Rain at Last!
1 Kings xviii.
HE can in a very inadequate degree realize the horrors of an Eastern drought. And it would have been difficult in the parched
land on which Elijah gazed from Carmel, to have recognized that garden of the Lord of which Moses said: “The Lord thy God giveth thee a good land; a land full of brooks of water, of rivers and depths, which spring out of valleys and hills; a land wherein thou shalt»eat bread without scarceness, and in which thou shalt not lack anything.”
But beside this exquisite delineation, there had been given to Moses a description of the certain calamities that would ensue if Israel went aside from any of the words which God commanded, to the right hand or to the left. And amongst other items of misery, it was expressly stated that the heaven overhead should be brass, and the earth underfoot iron; and that the very rain should be transformed to powder and dust (Deut. xxviii. 23, 24). This terrible prediction had now been literally fulfilled. And the anguish of the land was directly attributable to the apostasy of its people. All this was the result of sin. The iniquities of Israel had separated between them and their God, and Elijah knew this right well; and this prompted him to act the part of executioner to the priests of Baal, who had been the ringleaders in the national revolt from God, but whose bodies now lay in ghastly death on the banks of the Kishon, or were being hurried out to sea.
Ahab must have stood by Elijah in the Kishon gorge, and been an unwilling spectator of that fearful deed of vengeance; not daring to resist the outburst of popular indignation, or to attempt to shield the men whom he had himself encouraged and introduced. When the last priest had bitten the dust, Elijah turned to the king and said, “Get thee up, eat and drink; for there isa sound of abundance of rain.” It was as if he said, “Get thee up to where thy tents are pitched on yon broad upland sweep; the feast is spread in thy gilded pavilion; thy lackeys await thee; feast thee on thy dainties; but be quick! for now that the land is rid of these traitor priests, and God is once more enthroned in His rightful place, the showers of rain cannot be longer delayed. Can you not hear the sough of the western breeze, which shall soon become a rain-bearing hurricane? Be quick! or the rain may interrupt thy carouse.”
What a contrast between these two men! “Ahab went up to eat and drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees.” It is no more than we might have expected of the king. When his people were suffering the extremities of drought, he cared only to find grass enough to save his stud; and now, though his faithful priests had died by hundreds, he thought only of the banquet that awaited him in his pavilion. Cruel, cowardly, mean, and sensual, are the least epithets we can apply to this worthless man, clad though he was with the royal robes of Israel. I think I can see Ahab and Elijah ascending those heights together: no sympathy, no common joy, no reciprocated thanksgiving. The king turns straight off to his tents; whilst the servant of God climbs steadily up to the highest part of the mountain, and finds an oratory at the base of a yet higher spur, or promontory, from which a marvelous view could be obtained of the broad expanse of the Mediterranean, which slept under the growing stillness of the coming night,
Such contrasts still reveal themselves. Crises reveal the secrets of men’s hearts, and show of what stu‘f they are made. The children of this world will spend their days in-feasting, and their nights in revelry, though a world is rushing down to ruin. If only they can eat and drink, they are regardless of the needs of the perishing and the judgments of God. Such feasted with Belshazzar when the foe was at the gates of Babylon; and such filled with their frivolities the royal apartments of Whitehall when William of Orange was landing at Tor Bay. And woe to the land when such men rule! The sequence between the sensual luxury of the rulers and the decadence of the nation was well pointed out by Isaiah when he said: “Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that tarry late into the night, till wine inflame them! And the harp and the lute, the tabret and the pipe, and wine are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the Lord, neither have they considered the operation of His hands. Therefore my people are gone into captivity” (Isaiah v. 11-13, R. V.). May our beloved country be preserved from having such leaders as these! And may our youth be found, not garlanded and scented for the Ahab feasts, but with Elijah on the bleak uplands; where there may be no dainty viands, but where the air is fresh, and life is free, and the spirit is braced to noble deeds.
THERE ARE CERTAIN CHARACTERISTICS IN ELIjAnH’s PRAYER, WHICH WE MUST NOTICE AS WE PASS, BECAUSE THEY SHOULD FORM PART OF ALL TRUE PRAYER.
(1) Lt was based on the promise of God.
When Elijah was summoned from Zarephath to resume his public work, his marching orders were capped by the specific promise of rain: “Go, show thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain on the earth.” To natural reason this might have seemed to render prayer unnecessary. Would not God fulfill His promise, and send the rain, altogether irrespective of further prayer? But Elijah’s spiritual instincts argued otherwise, and more truly. Though he had never heard the words, yet he anticipated the thought of a later prophet, who, after enunciating all that God was prepared to do for His people, uttered these significant words: “Thus saith the Lord God, I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them.”
