PROOF II

I Believe What You Said. Now, Will You Prove It?

Haven’t you ever asked God for a fleece? Asked Him to show you a sign that you were on the right path? What about the time you asked Him for that one phone call to light up your screen, that one conversation to happen without your initiation, that one email to be sitting in your box, that one scripture to shimmer on the page before it jumped off the page?  That’s the fleece; the PROOF you’re requesting to confirm your belief. You’re not alone.

When God promised Abram, a childless nomad, that he would father many nations and own prime land for generations, Abram believed God. He also requested PROOF. Abram wanted to make sure that vision he had invested in was of God. “And the Lord credited it to him as righteousness.” God gladly provided Abram PROOF. Spontaneous combustion consumed the big cow, goat, ram and two pigeons Abram had prepared to sacrifice . Genesis 15: 1-21

When Moses asked God for PROOF that he had His favor to lead a migrant nation, God gave it to him.  You see, even though Moses was sure he heard God tell him he was doing a great job, the problem was the job and his followers were getting tougher and more unruly. Even God didn’t want to be near them. So Moses made a simple request of God - high stakes, though. Moses asked God if he could see His glory. Moses not only got his PROOF at Horeb,  he lived to write about it!  Exodus 33: 13-20 

When the people’s priest, childless Zechariah, freaked out about his chat over incense in the Holy of Holies with the angel Gabriel, Zechariah got schooled during his crisis of faith. Gabriel piled it on. He told Zechariah that his very barren wife, Elizabeth, was going to have a son; that this son would walk in the spirit and power of Elijah (no small thing to Jews who knew Holy Writ) and that said son would prepare nations to receive the awaitedMessiah. Zechariah, a godly descendant from the line of Aaron, wigged out. Why? He had burned incense in that temple many times before and never experienced a conversation with an angel, let alone Gabriel. Zechariah begged for PROOF. He got it. And to protect it, Gabriel put Zechariah’s tongue on lockdown until John the Baptist was born 9 months later. Luke 1:5-25

When Mary - the virgin teen ager who kept herself for Joseph, her betrothed - asked angel Gabriel about how she could be pregnant already, without having had sex, she got immediate PROOF that what she had experienced with the angel wasn't a delusion,. As soon as she saw her pregnant older cousin, Elizabeth, Zechariah's baby boy, leaped happily in her womb. Then, the no longer barren Elizabeth, started calling Mary blessed for believing the whole scenario! Luke 1: 39-44 

More PROOF for Mary assuring her that she had invested her belief in the right thing came when Joseph told her about his dream. It assuaged his reservations about marrying her over being pregnant without him. It was a confirmation she needed. Matthew 1:18-25

Then, there’s Thomas the Apostle also known as "Doubting Thomas." This guy had hung out with Jesus for a good three years, most likely saw everything he did, heard everything he said. Thomas lived side by side with the Fulfillment of Prophecy. But when he heard Jesus had fulfilled the resurrection piece. Thomas didn't even consider that all he had hung around for had come to pass. Thomas BOLDLY declared he wasn’t even going to believe  Jesus had risen from the dead unless he touched him. He didn't hesitate for a moment to say, "Wow. It finally happened. I believed all this time. I sure would love to see." No, Thomas said he wouldn't believe until he saw. And you know what Jesus gave Thomas the PROOF he demanded.

Then [Jesus] said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!”

“My Lord and my God!” Thomas exclaimed.

But Thomas got busted.

 “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.” John 20: 27-29 (NLT)

You see, Thomas had not invested his faith in what was told him. He didn't even try. He held out until he could see in what he would believe.

You're request for PROOF from God is not like Thomas' request. Not when you have stood on what you have heard from Him, invested your hope and talent in that vision from Him, memorized those Scriptures about Him and wept day and night during those prayers you've cried out to him. No, your request for PROOF is just what God enjoys so that He can show you His glory before He even gets started showing you His answer!

Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, “Ask the Lord your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights.” Isaiah 7:10-11 (NIV)

The Lord again spoke to Ahaz: “Ask for a confirming sign from the Lord your God. You can even ask for something miraculous.” Isaiah 7:10-11 (NET)

Eternal One (to Ahaz): Ask for proof, a sign from the Eternal your God. Go ahead, ask anything, anything at all; it can be high as heaven or as deep as the place of the dead. Isaiah 7:10-11 (Voice)

-Still Processing

PROOF I

Evidence: Not for Lawyers Only

What do a wheat farmer turned general, a nomad turned land owner, a childless priest turned father of a son who changes the world and a prince turned nomad have in common? At first glance, not much. What if you know they’re Gideon, Abraham, Zachariah and Moses? Can you guess then? If you’re still stumped add Thomas the Apostle and yourself to the list. Got it, yet? 

Everyone on the list, including you, has asked God for PROOF. Proof that a promise you believe He’s made will come true. Proof that a dream you believe He’s breathed in your heart will come to pass. Proof that all you’re building your faith on is not a misplaced hope, childish fantasy or dangerous delusion. Proof that you're not standing in the wrong place at the wrong time for the wrong thing!

Still, at the root of your need for PROOF is a hint of doubt whispering into your belief. It’s ok to admit. We all experience that gnawing sense of uncertainty that the finances we thought Jehovah-Jireh had promised just may not come, the house He had us circle seven times just may be a frivolous desire,  the healthy body Jesus died for just may elude us on this side, the spouse of our future He told us to stay pure for may be a fantasy. God gets it. If He gave you those desires, planted them in your heart, your imagination, you prayer life, your soul and you believe them, He delights in your request for PROOF.  

 Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, “Ask the Lord your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights.” Isaiah 7:10-11 (NIV)

Faith can falter. God knows so He guarantees His promises.

When God wanted to guarantee his promises, he gave his word, a rock-solid guarantee—God can’t break his word. And because his word cannot change, the promise is likewise unchangeable. Hebrews 7: 13-18 (The Message)

Consider Gideon. He requested PROOF that he had heard right after his in-your -face, one on one with an Angel. While hiding in a winepress to thrash his wheat, Gideon saw an angel.  Then, said angel called him a “mighty man of valor,” or in other words, brave soldier. That’s probably about the time Gideon started rehearsing his request for PROOF.

The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and  save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”  Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian”

The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”

Made no sense in light of his current reality. Gideon’s response is understandable – a little astonishment, a lot of doubt since God’s statement defied Gideon’s reality. From Farmer to General – overnight - based on an angel sighting and celestial voice. Wouldn’t you request PROOF that  what you have just been persuaded to believe is real?

Gideon replied, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me. Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you.” Judges 6:14-18 (NIV)

Your humble requests have probably been close to Gideon’s most likely sounding something like this:  "Pardon me, Lord. Uhmm. I really, really, really need some PROOF that I am hearing this right. I want to believe it. In fact, I do believe it. But….what if I am hearing things? Just in case, can I get a little PROOF?”

God quickly gives Gideon indisputable PROOF. A rock burst into flames then roasted his meal!  After that, Gideon immediately obeyed God. Even though he did it under the cover of night to remain anonymous (he will still grappling with the notion of being made a military strategist), Gideon destroyed Israel’s Asherah poles. Then, God piled it on. He told Gideon to go fight. Gideon thought that a little premature. So, Gideon submits his second request for PROOF. God gave it to him.

Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised — look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said.” And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew — a bowlful of water. Judges 6: 36-38

Then Gideon asked again - a total of three unabashed times Gideon requested PROOF.  Guess what? Three times, God gave it to him. God never balked and said, “Oh, ye of little faith.” He honored Gideon’s request – to the smallest detail!

- Still Processing

STAND III

Earth, Wind and Fire: Head to the Sky

You must be living right if you get picked up in a heaven – bound, multiple horse-powered, fiery ride that leaves everybody in a whirlwind of your dust.  Elijah surely was. He got his last ride on a celestial chariot and broke the sound barrier into eternity!

