Shouting & Dancing

“‘How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him…Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by fire – he is God.’… Then they called on the name of Baal…they shouted. But there was no answer. And they danced around the altar they had made…So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time of the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention. Then Elijah said to all the people, ‘Come here to me.’ They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the LORD, which was in ruins.” 1 Kings 18:21-30.

Where do I begin to draw the parallels in this story which is so rich in principles? This ancient story is of Elijah, God’s prophet, 450 prophets of Baal, a ceremonial standoff and a set-up for God to show Himself as the One & Only. Of course God prevailed.

We have two options of flesh upon which we call upon in our lives – the flesh we desire or the Word made flesh. What does the life of a person living in the flesh look like? It is the person who places their advancement in business above the good of others. That person dances around their self-made altar calling upon their own greatness and power. It may be the woman who pursues and builds her own fleshly image by tearing down the image of another. She shouts loudly with her criticisms calling upon her god of judgment and slashes her own reputation by her actions.

We do not have to look beyond ourselves to see the altars for which we build. We build altars of bitterness, resentment, money and power. We have been duped by our own mind that we can call upon ourselves to fulfill everything we desire. By the time we realize that what we worship cannot deliver our life is out of control. The shouting stops, the dancing dies and the darkness sets in. We look at our lives as it lies before us in ruins. The landscape looks dark and bleak, with busted altars and unworthy sacrifices that never brought the fire…only parched hearts and thirsty souls.

Then an ember is sparked by the Word made flesh and He says to all His people, ‘Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the water…Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near…Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.’ Isaiah 55:1, 6-7.

If we are going to shout and dance before an altar let it be with empty hands held high and eyes to the skies! Let our altar for worship be a vertical focus to Heaven instead of a horizontal focus of earth.