Choose Your God: 1 Kings 18:20-40

“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh” (Gal. 5:16, NASB).

During this COVID-19 pandemic one thing that stands out is that people want, yes, even demand that they have a right to choose for themselves what they will do. They demand the right to choose to get the vaccination or choose not to get the vaccination. They demand the right to choose to wear a mask of choose not to wear a mask. The demand to have the right to choose for one even extends to the arguments about immigration, abortion, what to believe, and how to live. In America today, there is the debate whether personal choice should be allowed if one’s personal choice infringes upon the rights and safety of others.

The desire for the right to choose is fundamental to our human nature. God created the first man and woman and gave them the right to choose whether or not to eat fruit from the tree in the midst of the garden. God warned them that there are consequences for the choice that they make. They chose to listen to the words of the serpent. They found the serpents words that offered freedom from the serpent more appealing than the restrictions placed upon them by the command of God. The consequences were that they were driven from the garden into the world ruled by the Satan (the devil) and the desires of men instead of living in the beautiful garden in which God had provided everything that they needed to enjoy life carrying out the will of God. Living in the world still requires that you and I choose who we will listen to; who we will obey; and who our God is. This article draws upon the story of Elijah, God’s prophet in competition with 450 prophets of Baal. The people were to choose God or Baal to be their God.

The challenge that Elijah issues to the children of Israel is not a new one. After the Israelites entered into the Promised Land, Joshua issued a challenge to the people saying, “‘If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD’” (Jos. 24:15, NASB). As we can see the Israelites were living in a world in which they had to choose their God. We can see that the right to choose is a fundamental right. Making choices is a fundamental necessity for human beings. We cannot avoid making choices. We have to live with the truth that our choices lead to consequences.

The Israelites had turned from the Lord their God to worship the Baals. The consequence was that God caused a drought to come upon the land. The drought meant no rain for three years. It meant a short supply of water in the land. Without rain the crops that provided food to eat were in severe short supply. Without rain there was not enough water to sustain human life and animal life. Yet, the people could not make the connection between their worship of the Baals and their harsh conditions in the land. In much the same way the citizens of America; and especially those of us that call ourselves Christians are like the Israelites. We want to enjoy the blessings of the Lord our God and enjoy the pleasures that can be found in worshiping other gods. However, God does not give us the freedom to practice syncretism. We cannot worship the gods of the world and God at the same time. We either worship the Lord and obey His commandments or worship the serpent, the gods of the world. If we are not totally committed to the Lord He will turn against us. He will drive us from His garden filled with everything that we need for a holy life dedicated to God. You might ask why I have to choose. Why can I not have it both ways? Let us examine these questions.

The scriptures tell us that one of God’s created angels was named Lucifer. Lucifer held a high position in God’s kingdom. “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art though cut down to the ground, which did weaken the nations!” (Isa. 14:12, KJV). “How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth; You have weakened the nations” (Isa. 14:12, NASB). Lucifer is here described as a rebellious angel that God cast out of heaven into the earth. It is his goal to destroy human beings, God’s most prized creation. Isaiah describes Lucifer as one who operates through wicked kings in Israel. The kings listen in their hearts to the deceptive lies of Lucifer. The prophet says that ultimately Lucifer will fail. This means Lucifer the angel and all people who worship him whether directly or by worshiping false gods in the earth.

We must choose our God. We cannot avoid it. When God drove Adam and his wife from the garden they were compelled to live in a world in which Satan rules. Let us not confuse God’s sovereign power with His free will to cause and allow evil to reign in the earth. Far too many people are trying to blame the Lord for their troubles. The say that God ought not to let certain things happen. They ask how a good God can allow evil to take place in the earth. The answer is simple. God created the heavens and the earth out of His sovereign choice. When God created human beings they like Him were given the right and responsibility to make choices. This is part of what the scripture means when it says that God created human being in His image and in His likeness (Gen. 1:26-27). God drove the man and the woman from the garden because a holy God cannot tolerate sin in His presence. However, even though human beings live in a sinful world orchestrated by Satan, God has provided a means by which we can choose between God and Satan.