Elijah had endured for God in spite of the people in his life that made him wish he were dead. Ever been there - white knuckling it as you determine to stand in God’s perfect will even while life lands blow after blow on your hopes and prayers? Remember what Elijah faced as He walked in God’s perfect will?

This Mighty Man of God first broke onto the scene in 1 Kings 17. God appointed Elijah to speak out against the idolatrous reign of Israel’s duplicitous King Ahab and his wicked wife, Queen Jezebel. Those two got sick of Elijah doing treasonous things like withholding rain for three years, showing up with nothing but bad news, calling them mean names like “Hypocrite” and humiliating their palace employees – namely the 450 priests in charge of their Baal worship. Jezebel only decided to slice Elijah to bits when he added insult to royal injury by slaying her devoted, Baal loving leaders - en masse.

So, like any reasonable, miracle working man of God who could raise kids from the dead and summon fire from heaven, Elijah - the mighty prophet, anointed and favored to withstand the wrath of Kings and Princes; the powerful man of influence whom angels fed; the fearless traveler who could, on foot, outpace horse drawn chariots cross country - RAN FOR THE HILLS! Yep, that’s right. He got scared, tossed in the towel, experienced major suicidal ideation, holed himself up in a cave on the Mountain of God and fell sleep. 

Have you ever told God you were staying put, snuggled safely under your warm, soft sheets to avoid the hard-edged, fierce world antagonizing your prayer-filled fight of faith? Have you occasionally veered from your God gps’d path because it was too painful to serve those adversarial people not cooperating with you? We all have. And just like God met Elijah when he was in that cave of despondency, He goes there with you, too.

When he [Elijah] arrived at Horeb, he walked into a cave and rested for the night.

Eternal One (to Elijah): Why are you here, Elijah? What is it that you desire?

1 Kings 19: 9 (The Voice)

Do you know how Elijah answered that question folks long to hear from a fairy-tale genie let alone the True and Living God of the Universe? He complained!

He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.” 1 Kings 19: 10 (NIV)

Yet, God didn't chide Elijah for kvetching and accusing the people to whom he was called to minister. He gave Elijah a break. Why?

He will not constantly criticize, nor will He hold a grudge forever.

Thankfully, God does not punish us for our sins and depravity as we deserve. Psalm 103: 9-10 (The VOICE)

God made a deal with Elijah. Because He “gets it” when we get in that despondent place,

He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.

The Lord is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him. For he knows how weak we are; he remembers we are only dust. Psalm 103: 12-14 (NLT)

God showed His glory to Elijah, anyway, to strengthen his faith; to show Elijah he was right where he was supposed to be. On that same Holy Ground - Mount Horeb - where God revealed Himself to Moses Exodus 33:12-23, God showed that even the mightiest wind, earthquake and fire were under His control; something from which Elijah could glean that God is not subject to the creation, but creation to Him; not subject to life - threatening circumstances, but those circumstances to Him

Your circumstances, especially when you are in His perfect will, can be incomprehensibly tough. Still, they are subject to Him. He is not the chaos in which you find yourself , but He is present in that appointed place, with His still, small voice inquiring through those disturbances rocking your world. 

Elijah did not watch God's display even though he was in the appointed place. He had to peek out from his cave to respond to God. 1 Kings 19: 11-15 He had withdrawn instead of keeping his head to the sky and watching all that earth, wind and fire! When the glory show was done, God posed the very same question for Elijah, perhaps because Elijah was in the very same place. And Elijah’s response to God’s second question? That very same complaint.

And through this breeze a gentle, quiet voice entered into Elijah’s ears. He covered his face with his cloak and went to the mouth of the cave. Suddenly, Elijah was surprised.

Eternal One: Why are you here, Elijah? What is it that you desire?

