oh yes he did

FROM "A LESSON LEARNED"
I Kings 18:22-39

In this story, Elijah basically challenges Ahab and the prophets of Baal to prove that their God is stronger and mightier then his God. The catch was that Elijah knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that this so called "Baal" would not come through but his God, the one true God, would come through on the challenge! What was the challenge? Elijah and the followers of Baal each built an altar to their God, made a sacrifice and then called fire down from heaven asking their God to burn the offering. The prophets of Baal built their altar, made their sacrifice and then began crying out to their God. The prophets shouted, they danced, and they shouted louder with no response. When nothing happened they took their pleading to the next level by slashing themselves with swords and spears but still they got no answer and no fire from Baal. Finally, after a full day of crying out, Elijah "stopped the madness", so to speak, and called all the prophets over to HIS altar. Elijah commanded the followers of Baal to drench his altar with water. Not just sprinkle it or pour a couple cups on it...but literally DRENCH IT!!!! After the altar was completely soaked, Elijah simply looked up to heaven and prayed out loud to his one true God. In an instant, fire fell from heaven and burned up not just the sacrifice, but the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, the soil and even all of the water in the trench surrounding the altar!! Wow!! God proved himself and all the prophets of Baal fell on their faces worshiping and turning their hearts back to God!!
Lesson Learned? God WANTS to come through for you. He WANTS to meet your need. He truly WANTS to show you his power. So often though we get in the way of that power. Just like the prophets of Baal we build our altar, we make our sacrifice and we plead for God to come to our rescue. We beg him to meet our need. We wear ourselves out shouting, screaming, dancing, pacing, wailing and stressing over just the right emotion, just the right speech or just the right action that will force God's hand. Our hearts are in the right place, it's not like we're asking for anything bad, we're just going about it all the wrong way. We're exhausting ourselves with physical and emotional wear-and-tear all the while God is just waiting for his time. It's not that he's not hearing us, it's not that he doesn't want to help us or that he's ignoring us it's just that God is patient. He sees tomorrow. So often, the very moment that God comes through is when we least think that he can. When the altar is SOAKED for instance!! Our situation suddenly seems impossible. We are bloody, worn out and broken. Our altar is drenched and the day is nearing its end. It's in that moment, the moment that our human mind and physical body gives up and tires, that God shows us His power!! We're at the end of our rope but God is at the beginning of His!! When you're in need and going through something that seems hopeless just remember that while laying before God and pleading your case is important, no amount of tears are going to make God work faster. God's word commands us to pray and even compels us to share our needs with other believers and agree together for a miracle but God's timing still reigns supreme. While we think that God is taking a break or has simply turned a deaf ear to us, He is really just weaving our lives in his perfect timing. An answer to our prayers WILL come, it just may be in the eleventh hour. And when that power does come and the fire does fall from heaven it will be mightier and more awe inspiring then we could have ever imagined! Not only will God burn our sacrifice, as we have been asking all this time, but he will also burn the entire altar and lick up every bit of water surrounding our sacrifice!! Isn't that worth the wait...