Anne Graham Lotz is the daughter of Evangelist Billy Graham and his wife, Ruth. She also is a gifted speaker and Bible teacher. God has used Anne many times to speak to me personally. That was the case when I heard her use the phrase, “water on the altar.”
The phrase comes from an account in the Old Testament when Elijah challenged the priests of Baal on Mount Carmel. The gist of the story is that Elijah, the prophet of God, called out 450 false prophets of Baal. Baal was an object of idolatry. Elijah told the false prophets to prepare a sacrifice to place upon an altar. He would do the same. Then they were to call upon their god to send fire to consume their altar. Elijah would do the same; and whichever god answered by fire was the true God. Two altars were built–one for God and one for Baal. Elijah challenged the false prophets to select a bull to sacrifice to their god. They were to cut the sacrifice into pieces and place the pieces on the altar, but they weren’t to set fire to it yet. Elijah told them to call on Baal to send fire and consume the sacrifice on the altar. So they began to call upon Baal to send the fire. They called out to him from morning until noon, but nothing happened. They continued to beg Baal until well into the afternoon, but the heavens were silent. Finally, Elijah said, “Enough.”
Then it was Elijah’s turn. Just as the false prophets had done, Elijah selected a bull for the sacrifice and had it killed. Bulls were cut into pieces and placed on the altars. Then Elijah gave orders to dig a huge trench around each altar. He instructed the people to pour water over the altar, which was interesting, especially since there had been no rain in the land for three and a half years. I can’t imagine what must have gone through the minds of the people as they witnessed the apparent waste of such a precious resource, but the water flowed anyway. Finally, the sacrifice was soaked, the wood was soaked, the stones were soaked, and water filled the trench?
“Elijah made the burning of the altar humanly impossible. If God didn’t send down the fire, that thing was never going to catch fire. He wanted all the glory going to God, so when the fire came down, everybody would know it was the Lord.”
If you’re like me, you don’t understand a great deal about the ways of God. Sometimes it seems to me that he makes things very hard that He could make easy if He chose to. But instead of becoming frustrated and grumbling against God or making excuses for why didn’t achieve something or accomplish something significant, what if we considered those challenges water on the altar? Think about how that might change your perspective.
What types of water has God poured on the altar of your life? Physical limitations? Introversion? A dysfunctional family? Allow the water to flow. When God sends down His fire from heaven and does something supernatural in your life He’ll be glorified, because you couldn’t have done it on your own. You were all wet.
If you’d like to see a real-life example of someone who saw a major physical challenge as water on the altar of her life, watch the movie Soul Surfer, which is based on the life of Bethany Hamilton. You may also listen to some of her talks on Youtube.
What are some examples of water on the altar in your life? I’d like to hear them.