God’s promises are given, not to restrain, but to incite to prayer. They show the direction in which we may ask, and the extent to which we may expect an answer. They are the mold into which we may pour our fervid spirits without fear. They are the signed check, made payable to order, which we must indorse and present for payment. Though the Bible be crowded with golden promises from board to board, yet will they be inoperative until we turn them into prayer. It is not our province to argue the reasonableness of this; it is enough to accentuate and enforce it. Why should it not be sufficient to silence all questions by saying that we have here reached one of the primal laws of the spiritual world, as simple, as certain, as universal, as any that obtain in the world of nature? Promises of abundant harvest smile to the husbandman from earth and sky; but he knows that they will not be realized unless he puts into operation the laws and processes of agriculture; and as he does so, it is not necessary for his success that he should understand the why and wherefore; it is enough for him to do his little part, and he finds that every promise is fulfilled in the produce shed at his feet from Nature’s golden horn.
When, therefore, we are asked why men should pray, and sow prayer avails, we are not careful to answer more than this: “Prayer is the instinct of the religious life; it is one of the first principles of the spiritual world.” It is clearly taught in the Word of God to be prevalent with the Almighty. It has been practiced by the noblest and saintliest of men, who have testified to its certain efficacy. Our
RAIN AT LAST! 109 Lord Jesus not only practiced it, but proclaimed its value in words which have been plunged a myriad times into the crucible of experience, and are as true to-day as ever: “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” We are content, therefore, to pray, though we are as ignorant of the philosophy of the modus operandi of prayer as we are of any natural law. We find it no dreamy reverie or sweet sentimentality; but a practical, living force. Whenever we stand by the altar of incense, we be come aware of the angel of the Lord standing hard by, and saying, “Fear not, O man greatly beloved! thy prayer is heard.”
When your child was a toddling, lisping babe, it asked many things wholly incompatible with your nature and its own welfare; but as the years have passed, increasing experience has molded its requests into shapes suggested by yourself. So, as we know more of God through His promises, we are staid from asking what He cannot give; and are led to set our hearts on things which lie on His open palm waiting to be taken by the hand of an appropriating faith. This is why all prayer, like Elijah’s, should be based on promise. We stand on a foundation of adamant, and have an irresistible purchase with God, when we can put our finger on His own promise and say, “Do as Thou hast
said.”
(2) Lt was definite.
This is where so many prayers fail. They are shot like arrows into the air. They are like letters which require no answer, because they ask for nothing. They are like the firing by artillery in a mimic fight, when only gunpowder is entployed. This is why they are so wanting in power and interest. We do not pray with any expectation of attaining definite and practical results. We wander out like Isaac to meditate in the fields at eventide: but we fail to ascend Carmel, with the compressed lip and the resolute step of Elijah; as determined, if we may, to win by prayer the ful fillment of some blessed promise, as he was to bring the longed-for rain. Let us amend in this matter. Let us keep a list of petitions, which we shall plead before God. Let us direct our prayer, as David did (Psalm v. 3), and look up for the answer; and we shall find ourselves obtaining new and unwonted blessings. Be definite!
(3) Zt was earnest.
“Elijah prayed earnestly.” This is the testimony of the Holy Spirit, through the Apostle James. It was the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man, which availeth much. The prayers of Scripture all glow with the white heat of intensity. Remember how Jacob wrestled, and David panted and poured out his soul; the importunity of the blind beggar, and the persistency of the distracted mother; the strong crying and tears of our Lord. In each case the whole being seemed gathered up, as a stone intoacatapult, and hurled forth in vehement entreaty. Prayer is only answered for the glory of Christ; but it is not answered unless it be accompanied with such earnestness as will prove that the blessing sought is really needed, Ah, what earnestness pants and throbs on every side! No listless attention! No flagging interest! No drowsy eye! Oh for such violence, guided by holiness, to take the kingdom of heaven by force! Such earnestness is, of course, to be dreaded when we seek some lower boon for ourselves. But when, like Elijah, we seek the fulfillment of the Divine promise — not for ourselves, but for the glory of God — then it is impossible to be too much in earnest, or too full of the energy of prayer.
(4) Hlyah’s prayer was humble.
“He cast himself down on the ground, and put his face between his knees.” We scarcely recognize him, he seems to have so lost his identity. A few hours before, he stood. erect as an oak of Bashan; now, he is bowed as a bulrush. Then as God’s ambassador he pleaded with man; now as man’s intercessor he pleads with God. Is it not always so — that the men who stand straightest in the presence of sin bow lowest in the presence of God? And is it not also true, that those who livenearest God are the most reverent? True, thou art a child; but thou art also a subject. True, thou art a redeemed man; but thou canst never forget thine original name, s¢zner. True, thou mayest come with boldness; but remember the majesty, might, and power of God, and take thy shoes from off thy feet. The angels of His presence fly with veiled faces to do His bidding, as they cry, “Holy, Holy, Holy!” The most tender love, which casts out the fear that hath torment, begets a fear that is as delicate and sensitive as that of John; who, though he lay his head on Jesus’ breast, scrupled too hastily to intrude upon the grave where He had slept. Our only plea with God is the merit and Blood of our great High Priest. It becomes us to be humble.
