On Mount Carmel, there was a showdown between the one remaining prophet of Yahweh against the four-hundred fifty prophets of Baal, to test who was truly God. As I read through this account today, it saddened me to consider how it resembles a conflict of today between people who worship God according to His word and those who follow false teachers and their twisted version of Christianity that is entirely focused on hype and emotionalism.
One of the issues with emotionalism-based faith is that their hyped-up emotional state is what they view as the “proof” of God’s presence and power. If emotional hype was the proof of a living god however than the prophets of Baal would have been living true faith, for they called on the name of their god with a loud voice from morning until the time of the evening sacrifice. In addition to crying out with a loud voice, they “gashed themselves according to their custom with swords and lances until the blood gushed out on them... but there was no voice, no one answered, and no one paid attention.” (from 1 Kings 18:28-29) They did everything that they were supposed to, to receive the favor and attention of their god, but it mattered not because their god was a lie.
Elijah on the other hand, called the people to come near, as he prepared the alter and even had them pour water onto the alter, sacrifice, and wood, three times so that the sacrifice was soaked and the trench that he made around the alter was filled with water. He did not shout, or cut himself to get Yahweh’s attention, he simply prayed, and “the fire of Yahweh fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And all the people saw it and fell on their faces and said, “Yahweh. He is God; Yahweh, He is God.” (from 1 Kings 18:38-39)
Can you even imagine a pastor today doing everything possible to prove to the people that if God's Spirit is present and active, that it has absolutely nothing to do with him? He wouldn't manipulate the lighting, he wouldn't use music to try to shape the mood, it's hard to even imagine what else he may do if he was determined to ensure that the credit and glory of what God would do would go to God alone. Please don't misunderstand me, I do not believe that lighting or music is used consciously by most pastors as a tool of manipulation, but for some, it absolutely is, as is the tone of their voice and their choice of words. While these things can be used for good, motive matters. Is he doing it for the cheers and applause of a crowd or is his greatest concern a love for the lost, for the children of God, and for God's glory?
Looking back at 1 Kings 18:38-39, do you notice what the result was of the power, word, and presence of the true God? The people responded with fear, humility, confession and repentance. This is God’s will for His people, that they would turn from their false gods of personalized religion (selfishness is idolatry), emotionalism, and a twisted versions of Christ and the gospel and that they would “receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.” (from 2 Thessalonians 2:10) A false gospel offers no salvation. A false Jesus cannot save you. A false god is no god at all. It doesn’t matter how much faith you have if you’re putting your faith in a lie or perversion of the truth. Truth is of the utmost importance, and it is worth our love and devotion, for the living God, Yahweh, is the God of truth (Psalm 31:5 and Isaiah 65:16).
I believe that part of the beauty of worshiping God in spirit and in truth is that it is not founded on emotionalism. I say this having personally walked through a very difficult time where God felt incredibly distant and silent, but because my faith was based on faith in His word and not on how I felt, I walked through that dark time trusting that His word was true in spite of how I felt, and I made it to the other side of that time with my faith completely intact because it was not reliant on my feelings but in His word which is truth.
If you were to read your Bible, attend your church’s worship and preaching, be partaking in small group Bible studies and find yourself feeling depressed, lacking joy and excitement, not feeling as if God is speaking to you through His word, and overwhelmingly discouraged, how do you think you would handle it? Would you feel as if your faith was a lie? Would you view an emotional high in connection to faith-based things as a potential “cure” for your condition? If a time of depression is capable of completely derailing your faith, then you may be like the one who had the word sown on rocky soil or among the thorns (Mark 4:16-19).
Where is hope then for those who have fallen prey to the idolatry of emotionalism? Pursue and prioritize God's word and truth with as much zeal as you pursued an emotional high. Trust His word over your feelings and opinions. Humble yourself, confess, and repent knowing that these things please and glorify the living God.
“If you will return, O Israel,” declares Yahweh, “Then you should return to Me. And if you will put away your detested things from My presence and will not waver and you will swear, ‘As Yahweh lives,’ in truth, in justice, and in righteousness; Then the nations will be blessed in Him, and in Him they will boast.” For thus says Yahweh to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, “Break up your fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to Yahweh and remove the foreskins of your heart, men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, lest My wrath go forth like fire and burn with none to quench it because of the evil of your deeds.” - Jeremiah 4:1-4 LSB
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