, dramatic things while serving gods like wealth, children, work, popularity, etc (fill in your blank here). The gods of this world pull us in and demand our all while giving nothing in return. Like the children of Israel, we are dedicated to a god or gods who do not hear and offer us nothing but separation from God and total ruin at our own hands as we become like what we have created for ourselves to worship. God is One who not only hears when we cry out to Him but also is present and real in our lives and takes on our hurt and shame while we are still in our sin and pays the price Himself to draw us near, a price we could never ever pay. 

Faithfulness is required.

The reality is that God is One, and God never changes, unlike us. If we are His and in a covenant relationship with Him, we are to be wholly dedicated to Him. Period. Faithfulness is required. There is to be no wavering, no waffling or limping between two different opinions of who He is, no wild leaping up and down around the ceremonial altars we have built in our own lives. He is either God, or He is no god at all. We cannot serve two masters (Matt. 6:24). 

Lest we forget, Hosea in his imagistic, poetical way of speaking (given to Him by God) also reminds us that the heart is false, unlike our God. In addition, he adds that prosperity only makes it harder to deal faithfully with God, a lesson Jesus makes abundantly clear in His messages as well. Hosea 10:1-2 say this:

Israel is a luxuriant vine that yields its fruit.
The more his fruit increased; the more altars he built;
as his country improved, he improved his pillars.

Their heart is false; now they must bear their guilt.
The Lord will break down their altars and destroy their pillars.

The word for false also means divided, deceitful (Jer. 17:9), smooth. We have hearts that are easily led astray by the things of this world, like wealth, and it is difficult to stay faithful when we are not focused on God alone, intently worshiping Him the way HE has prescribed in His Word. We must dwell in the richness of the Word daily (rather than constantly steeping in the things of the world), renewing our minds (Rom. 12:2) so that He can uphold us. We cannot follow after Him faithfully in our own strength. We require His. So let’s stop painfully limping between two different opinions of who He is and remain still in the Word He has given us, knowing that He is God and there is none like Him. 

Matthew Henry offers in his commentary of this verse these thoughts: “The service of God and the service of sin, the dominion of Christ and the dominion of our lusts, these are the two thoughts which it is dangerous halting between. Those halt between them that are unresolved under their convictions, unstable and unsteady in their purposes, promise fair, but do not perform, begin well, but do not hold on, that are inconsistent with themselves, or indifferent and lukewarm in that which is good. Their heart is divided (Hosea 10:2), whereas God will have all or none.” 

Let us not be “unresolved” or “unstable” or “unsteady” in our purpose toward God, promising but not performing, beginning well without holding on, inconsistently maintaining a right relationship with God. God will have all of us, or none of us. Let us choose wisely!