V: Truly We Are All God’s Children.
R: And He Hath Left Us in A Hot Car.
One of my twitter friends made that up not long ago. Couldn’t find the tweet or I’d source him. I don’t know how much it matters though as he didn’t make up the saying, he just put it in liturgical format. I’m not sure when the phrase originated but there’s a song of the same name on Spotify so, a bit ago. I get the sentiment. I feel that way too sometimes. The most frustrating thing about God is how silent he is. How quiet. The Devil on the other hand, well, say what you will about him at least he shows up. If you call on Satan he’ll answer you, that’s for sure. You probably won’t get exactly what you were expecting when you deal with him, true, but, at least he talks back. The devil on your shoulder is always there, he never misses a beat to tell you what you ought to do. The angel on the other one though? He has this whole, “You need to learn yourself in order to grow, I can give you hints but won’t tell you exactly,” vibe going. Annoying.
And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper. — 1 Kings 19 : 11-12
It’s not just your imagination. The idea that the voice of God is a “low whisper” or a “still, small voice” is extremely Biblical. We don’t like that. Well, I don’t like it at any rate. How many times in my life have I stood outside and screamed at the sky, “Just show me what to do!” Several. I’m not sure I ever once heard a clear answer. By contrast, the wrong thing to do was always crystal clear and always made a very, very compelling case for itself.
Evil’s voice comes in a myriad of guises but it’s message is always fundamentally the same. “BAD THING will happen. NOBODY will care. YOU ARE ALONE. You need to TAKE ACTION to protect yourself. IT’S NOT WRONG, think of BAD THING that will happen if you don’t.”
Or some permutation of same.
As an aside, if you ever notice your mind trying to justify why something “is not wrong,” it’s probably wrong. Just a helpful tip. I have to remind myself of that constantly.
This happened to Elijah. The being scared and tempted by the evil voice thing I mean. And he was a guy God liked so much he got to ride a chariot of fire to Heaven! So, you know, don’t be surprised if you dear reader aren’t holy enough to be exempt from similar troubles…
If you’re unfamiliar with the story, Elijah goes to the mountain to hear from God for the same reason most of us do. Because he’s lost and because he’s afraid. Elijah had just had a standoff with the prophets of Baal, a god/demon that the Israelites always seemed to have had an on again-off again relationship with. Not a great god to worship honestly as Baal demanded all sorts of things, including child sacrifice. Bizarrely though, this demand did not affect his popularity and he was worshiped for thousands of years as a diety. Have you ever heard of Hannibal, crossing the alps with his elephants? Yeah, that guy. “Hannibal” translated, means, “The grace of Baal.” So, yeah. Pretty intense.
Why would people worship such a demon? Well, like I said, because he would show up.
If you got involved with the cult of Baal they would take care of you. Sacrifice your child and the rest of your life is easy-peasy. Seriously. The cult had enormous sociopolitical influence. Kings and queens knelt before Baal’s throne. Pledge allegiance to Baal and life would be taken care of. You’d have a good job, be held in good standing in the city, there’d be a social safety net for you if times got hard. You’d fit in with everybody else. You’d be “normal.” Does this sound familiar? And besides, you didn’t have to get to know the kid or anything. Usually anyway. You just birthed it and handed it over to be burnt on the pyre. You didn’t even have to give it a name. You could mentally detach from the whole thing. No emotions need be involved. Come on… you don’t want to be an outcast do you? Just one kid. That’s all. Come on…
See? Satan shows up. What he wants is always crystal clear and what he promises to give you in return is likewise. And, more to the point, he usually delivers. You really can choose Satan as your father, as Jesus accused some of doing. And that father will take care of you, after a fashion. It has always been this way. Evil is a wide and easy path and many walk it and if you want to “fit in” and “be normal” and “be accepted” by society you’d better walk it too. And, if you do, they’ll watch out for you. Satan’s family is a messed up one but they all eat dinner together. If nothing else you can be certain you’ll never be alone. That’s nice.
Elijah on the other hand was alone. Very alone. He was a prophet of God, ostensibly Israel’s God, but Israel had mostly abandoned the faith of their fathers for the new one that was trendy and promised them worldly goods. As a result Elijah was living on the outskirts of society, on the fringe. People didn’t like him. He was a reminder of the old ways they had rejected. A reminder that there was another path. One that didn’t involve killing their own babies. You can imagine how little people wanted to be reminded of that. How they might hate and despise anyone who did so. One day however, having heard God’s voice, Elijah decides to move in from the fringe and make a direct challenge to the culture’s heart. He, a prophet of God, of Yahweh, issues a direct challenge to the prophets of Baal.
“Set up two piles of wood, with an offering on each.” He says. “You call to your god to send fire from heaven to consume it, and I will call to mine. The one who answers, He is the true God.”
High stakes.
The Baalists take him up on the offer though. For hours they wail and cry and offer chants and prayers, trying to get Baal to move. To answer. They want him to send fire from the sky. Nothing.
Elijah mocks them. “Maybe your god is out on a journey?” He calls. “Maybe he’s taking a piss? (Yes Elijah really says this) Or perhaps he is sleeping? What if you shout louder?”
They do shout louder. The prophets of Baal begin even to cut themselves and drain their own blood in an attempt to get their god to listen. He doesn’t.
