How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, then follow him. (1 Kings 18:21 ESV)
That word was never addressed to the unsaved. It was never intended for
them. It is only rarely that the unsaved are in the position of two
opinions. More often than not they are of no opinion. This is what the prophet
really said to the people: "How long limp ye from one side to another?" He viewed
them as lame, and lamed by uncertainty, lamed by indecision, paralyzed by an
unsettled issue. Oh, how an unsettled issue does paralyze the life. Have a
controversy with the Lord, an unsettled issue with the Lord, and your whole life
is lamed, is paralyzed; you are limping first one way and then the other; there
is no sense of stability about your way.
So the prophet called for the issue to be settled. How long limp ye from one
side to the other? Settle this issue one way or the other. If Jehovah be God,
let Him have His place, His full rights; settle it once and for all. If Baal is
god, well then let us be settled. But until that is done you are crippled, you
are paralyzed, and the whole secret of your being in that weak, indefinite,
unstable, uncertain place is that God is not having His full rights; there is a
dividedness in your life, a dividedness in your own soul, because other
interests and considerations are in view. The dividedness may be in your home
life, where you have power, authority and influence, and you are not standing
one hundred percent for the Lord’s interests there. It may be working in other
directions, but wherever it is present the result is that deep down in your
being you are not satisfied, you are not at rest. You may be busy, you may be
occupied, you may be rushing hither and thither in the Lord’s name, but you know
that deep down there is a lack, an uncertainty, an unsettled state; your
spiritual life is limited and paralyzed. It will always be so until the issue is
settled and God has His place in fullness in every part and relationship of your
life. It is a question of zeal for the Lord, jealousy for the Lord.