We Have Never Done it That Way Before

I have been writing a daily devotion for a time of prayer and fasting we are having in Floyd County. We are focusing on 1 Kings 18 and Elijah's contest with the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel.

Here is the devotion for Friday January 27.

A desire of those who are fasting and praying during this time of 21 Days of Connection is that we would see God move in a mighty way in our lives, in our homes, in our churches, in our communities, in our county, in our country and ultimately in the world. We long to see another move of God that we read about in the pages of Scripture and in the pages of history. We pray with Habakkuk “O LORD, I have heard the report of you, and your work, O LORD, do I fear. In the midst of the years revive it; in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy.” (Hab. 3:2). We want to see the Lord revive His work in our midst.

But there is a mindset that may hinder what we seek. The mindset is best expressed in the phrase “We have never done it that way before.” A small group leader has a burden to reach out to a forgotten group in the community and a “saint” pulls out a big ole wet blanket in saying “But we have never done it that way before.” A Pastor sits on a dream that God has placed in his heart because he fears hearing that dreaded phrase when he shares the dream with others. He has heard it so many times before he can’t endure hearing it again. A dad wants to lead his family to think beyond themselves and to make an impact in their community but a wife or a child or another relative shoots down the idea because “We have never done that before.” A woman of God has a burden to reach out to her co-workers in a creative and engaging way to share Christ with them; but the elders at her church think it is an unusual or unique approach, something that hasn’t ever been done before.

Wait, does this have ANYTHING to do with Elijah and the situation on Mt. Carmel? Yes! Yes it does! You may have read over it so quickly that you missed it. You see the Bible tells us that Elijah “made a trench about the altar” (1 Kings 18:32). Listen, can you hear it? I’m sure there is someone standing around in the crowd punching their neighbor in the ribs and saying: “What is He DOING? There is nothing in God’s Word about putting a trench around the altar. We have never done it that way before.” And that individual would be right. Check it out. You will find no reference to trenches and altars anywhere else in the Bible. God laid down some very specific plans for building the altar in the Old Testament and He NEVER once said anything about a trench. Elijah did something unexpected and the people experienced something unusual – they saw the “fire of the Lord” fall and consume a soaking wet altar and everything around it. Wow!

Maybe it is time for us to do what we have never done before. If it is something God has placed on your heart and it is not forbidden in Scripture it may be time to dig a trench. The fire may fall if we dig the trench and follow through on the burden God has birthed in our souls.

Let’s dig some trenches BECAUSE we have never done it that way before and the time has come to do the unexpected so that we may experience the unusual. Who knows, we may just be one trench away from hearing the people exclaim “The Lord, he is God; the Lord, He is God.” (1 Kings 18:39).