nights. Fast forward to chapter 32 now,
can you imagine Moses’ fury when God
sends him back down the mountain
because the people through their
impatience and corruptness had turned
to other gods and built a golden calf?
All they had to do was wait just a little
while longer and obey the commands
they had already been given: the first
one was God is a jealous God, do not
worship any other gods! They had no
excuse, earlier they had heard God and
feared Him so much they were quaking
in their boots! Why did most of them
decide to build a calf with Aaron? After
Moses gave them a choice, “Whoever is
for the Lord, come to me.” The Levites
chose to go to Moses and they were
blessed. Ex. 32:26
I wonder what I would have done?
Would I have gone along with
everybody? Would I have known that it
was not the will of God, He had said do
not worship other gods? I would like to
think I might have been faithful enough
to choose God.
Let us look at a different scenario now.
How about Elijah, our favourite Tishbite
from Tishbe. (1 Kings 18) This brave
man had to present himself to Ahab the
king of Israel who, it tells us in chapter
17, was the son of Omri and “did more
evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of
those before him.” 1 Kings 17:30
Ahab’s evil wife Jezebel was busy killing
off the Lord’s prophets. Thankfully,
Obadiah, another devout believer, had
hidden 100 prophets of the Lord in
caves. Elijah risked his life, challenged
King Ahab, to a duel on Mount Carmel
(Ahab’s 450 prophets of Baal and the
400 prophets of Asherah; who ate at
Jezebel’s table; versus himself.)
Elijah went before the people and asked
them to choose between God or Baal.
What followed next would, I believe,
make a hilarious film. He asked the
prophets to put a bull on an altar and
have their gods burn it, they couldn’t do
it but when Elijah called and his God
sent fire it exceeded all expectations.
He had to make the decision to trust
and follow God even though it could
have turned out so differently. The
question I ask myself again is could I be
that brave, can I follow God’s word even
at risk of my life?
If you are a fan of a football club, when
things start going wrong you can walk
away, but If you are a dedicated follower
of a football club you will stick with
them through thick or thin through
good times or bad times. Are you a fan
of Jesus or a dedicated follower of Jesus?
Sometimes we must make decisions
in our everyday life that may be very
difficult, it could be dangerous, make
us notorious in the press, harm our
reputation or our business. If you
absolutely know that this is the Godly
decision to make, could you do it?
The world is changing so dramatically
these days and radical decisions are
being made everywhere, Godly or
not, whether it is who will govern our
countries or who will make our laws
that we should live by. There have been
brave souls who stood up for what they
believed is right and have been taken
to court for things such as who stays in
their Bed and Breakfast, what message
was not going to be put on cakes made
by their business, whether a cross could
be worn at work, what can or cannot be
preached from the Bible on the street
or displayed on a screen in a Christian
Cafe. Christians in this country are
now being accused of spreading hate
speech just because they have recited
the words in the Bible. There will be
more challenges ahead where we will
have to get on our knees and pray,
use Godly wisdom individually and
corporately or both.
As God’s children, we have to choose
which side we are on and stick by it but
those decisions must be made through
God’s lens of love. What does God’s
word really say, bearing in mind He
hates legalism and bigotry. Everyday
people have to decide if they are going
to do what is decent, moral and right
or what is popular. If we go along with
the popular demand how will history
judge us? Doesn’t the Word say, “If
anyone would come after me, he must
deny himself and take up his cross and
follow me. For whoever wants to save
his life will lose it, but whoever loses his
life for me will find it.” (Matt 16:24,25)
and in Isaiah 5 the warning “Woe to
those who call evil good and good evil,
who put darkness for light and light for
darkness…”
The trials and tribulations as a Christian
follower is, I believe, abou t to increase.
Are we going to be found following
faithfully and worshipping the true
and only God or will we be found
following other gods? We collectively
and individually must decide. p
January - March 2018
By Teresa L. Randle
Missionary, Preacher
and Bible Teacher
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