Easter Hopscotch

Some friends and I have been working through Priscilla Shirer’s Bible study, Elijah. Today I was reminded of God’s prophet Elijah’s call to the people of Israel just before the ‘big event’ of calling down fire on Mount Carmel. In summary, God’s people had been oscillating between following Him and worshiping the false gods Baal and Asherah. Faithful Elijah came up against evil King Ahab and Queen Jezebel in a show-down atop Mount Carmel where God would soon show His omnipotence as the one true God. (I Kings 18: 30-39)

As God’s people and the realm’s false prophets gathered for the event, Elijah called out to the people, “How long will you go limping between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” (I Kings 18:21)

As Priscilla shares, the Hebrew word for “limping” in this passage (or in other translations, ‘waver’, ‘hesitate’, even ‘halt’) is pacach. It can also mean skip or pass over - ‘hopscotch’, if you will. Elijah was calling God’s people to choose who they were going to follow and to stop wavering, hesitating, and skipping between God and other things.

Tomorrow is Easter, the day many celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord. Some will ‘hopscotch’ toward worship on this special, holy day, only to hesitate or halt to return the following Sunday.

During the Lenten season prior to Easter many of us have intentionally put aside things that we sometimes find it easy to turn toward rather than remain whole-heartedly obedient to God. Will the end of this season of sacrifice result in a return to ‘hopscotching’ between obedience and mindfulness and idolatry once again? Will ‘stuff’ once again take the place of trust in and dependence on God?

God’s demonstration of power on Mount Carmel previewed His demonstration of power and love in sending Jesus to be our Savior and raising Him from the dead. This Easter, and every week following, let us be steadfast, unwavering, unhesitating, and unhalting in coming to Him. He is worthy.