(5) Zt was full of expectant faith,
“Whatsoever things ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them: and ye shall have them.” Faith is the indispensable condition of all true prayer. It is the gift of the Holy Ghost. It thrives by exercise. It grows strong by feeding on the promises: the Word of God is its natural food. It beat strongly in Elijah’s heart. He knew that God would keep His word, and so he sent the lad — possibly the widow’s son — up to the highest point of Carmel, and bade him look toward the sea; because he was sure that ere long his prayer would be. answered, and God’s promise would be kept.. We have often prayed, and failed to look out for the blessings we have sought. The stately ships of heaven have come up to the quays, laden with the very blessings we asked; but as we have not been there to welcome and unload them, they have put out again to sea. The messenger pigeons have come back again to their cotes, with the tiny messages concealed beneath their wings; but we have not been there to search for them and take them.
Sometimes we have to exercise faith on the simple warrant of God’s Word. At other times, God seems to give us special faith for things which are not directly promised. The presence or absence of faith is a great test in prayer. Where it is present, we are so sure of the answer as to turn petition into thanksgiving. But where it is persistently absent, and where continued prayer fails to Jight up the spirit with the conviction of coming answer, then it would seem as if the Urim and Thummim stone is darkening with one of God’s loving Woes; and He says, “Ask me no more concerning this matter.”
There is a faith which God cannot refuse; to which all things are possible; which laughs at impossibility; which can move mountains and plant them in the sea. May such faith be ours! — but it can be ours only by careful and eager nurture. Such faith was Elijah’s.
(6) Lt was very persevering.
He said to his servant, “Go up now, look toward the sea.” And he went up, and looked, and said, “There is nothing” How often have we sent the lad of eager desire to scan the horizon! — and how often has he returned with the answer, Zhere is nothing! There is no tear of penitence in those hard eyes. There is no symptom of amendment in that wild life. There is no sign of deliverance in these sore perplexities. There is nothing. And because there is nothing when we have just begun to pray, we leave off praying. We leave the mountain brow. We do not know that God’s answer is even then upon the way.
Not so with Elijah. “And he said, Go again seven times.” There is a truer rendering of this: “Then said he seven times, Go again.” It is not that the lad was told to run to and fro seven times, without interrupting the prophet in prayer; but it would appear that again and again the lad came back to his master with the same message,. “There is nothing;” and, after an interval, he was bidden to go again.
He came back the first time, saying, “There is nothing — no sign of rain, no cloud upon the clear sky;” and Elijah said, “Go again.” And that was repeated seven times. It was no small test of the prophet’s endurance; but he was not tried more than he could endure, and with the ordeal there came sufficient grace, so that he was able to bear it.
Not unfrequently our Father grants our prayer, and labels the answer for us; but He keeps it back, that we may be led on to a point of intensity, which shall bless our spirits forever, and from which we shall never recede. “But none of them that wait on Him shall be ashamed.” Then when we have outdone ourselves, He lovingly turns to us, and says, “Great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt!” He waits, that He may be gracious unto us.
(7) And the prayer was abundantly answered.
For weeks and months before, the sun had been gathering up from lake and river, from sea and ocean, the drops of mist, drawing them as clouds in coronets of glory around himself; and now the gale was bearing them rapidly toward the thirsty land of Israel. “Before they call I will answer, and whilst they are yet speaking I will hear.” The answer to your prayers may be nearer than you think. It may already have started by the
RAIN AT LAST! 115 ae ee ee a te down-line. On the wings of every moment it is hastening toward you. God shall answer you, and that right early.
Presently the lad, from his tower of observation, beheld on the horizon a tiny cloud, no bigger than a man’s hand, scudding across the sky. No more was needed to convince an Oriental that rain was near. It was, and is, the certain precursor of a sudden hurricane of wind and rain. The lad was sent with an urgent message to Ahab, to descend from Carmel to his chariot in the plain beneath, lest Kishon, swollen by the rains, should stop him in his homeward career. The lad had barely time to reach the royal pavilion ere the heavens were black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain.
The monarch started amid the pelting storm; but fleeter than his swift steeds were the feet of the prophet, energized by the hand of God. He
‘snatched up his streaming mantle, and twisted it
around his loins; and amid the fury of the elements, with which the night closed in, he outstripped the chariot, and ran like a common courier before it to the entrance of Jezreel, some eighteen miles distant. He did this to convince the king that in his zeal against idolatry he was actuated by no personal disrespect to himself, and prompted only by jealousy for God.
Thus by his faith and prayer this solitary man brought back the rain to Israel. “More things are wrought by prayer than this world wots of.” Why should not we learn and practice his secret? It is certainly within the reach of us all. Then we too might bring from heaven spiritual blessings, which should make the parched places of the church and the world rejoice and blossom as the rose.