I have asked several of my aquaintances who became millionaires how they became rich and the summary of their replies is simply, ‘I was at the right place at the right time!’ A certain man sat on a plane next to a Chinese businessman who asked him if he knew someone who exported chickens from South Africa. Instead of saying ‘No’, he said he would find out. He investigated the chicken breeding business and found the right contact. This effort made him a millionaire overnight!
Listen to this sermonThe Right Place at the Right Time
Corne Krige’s autobiography is entitled The Right Place at the Wrong Time. He was a great player but his career was cut short through injury. He had to hold a side together during the political changes in a country that was going through transition. Although greatly admired by many of his opponents, he’s already forgotten by the youth of today who have their own heroes. Fame in the sporting world is brief.
I have asked several of my aquitances who became millionaires how they became rich and the summary of their replies is simply, ‘I was at the right place at the right time!’ A certain man sat on a plane next to a Chinese businessman who asked him if he knew someone who exported chickens from South Africa. Instead of saying ‘No’, he said he would find out. He investigated the chicken breeding business and found the right contact. This effort made him a millionaire overnight!
Another man walked past an office and overheard a telephone conversation about a certain deal for an apartment block. He stuck his head into the office and said, ‘tell him I will offer him R10 000 more!’ The deal was accepted then and there and this turned out to be a huge financial boost for that man.
This man was my father, Andrew Pelser. He had been a pastor in the Apostolic Faith Mission for 22 years and then the pension fund of the denomination crashed. He only received R120 per month. This was impossible to live on. One of his collegues committed suicide because of this dilemma. Others had to move into old age homes immediately just to survive. My dad went back into the Estate Agency business which he left behind to go into the full time ministry. There he became an office worker. During the 1976 Sowete Riots and Johannesburg and Krugersdorp bomb explosions the price of buildings dropped dramatically. South Africans living abroad feared the worst and wanted to get rid of their property before they loose everything. Even though he offered ten thousand Rand more for the block of flats he still bought it at the price of two houses! The Lord gave him a new pension scheme!
When my father went into the ministry he gave his 50% share of Pelser & Draai Estate Agents in Primrose to his associate and sold his iron and steel factory in Alrode for a mere seven thousand pounds. This money he put into a savings account which he used when there was no salary and no money for holidays during his tenure as pastor. So by the time he had to retire there was hardly any money left.
The devil whispered in his ear that God had used him and forsaken him. But my dad held onto a scripture that God is no man’s debtor. God came through for him in a miraculous way and he was able to provide for his old age and leave a paid house and car with some money in the bank for my mother when he passed away.
He was simply in the right place at the right time.
How many of us would love to be able to say that?
Well, today I have good news for all of us: one of the Redemptive Names of Jehovah, the God of Israel and the Lord of the Church is Jehovah Shammah, which means, the Lord is there!

Ezekiel 48:35
35 “All the way around shall be eighteen thousand cubits; and the name of the city from that day shall be: The Lord Is There.”

The New King James Version

The root word of the name Jehovah is ‘hayah’ and it means ‘come to pass’ or ‘exist’ or ‘happen’ or ‘come into being’. But the meaning that exites me most is, ‘it is better for you’! Isn’t that wonderful? Our God does not only exist and make things come to pass, He is actually better for us! It is better to belong to our God than not to know Him at all. It is better to believe in Him than in any other false god, for there is no other God besides our Lord! He makes things come into being; he creates new things for us when we need it. He creates provision. He makes interest rates drop or go up. He creates opportunities and opens doors for his beloved children and gives them the ability to create wealth in order to establish His covenant in the earth.

I don’t care what you have been through or what you are facing. I want to bring you good news that the Lord will be there for you. His name if Jehovah Shammah: the Lord is there! It is better for you to know Him; it is better for you to serve Him; it is better for you to believe in Him; it is better for you to know that He exists and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him continually! He will make things come into being for you!

The fact that the Lord is there for us is beautifully depicted in the latter part of Elijah’s life. Twice he was at death’s door; twice the Lord provided for him in surprising ways. The Lord was there for Him: Jehovah Shammah! When he needed a miracle to take place the Lord was there for Him. Jehovah Shammah! The Lord is there!

The stories about Elijah’s miraculous provision are all basically concerned with the clash between the worship of Yahweh and *Baal. The Baal in these stories is Baal-melqart, the official protective deity of Tyre. Ahab fostered this Phoenician variant of the nature-religion of Canaan after his marriage with the Tyrian princess *Jezebel (1 Ki. 16:30-33), but it was Jezebel who was chiefly responsible for the systematic extermination of Yahweh worship and the propagation of the Baal cult in Israel (1 Ki. 18:4, 13, 19; 19:10, 14).
Elijah appears (1 Ki. 17) without introduction, and after the delivery of the oracle to Ahab announcing a drought, he retires beyond Ahab’s jurisdiction first to the wadi Cherith, East of Jordan, and then to Zarephath (modern Sarafend below Sidon still preserves the name and overlooks what remains of this ancient Mediterranean sea-port). Elijah was miraculously sustained in both places, and while at Zarephath he performed a miracle of healing (1 Ki. 17:17-24).
The second episode, 3 years later (1 Ki. 18:1; cf. Lk. 4:25; Jas. 5:17, which follow Jewish tradition), recounts the break in the drought following the overthrow of organized Baal worship on Mt Carmel. The drought imposed and withdrawn at Yahweh’s word was a challenge to Baal’s sovereignty over nature. 1 Ki. 17 had depicted Elijah in the very stronghold of Baal-melqart sustained by Yahweh while the country languishes (1 Ki. 17:12; cf. Jos., Ant. 8. 320-4). 1 Ki. 18 brings the challenge into the open, and Yahweh’s supremacy is spectacularly demonstrated. That Baal worship in Israel was certainly not exterminated at Mt Carmel is seen from later references (e.g. 2 Ki. 10:18-21). For the presence of an altar of Yahweh on Mt Carmel, see *Altar. Keil suggests that this was probably built by pious Yahweh-worshippers after the division in the kingdom.
Three years later (1 Ki. 18:1; cf. Lk. 4:25; Jas. 5:17, which follow Jewish tradition), the story about Elijah recounts the break in the drought following the overthrow of organized Baal worship on Mt Carmel. The drought imposed and withdrawn at Yahweh’s word was a challenge to Baal’s sovereignty over nature. 1 Ki. 17 had depicted Elijah in the very stronghold of Baal-melqart sustained by Yahweh while the country languishes (1 Ki. 17:12; cf. Jos., Ant. 8. 320-4