Elijah: As you know, all my passion has been devoted to the Eternal God of heavenly armies. The Israelites have abandoned Your covenant with them, they have torn down every one of Your altars, and they have executed all who prophesy in Your name by the sword. I am the last remaining prophet, and they now seek to execute me as well. They won’t stop.

Eternal One: Travel back the same way you traveled here, 1 Kings 19:12-15 (The Voice)

Imagine if Elijah, instead of answering God's question, 'What are you doing here?' with a complaint, had said something like, "I am standing on your Word, that's what I am doing here! I am counting on you to do through me again, every mighty thing you did before! I see how the rocks and stones themselves worship you! So do I! I refuse to leave this place afraid!"

Don't stay holed up in melancholy, discouragement and defeat. You miss SO much. Do you want to go back the way you came? Do you want God to ask you the same question twice because you are out of position with your first response? At least He asks a second time. 

What is your answer going to be to "What are you doing here?" How about a little declaration of praise and determination? 

No matter how hard life gets we must STAND. Stand even if it's a faith-threatening storm casting your dreams to the wind; a shaking so fierce it quakes the foundation of Bible verses on which you are standing; a fire so intense that your hopes are consumed by disappointment.

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.  Isaiah 43:2 (NIV)

The good news is God sent Elijah back to complete his tasks - anointing and appointing a few more kings, meeting his successor Elisha, and prepping for his flight to heaven. Elijah hung in there, eventually took his stand and rode off into the sunset of Heaven. 

Keep your head to the sky when the earth, wind and fire threaten you. After the show, God's still small voice is there to whisper His love and direction.

- Still Processing

STAND II

Earth, Wind and Fire: Electric Universe

Ever tell God, “Just please, stop. NO MORE!”  Are you slapping the mat of your life in surrender while the latest trial feels like it has you in a headlock? Trial after trial, tribulation after tribulation does that to you.  You’re not alone. Consider Elijah.

“He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. ‘Take my life; I am no  better than my ancestors.’ Then he lay down under the bush and  fell asleep.” 

1 Kings 19: 4-5 (NIV)

He was a Prophet of God who hit the wall of depression, discouragement and fear even while walking in obedience. Sound familiar?

God cared about Elijah’s emotional state so He gave him something to do. He told Elijah to journey to a mountain to meet Him there.  It was a forty-day journey that included a climb so God provided Elijah with food and water before he left.  This demonstrates that:

1) God provides what we need to accomplish what He asks us to do

2) Even while He asks us to continue through the pain – towards Him – He promises we can make it up that mountain. 

“He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he causes me to stand on the heights.” 

Psalm 18:33 (NIV)

3) God urges us to that intimate mountaintop experience with Him because it situates us above the fray of everything assailing us.

Elijah made that trip up Mount Horeb but,

           

“There he went into a cave and spent the night. And the word of the Lord came to him: ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?

"The Lord said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.’

Still, Elijah did not exit the cave. The mighty man of God stayed holed up; withdrawn and isolated.  

We do the same. Many of us attend church, sing the praise songs and even read the Bible from the latest App. But we can stay in a funk. We are rightly expecting to see God’s glory but worry, angst, and disappointment – all our distraught emotions - fragment us. We retreat from God just when His glory is about to manifest. God didn’t fault Elijah anymore than He faults us. He showed His glory anyway.

“Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave."   

1 Kings 19: 11-13 (TNIV) 

Imagine what Elijah could have seen, felt and heard had he obeyed God completely. Had Elijah stood, really taken his STAND on the mountain and not retreated into the cave, He would have witnessed the holy pyrotechnics of earth, wind and fire.

Perhaps he would have felt that wind whip across his face refreshing him, breathing in new life and vigor.  Perhaps those crumbling rocks and the swaying ground beneath him would have forced a stance Elijah never knew his legs could bear.  

"You make your saving help my shield, and your right hand sustains me; your help has made me great." 

