Tip of My Iceberg

He’d been told they were going out to eat.

So he changed into his pajamas.

Beck, at seven, has a logic all his own, which often makes more sense than that of many adults. It was getting later in the day, a day filled with all types of activities and fun, and he thoughtfully considered that, as late as it was, they wouldn’t get back from dinner until past his bedtime. He was already tired, so pajamas at the restaurant made sense.

I get it. He was actually thinking ahead, even if pajamas aren’t considered appropriate attire for a restaurant.

Life often defies logic. We want to think things through so we may implement plans that make sense. We make plans with what we understand to be true in the moment, hoping circumstances will be favorable for our hoped-for results.

When situations shift, and circumstances change–and they will–we need confidence in our bigger picture to keep going. Author and theologian C.S. Lewis once said, “You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” How we move forward through challenging situations says more about our character than what we produce.

Elijah was a prophet who served under Kings Ahab and Ahaziah of Northern Israel. Ahab was a profoundly evil king who turned his people toward idols and away from God. Elijah went up against 450 prophets of the god Baal, challenging them to prove the reliability of their god. The prophets of Baal and Elijah were to construct altars, and each group was given a bull, told to cut it up as a sacrifice, and to ask their god to send fire to burn it up. Elijah would do the same thing, and whoever’s god responded was the true God.

These 450 prophets called on Baal from morning till the evening sacrifice, screaming and shouting, and cutting themselves with knives and swords, blood gushing everywhere. There was no response from Baal.

Elijah built an altar with twelve stones to represent the twelve tribes, placing the pieces of the cut-up bull on top of the wood. He dug a trench that would hold water around the altar, had his people fill four large water jugs with water, pouring it over the sacrifice three times. The trench was filled, and the sacrifice was drenched. At the time of the evening sacrifice, Elijah prayed to the Lord to prove to the Israelites that He alone was God.

“Immediately, the fire of the LORD flashed down from heaven and burned up the young bull, the wood, the stones, and the dust. It even licked up all the water in the trench! And when all the people saw it, they fell face down on the ground and cried out, “The LORD–He is God! Yes, the LORD is God!” 1 Kings 18:38-39.

The circumstances weren’t easy for Elijah. But he was confident in his God, that the Lord would prove Himself to be the one and only God. The prophets of Baal fully expected, with all their numbers, all their enthusiasm, and all their personal wounds, that their god would respond.

Idols can’t do anything. They’re man-made.

Many believe that there is no logic to believing in God. Because He isn’t visible. There are still horrid things happening in the world, and there are those who can’t conceive of a good God letting hard things happen.

The logic is that God, who loves us, gives us the chance to choose to love Him; He doesn’t force our affection.

Ever.