God chose Abram to be the father of a people that lives by faith in God. Abram believed God and his faith was accounted to him as righteous. Abram, whose name God changed to Abraham became the father of the nation of Israel, not simply by human birth, but also by faith in the Lord, the God of Israel. God gave them commandments and laws, and statues to live by. This would mean that it would be necessary for them to separate themselves from the other people in the land in which they lived. The natives of the land had their many gods to suit their needs. They had a god for fertility. They had a god for agriculture. They had a different god for different things. Some of their gods were local gods restricted to certain geographical locations. The gods of one nation were different from the gods of the other nations. Israel was to worship one God, the Lord, who supplies all needs. The Israelites had no need for another God in order to live according to the ways of the Lord.

The American people are struggling with their choices. America is inhabited by people that were born and raised in many places throughout the world. These people come to America because they believe that America will offer them an opportunity for a better life. There is nothing wrong with their desire to have a better life for themselves and their families. However, there is a problem.

Now, people think that the problem is the differences of opinions among the people based on their political positions, their religious beliefs and practices, their race and skin color, their philosophies, theologies—their worldview. However, the real problem is that many of the people that are immigrants come from lands that believe in other gods. Over the decades, Christians in America have begun to adopt these gods as a part of their personal and church religion. Polytheism allows for a person to worship many gods. The Christian God is a jealous God and there are consequences when the people of God worship other gods. “You shall not worship them; for I, the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me” (Exod. 20:5, NASB). This does not mean that we should not allow people that worship other gods to come to America. It simply means that Christians should not adopt the gods of the people that come here.

In our text today we learn that Israel’s problem of no rain is the result of their failure to be totally committed to the Lord their God. God gives us the right and responsibility to choose Him above all other gods, but God will not share His glory with another god. “I am the LORD, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, Nor My praise to graven images’ (Isa. 42:8, NASB). Thus, His first commandment to His chosen people that He freed from bondage in Egypt said: “‘You shall have no other gods before Me’” (Exod. 20:3, NASB). Now if you are one of those persons that say that this is a part of the Law that was done away with when Jesus died on the cross, I invite you to listen to what Jesus had to say about this.

One of the Pharisees asked Jesus about the greatest commandments in the Law. Jesus answered him saying, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind’” (Matt. 22:37). Jesus also said, “‘Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill” (Matt. 5:17, NASB). Jesus came to do what the Law could not do. The Law required the sacrifice of animals every year for the sins of the people, but they could not satisfy God’s requirement for sin; that those who sin die. “But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Heb. 10:3-4, NASB). Jesus died in our place so that through faith in His blood we can be forgiven of our sins and reconciled to the Father. We must choose who our God will be. The moment that we bow down to any other god, we separate ourselves from God.

We are challenged to choose our God, whether the gods in the earth or the God of heaven. When we choose the God of heaven we make Him our Lord and Savior. We totally surrender our will and our ways to the ways and will of God. We become dedicated to the Lord whose ways are not our ways and whose thoughts are not our thoughts. When we choose God, we deny our rights as citizens of the earth, and we chose the teachings of Jesus Christ (Jn. 8:31-32). It is not possible to serve two masters. We will love the one and hate the other.

When we believe in Jesus and He becomes our Lord and Savior God sends the Holy Spirit to abide with us. We now have the power of God living in us. We no longer have to live by the desires of the flesh. We can choose to live by the Spirit. The works of the flesh (Gal. 5:19-21) are different from the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:23). “Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Gal. 5:24, NASB).

We are able to choose because God provided a means for us to choose between God and the gods of the world. He sent His Son to demonstrate His love for us by dying on the cross (See Rom. 5:8). Your choice has consequences. You can chose the world and die in your sins. You can choose Jesus and live forever with God. The choice for death was made by the man and the woman in the garden. The choice for life is made possible by God. Choose Your God.