Psalm 18:35 (NIV)

And what about that fire?  Perhaps he would have felt its intense purification but never the searing temperatures of its heat. Perhaps his stand on Holy Ground would have made him witness to a fire that destroyed all the wood, hay and stubble of his life but never consumed him.

“When the storm has swept by, the wicked are gone, but the  righteous stand firm forever.”

Proverbs 10:25 (NIV)

Elijah would not have even smelled of smoke.

“Surely, Lord, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield.” 

Psalm 5:12 (NIV)

- Still Processing

STAND I

Earth, Wind and Fire: Don’t Miss the Show!

The intrepid prophet Elijah was in God’s perfect will when the results of his unquestioning obedience landed him in the middle of a three-year drought, secreted in a ravine with just a bird to provide his food - no water and at the city gate asking a desolate widow and her little boy for their last meal. The kid died not too long after.  By then, Elijah’s appreciation of God’s blueprint for his life was hanging on some very frayed nerves of faith.

           

“Then he cried out to the Lord, ‘Lord my God, have you brought tragedy even on this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?’” 1 Kings 17:20 (NIV)

God answered the grieving prophet and mother only after Elijah labored in prayer. Nothing came easy even while Elijah was centered in God’s will.

 “Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried out to the Lord, “‘Lord my God, let this boy’s life return to him!’” 1 Kings 17:21 (NIV)

Do you see any parallels in your walk? Obedience = circumstances getting tougher? More prayers getting, "No's" and "Not Yets" than the , "Ok, Right Aways?"

After that little test of faith, God’s assignments for Elijah escalated - in difficulty. Elijah went on to command an audience with an already vexed King Ahab to accuse him of being an idolatrous hypocrite taking his nation to hell in a hand basket. The King pronounced Elijah a troublemaker to the nation. That is treason in our parlance.

On the heels of that tense encounter, God used Elijah to display His displeasure with King Ahab’s executive decisions by having the bold prophet humiliate then slaughter 450 priests in the service of Queen Jezebel. By then, the Evil Queen had had it with Elijah’s unsolicited opinions. She put a contract out on his life.

That was the last straw for Elijah. God’s perfect will or not, Elijah’s nerve snapped. He reacted like a deer in headlights and bolted!

Have you ever watched your situation go from bad to worse when you know you are in God’s perfect will? When circumstances seem to get more daunting, more painful, more impossible as you gladly obey God? When plausible outcomes are so terrifying that fear suffocates you even while His affirmation abounds?

During those times you may just feel like Elijah felt and want to move from being an Elijah, which means “my God is Jehovah,” to Elij-i-Quit!

Frequently, God stretches you rubber band thin when you’re precisely where He wants you. Before offering any substantive relief, He may demand of you something akin to having to climb a mountain in the midst of debilitating exhaustion and dismay. 

Consider this. When Elijah let God in on just how tired, hungry and suicidal he was, God’s solution was thin on the coddling comfort. Besides proffering the minimal bread, water and a nap, God told Elijah to take a trip - forty days and nights - to a mountain – to climb it!

“Who may live on your holy mountain?  The one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from their heart…Whoever does these things will never be shaken.” Psalm 15:1-5 (NIV)

God had something wonderful in store up on that mountain for His blameless prophet.  You see, God hadn’t sent Elijah to just any mountain. God sent Elijah to Mount Horeb - the very same mountain upon which He revealed Himself to Moses some five hundred years earlier. Elijah obeys – sort of. He hides out in a cave on that mountain and misses God's tremendous display of Earth, Wind and Fire (see STAND II). 

God is urging you toward that same mountain top experience. He tells you as He told Elijah to keep going. You can! Keep going so that you can STAND on that mountain. 

Will you continue your walk in spite of the dismay, discouragement and weariness? Will you climb your mountain of yet one more arduous challenge in order to STAND and see His glory? Or will you give up and miss the show?

“Now then, STAND still and see this great thing the Lord is about to do before your eyes!” 
1 Samuel 12:16 (NIV)


- Still Processing