A most amazing story is recounted in the eighteenth chapter of 1 Kings. It is the story of the “showdown” between Elijah, the prophet of the Lord, and the 450 prophets of the false god Baal. They build opposing altars and bonfires, then seek their god (God) to consume the sacrifice. Baal is a no-show. Elijah complicates things by dousing his bonfire with water. He calls on the Lord, who sends down fire to consume the sacrifice. I love the picturesque language, describing the fire as having “licked up the water in the trench.”
I’m not a person of great, bold faith. I don’t put God to the test that often. But I know that there have been those times when I needed God to show up, and I was not disappointed.
Two days away from flying with my family to Chicago to receive my doctorate, I was on my way to meet with a family in our church to plan a funeral service for the next day. I stopped at the church office (on a Saturday morning) for something. The phone rang, and when I answered it, I learned that my own father had died during the night before.
Shell-shocked, I parked my own grief, and went to meet with the family and plan the service. When I left, I was driving home, when God showed up. A Presence was suddenly in the car with me, and I heard—not audibly, but still “heard,” the words, “It’s going to be alright.”
I preached the next morning, did a baptism in one of the services, then led that funeral—all while saying nothing to anyone other than my own family about my own predicament, until we were driving away that afternoon. I sent an email to the church officers asking for their prayers.
And God showed up, giving me and my family a sense of peace even in the midst of grief and loss. The Spirit of God licked up the tears we shed that weekend, and reminded us of His presence.