“Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.” (I Kings 18:21 NIV)
On numerous occasions in our childhood days, we were on the receiving end of the highly charged statement,
“That don’t make no sense!” I had not heard it for a long time, but as I was standing in the crowded self-checkout area one day, I heard an irate mother use those same exact works, “That don’t make no sense.” The son had taken a candy bar out of the cart without the mother noticing it and had started eating it. The mother is laboring to run her groceries over the scanner, packing them without moving them from the bagging area – a space really too little, scanning her coupons, paying the final amount with her debit card, and loading the bags in the grocery cart. She turns around and sees her son quietly consuming the candy bar which was not paid for by the mother in her checkout process; a process we should get a discount for or at least a fraction of an hour’s wages since we are doing what clerks used to do as part of their job. Maybe it is just my imagination, but the mother’s facial appearance changed right before my eyes. No longer was she relieved that she was ready to leave the store, but the look on her face revealed a fraction of a degree of anger, or at least frustration. It was at that time that those five familiar words flew out of her mouth, “That don’t make no sense!” The son looks sheepishly at his mother who is holding out her stretched out hand to take the bar away. She has to run the half-eaten candy bar through the scanner and use her debit for something that cost less than a dollar. Instead of giving it back to the boy, she throws it in the small waste basket in the area and repeats, “That does not make any sense.” If you are wondering, I was not just watching, I was working on my own groceries too! Smile!
Did you just have a flashback when you as a parent had to use those words? Or did you just recall when you were the recipient of those words somewhere between your toddler days to your teenage days. For example, your mom had just changed your diaper and no sooner that 10 minutes pass by before she has to change you again. You hear the words, “That don’t make no sense.” Maybe it was later in your childhood where you and your siblings were to be taking an afternoon nap, but the sounds coming out of your shared room sounded like it was a pajama party where a lot of games were being played. The raucous prompts one of your parents to come in and say, here we go, “That don’t make no sense.” Maybe your flashback was the time when you were given the privilege of driving the family car and you got home past curfew because you had dangerously turned on a red traffic signal light way before the concept of stop and turn on red had been introduced. Yes, you heard those words when you told your parents how you got a ticket handed to you by a policeman that was a few cars behind you. You got a double dosage of the saying, one from the policeman and one from one of your parents, “That don’t make no sense.” Now I know you are going to pause and pull out your own memories where those words were directed at you. But don’t forget to read on, okay?
Elijah asked the people how long they would hesitate between two opinions in the opening verse, taken from a passage that precedes his defeat of 450 prophets of Baal at Mt. Carmel with the help of God. If I was writing a paraphrase version of that verse, I would tack on, “That don’t make no sense.” But since I can’t do that, let me do what I am permitted to do. Let me help your through the day. Whether you are working or celebrating the holiday, remember these words: “If the Lord is God, follow Him.” Today is not the time to let anyone or anything else influence your behavior to do something not in accord with the Lord’s will for you. Now that makes sense! Continue to follow God. How? Follow the path that He has provided you. Enjoy your day! Be safe! Be holy! Be blessed!
“Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” (Psalm 119:105 NIV)
Still committed to the climb,
Mark L. King