When Jacob was running from Esau and on his way to Haran, God made wonderful promises to him in the night. When he awoke, he said, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God….And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you” (Gen. 28:20-22). A.W. Dicus made a similar vow on the occasion of his baptism into Christ. When he became a Christian he said, “If the Lord will allow me to get an education, I will use it in service to Him.” He spent the rest of his life remaining true to that vow.
Dr. Dicus was an inventor. He conceived the idea for a power hand saw before 1920. He invented an electric pencil sharpener and a governor for automobile engines. In 1939 he was close to the discovery of the laser beam, twenty-five years before anyone else came up with it. He retired in 1954, but in 1918 he gave up teaching for a while to develop one of his inventions, the first automatic turn signals for automobiles. A big corporation from Chicago made his small company an offer of considerable cash for his invention plus 15% royalties. The negotiations broke down, however, when brother Dicus refused to meet with the Chicago officials on Sunday morning. He said, “I have an appointment with my Lord. I must go to church” (Robert Jay Taylor, Jr. Sing With Feeling, Vol. 2, 1990, p. 28). Following that, the under-capitalized company folded, and Dicus turned over all rights to his partner.
In the late sixties when the “God Is Dead” philosophy was being loudly proclaimed by Emory University, Dr. Dicus wrote the song, “Our God He Is Alive.” He was aware of the erroneous teaching and abhorred the idea, but said that he was not aware of any influence the teaching had on his writing this great hymn. The song is well known to us, and, now, the writer of the song, a brother in Christ, is also well known and appreciated.