0403. DECISION

DECISION

"HOW LONG HALT YE BETWEEN TWO OPINIONS? IF THE LORD BE GOD, FOLLOW HIM; BUT IF BAAL, THEN FOLLOW HIM" (1Ki_18:21).

It is sometimes needful to "halt between two opinions," if the proper course of action is not quite clear, but when the right and the wrong stands out in naked reality indecision becomes sin. It is with spiritual things, as with the temporal, the wavering and the lukewarm cannot succeed. The young man who cannot make up his mind as to what business he should follow is in danger of being ruined. In religion, as in politics, no progress can be made, no definite testimony can be given, so long as the mind is not clear, and the will emphatic. In these, and other matters, a halting man is a useless man, worse than useless, for he is a stumbling-block to others. The scene on Mount Carmel is an object lesson on the need of instant decision for God. Elijah’s call is needed now as much as then.

I. Where the People Halted. "Between two opinions." To them this simply meant-

1. BETWEEN TWO RELIGIONS. There were only two. The religion of Baal and that of Jehovah. The one was the product of man’s darkened imagination, the other was a revelation from Heaven. The heart of man and the heart of God are the only two possible sources of religious thought. Here is the halting ground of multitudes- between the thoughts of men and the thoughts of God. To halt here is to halt-

2. BETWEEN TWO MASTERS. Between Baal and Jehovah, between the false and the real, between superstition and revelation, between the tyranny of ignorance and fear, and the freedom of light and truth. The one represents the prince of darkness, the other the Prince of Peace. The design of the one is to destroy, the purpose of the other is to save. His servants ye are to whom ye yield yourselves. Let not sin have dominion over you. There is no communion between these two masters: no fellowship between light and darkness, between Christ and Belial. There is no agreement between the temple of God and the house of idols. Ye cannot serve these two masters; your choice lies between them.

II. Why the People Halted. Some thing, or things, must surely have been hindering them from confessing the Lord as their God. They may have been deterred as many in our day are-

1. BECAUSE OF THEIR NUMBER. Their name was legion who had entered the broad road of God-rejection. It is comparatively easy to go right, or wrong, while going with the multitude, but a man is his own miserable comforter when he tries to console himself by saying, "If I am not right there are a great many like me." Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not go unpunished. "Broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat." It is poor comfort, when on a sinking ship, to know that many are perishing with you. To remain undecided for Christ because many are doing it is a sad betrayal of moral weakness. Although Baal and the groves had 850 prophets, and Jehovah only one, yet to be with Him was to be in the majority and on the side of victory and blessing.

2. BECAUSE OF THEIR FEAR OF MAN. Some halted, doubtless because they feared the wrath of the king. It was very different with the parents of Moses (Heb_11:23). Ahab was the enemy of God, and the troubler of Israel. He sought to banish the worship of Jehovah out of the land, and because of him many were afraid to acknowledge the Lord. They halted, perhaps because they were convinced that the policy of Ahab and Jezebel was base and revolutionary, but they had no courage to take their stand for Jehovah. The fear of man bringeth a snare. When Luther was told that all the world was against him, he said, "Well, I am against the whole world." "Why halt ye? If the Lord be God, follow Him." Better is it to grieve and forsake the enemies of God than remain an enemy to God.

III. The Unsatisfactory Nature of such a Position. "How long halt ye?" Every moment one halts between holiness and sin, between Christ and the world, is likely to weaken the will power and reduce the life to a waste heap for God and a coming eternity. To remain undecided for God and righteousness to say the least-

1. IT IS FOOLISH. It is like the donkey in the fable, which died of starvation because it could not decide which of the two bundles of hay to eat first. Moses was wise when he "chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season." Rebekah was wise when she said, "I will go." The poor Indian woman knew in whom she had believed when, after having been robbed of all her goods, she said, "I would rather die a poor Christian than a rich heathen."

2. IT IS DANGEROUS. INDECISION HAS BEEN THE RUIN OF MANY. REMEMBER LOT’S WIFE. To decide means literally "to cut off" that which is unnecessary. Then "cut off" from that state of sin and doubt, and, like Mary, choose the better part. The undecided are always easily overcome. When Charles I., after having been defeated at the Battle of Naseby, was about to make another charge upon the troops of Cromwell, one of his courtiers caught the bridle of his horse and turned him aside from the path of honour. Charles had not the courage to rebuke him. Who would have dared to have done this with Cromwell?

Autor: James Smith