“Soak my offering in water.” Elijah says. They do. “Soak mine in water again.” They do. “Soak my pile in water one more time.” They oblige.
“God,” he prays. “That they may know that you are the Truth and turn back to you. Answer me.”
WHOOOOSH
Fire from heaven. The entire pile instantly consumed.
The people are obviously impressed by such a display and repent of their ways. Elijah orders all the prophets of Baal be executed. “Seize them,” he says. “Let not one escape.” Presumably this took a little while. It had been a 450 to 1 contest afterall. As stated, Elijah had been truly on the fringe. He was the last prophet of Yahweh left. This was but one victory in a larger war though. Obviously not everybody in the nation was present for this prophet vs prophet (PvP as the kids say) battle. Particularly worrisome were the royalty. Queen Jezebel of the Phoenician cities had married Ahab, the King of Israel, and she was quite keen on Ball. She had in fact been instrumental in promoting Baal’s cult in her new, by-marriage nation. Elijah going around and discrediting the diety she had been simping for was not a good look for her. Might turn the people against her. No good. She sent a message to Elijah. “May the gods kill me if I don’t kill you by tomorrow,” she said. So, now the queen is sending her army after him. Pretty scary. Elijah runs and hides and who of us can blame him. The devil was whispering in his ear. “BAD THING is coming. TAKE ACTION to prevent it. IT’S NOT WRONG. Think about how bad BAD THING will be if you do not.”
Elijah wanted to die. To commit suicide. BAD THING was being tortured and slaughtered by the queen and having his head put on a pike for all to see. Pretty reasonable thing to be frightened of actually. Maybe it seems silly because he’d just shown that his God was real and hers wasn’t so he shouldn’t have been afraid but you can easily imagine how the Devil teased him otherwise. “Think of the prophets and holy men before you. Has God not allowed them to die? Sometimes horribly? Who’s to say he won’t do the same to you?”
Like I said, evil always makes a good case for itself.
Instead of taking his own life though Elijah sits down under a tree and waits to die of natural causes. He’s paralyzed by fear. Alone. Depressed. Unable to move. To make a long story short an angel appears to him and feeds him bread and water and then Elijah went to the mountain to not find God in the fire or the whirlwind but in the still, small whisper. He had to be reminded how God works. It was enough. He was able to carry on.
See, evil shows up for you until it doesn’t. Actually, until it can’t. Baal’s cult wielded tremendous political power and could therefore provide all the things that political allegiance and earthly power can. These things are not negligible. Social status. Job security. Safety nets. Military and police protection. Forms of insurance. Useful stuff. What evil couldn’t do was a miracle though. Why? Because the Devil only has influence. He has not an ounce of power. You have power. You have the Divine spark. Satan only accomplishes anything by influencing human beings. Human beings like you and me.
Satan can’t kill anybody. He’s powerless. Absolutely weak, pathetic, and small. He’s not like an angel anymore. He’s some twisted, contorted version of an angel. His wings have shriveled. He’s grotesque and feeble. He can’t do anything.
But…
He can talk.
He can talk very well and very very loud.
Satan can’t kill anybody but he can saddle right up to your ear and give you all the reasons in the world for why you should. Think of BAD THING that they did, or that they might do. IT’S NOT WRONG to consider it. After all, it would only be JUSTICE for BAD THING or SELF PROTECTION to keep BAD THING from happening. You know they’re going to do BAD THING. You know it. You need to TAKE ACTION.
And that’s how wars start.
Likewise Satan can’t make you get a divorce. Again, he can’t make you do anything. But, he can talk. He can tell you that YOU’VE ALWAYS BEEN ALONE and that he/she DOESN’T LOVE YOU and NEVER WILL. He can remind you of every bad interaction you’ve ever had and tell you over and over again that IT WILL NEVER GET BETTER.
And that’s how families break.
Similarly Satan can’t force you to steal but, once more, he can tell you and tell you very often about all the ways YOU’VE BEEN CHEATED. And how YOU HAVE TO TAKE WHAT’S YOURS because, after all, EVERYBODY ELSE DOES. Haven’t you heard, NICE GUYS FINISH LAST. You have to BREAK THE RULES if you want to get ahead.
And that’s why people do scams. That’s why recessions happen. That’s why the stock market crashes and housing bubbles exist.
Satan only has influence. Not an ounce of power that you or others do not give.
But, we do give. And so follows all the evils of the world.
God, by contrast, has infinite power. And, as the prophets of Baal found out, he actually does show up every time it matters. In truth he’s there’s always, a still small voice. Not shouting. Not insistent like the voice of Evil is. Just a calm, ever present, “I love you. I will take care of you. Don’t worry. Love everybody else too.”
Every evil that has ever happened is because somebody, somewhere, lived into the fears that devil taunted them with. They believed the lies and made them real. They believed IT WILL NEVER GET BETTER and so broke their relationship completely and never allowed it too. They believed the other person was GOING TO HURT THEM FIRST and so the fight really did ensue. They listened to the voice on their shoulder screaming, NOBODY WILL EVER HELP YOU, TAKE WHAT’S YOURS and thereby became exactly the sort of person whom nobody would ever help. What you believe comes true. What you believe, surely, surely, comes true.
V: Truly We Are All God’s Children.
R: Yes, Unless We Listen To Satan.
This is a good one.