By So Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together unto mount Carmel. And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word (I Kings 18:20-21).
Let me give you a brief synopsis of the situation presented in these verses. Basically, the king of Israel was encouraging the people of Israel to worship the false god, Baal. On the other hand, the prophet Elijah was encouraging them to worship the God of Israel — the one true God. This was in fact a showdown between the prophets of Baal and God Himself. When Elijah confronted the people, they had nothing to say. They were essentially caught between the altar and the door — between turning to God in complete faith or finding the exit to forsake their faith altogether. Like the people of Israel, we can be caught in the middle.
Sometimes we are caught between deep water faith and the shallow end of the pool. We want to believe to a point, but we don’t want to take it too far. God expects more from us than this. Hear the words of Exodus 34:14: “For thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.” God wants our faith to be in Him and not in the false gods of this world. He wants us to have deep water faith!
What is deep water faith? First of all, deep water faith is believing in what we cannot see. Hebrews 11:1 says this: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” We no longer say, “I will have to see it to believe it.” We simply believe.
We believe in God. We believe He can do anything. Romans 4:17 says God can call things which are not as though they were. Deep water faith deems the impossible to be possible with God.
Finally, deep water faith believes that God has our best interest at heart. Jeremiah 29:11 states this beautifully, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
We can fully believe that God can do anything. We can truly believe that God wants what is best for us. Knowing this, why look for the nearest exit? Let us quit wading around in the shallow end and simply dive into the deep water of absolute faith in God.
Dave Snyder is an Ordained Bishop with the Church of God – Cleveland, Tennessee. Before entering the ministry on a full-time basis, he was a school teacher. He also coached middle school basketball for eight years.
Dave and his wife, Sara, have two children — Craig and Karen. They also have one ten year old granddaughter — Breanna.
Dave and Sara pastored in West Virginia for thirty-six years. Sara is now retired from the banking industry, and Dave is retired from pastoring. However, Dave currently serves as prison Chaplain for the West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Writing essays, articles, and devotionals is a real passion for Dave. He also enjoys playing musical instruments and singing.
by leaps and bounds 