I was reading in the scriptures, as I do, this past week and I was making some thought as I also tend to do. The two main places I was reading were 1 kings 18 (cause of the come follow me thing) and the book of James. What did he say? The whole book of James? Its 5 chapters, calm down.
But I was reading and making thoughts and not really connecting the two until today when I was reading the 5th chapter of James right at the end where it says “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.” Which is what happened in chapter 17 and 18 of 1st Kings. Now with Elijah firmly in my mind I began to think about the rest of the book of James and 2 verse stood out to me.
The first one is James Chapter 2 verse 11 “For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.” And the second verse was James Chapter 4 verse 8 “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”
Now I don’t claim to be some wise theologian, but these verses seemed in contradiction to me. The first says that if we fall short in any part of the law, we fall short across the board. The second says that the sinner, the person who has transgressed the law can get God to draw nearer to them by getting closer to God. I had settled the thought well enough in my mind by saying to my self that they were written at different times for different reasons and that it is ok that they conflict in my mind because they were not meant to be compatible. This did not really settle the thought though and it has popped multiple times back into my mind.
This is when I read the line about Elijah and it reminded me of chapter 18 of 1st Kings. Ok fair warning this was some oddball thoughts I was having that worked for me, I get that this may not work in everyone’s mind. If this proves to be a stumbling block to you simply cast, it aside. But here we go in Chapter 18 Elijah has his show down with the priest of Baal, you know the story,
Come one come all!
Fight night of the century!
On the left we have the Syrian god of storms and growth and his 400 followers
and
On the Right we have the One the Only True God, God of all the earth and of Creation itself The Lord God of Israel with His prophet Elijah.
Doors open at 3 first offering at 4pm
The 400 servants of Baal then have an embarrassing time trying to get their god to light the alter while being mocked by Elijah. When they have given up Elijah steps up and builds and altar using 12 stones and has the people poor loads and loads of water on it and when it is more soaked than the time my bishop slipped off the doc and fell in the ocean Elijah calls out to the Lord, who I imagine responded by saying “POWER UNLIMITIED POWER” and fire streaked down from the sky and consumed the sacrifice Elijah had put on the altar. Then Elijah has the 400 priests of Baal killed.
Know I bet you are all wondering what that has to do with the 2 verses in James. Perhaps you are wondering if I just typed it out because it is one of my favorite stories? Well although it is that is not why, and it does relate. You see this took place on a hill called Carmel. Why is mount Carmel important you ask? Because it was the main place of worship for Baal. It was Baal’s home turf, his own room in the great and spacious building if you will. And the people were gathered there by one righteous man who drew near to God and who God drew near to in return.
If we Imagine the people of the northern kingdom of Israel as a single, fairly conflicted person this story answers the question I had about those 2 verses. That person has a lot of issues but has one small part of themselves that wants to be better. They gathered themselves together and gave place to the small part of themselves that wants to be better. Did this instantly make the metaphorical person of Israel righteous? No, they still had 400 parts of them selves that were breaking the Law. They, to keep in context of the verse, were not committing adultery but had 400/401sts of themselves giving into murder, they were transgressors of the Law. And yet they had one part that drew nearer to God and as a result God reached into that wretched place that they had made their home and burned the 400 bad parts out.
That’s how those verse can work together and not be in opposition. If you are breaking any part of the law you are breaking all of it, but if part of you is earnestly tying to keep as much of the law as you can, or draw nearer to God in other words, The Lord will use that bit as excuse to draw nearer to you and if you let Him He will remove all of the parts of you that are violating the Law.
Is this an excuse to break parts of the law? Certainly not! But what it is, is a source of hope, that when you are trying your best to gather around that part of you that is trying to draw near to God, then He will draw near to you. And with God near to your things that have been impossible become possible. For with man keeping the law 100% is impossible but with God all things are possible.
Draw near to Him and He will make you able to live the way you should.
I hope this is helpful to some, but if not, my friends, it was to me. I’m praying for you, please pray for me.
In Jesus name Amen