Most readers will be familiar with this story of developing faith. 1 Kings 18 begins with God coming to Elijah during a severe drought and famine in Samaria. The Lord tells Elijah to present himself before the wicked King, Ahab, after which He will send rain.
We’ll fast forward in this chapter, through the altar fire contest with the Baal prophets and other faith adventures. It’s time for a cloudburst. Elijah instructs his servant to look toward the sea for signs of rain. After going to look SEVEN times, the servant reports a tiny cloud, barely visible. The cloud was only about 7.6 inches long in the expanse of the sky (the average length of a man’s hand.) Elijah tells his servant to inform Ahab to mount his chariot and escape because of the coming rainstorm.
In the meantime, the skies darkened and released their heavy rain. The hand of the Lord rested so heavily on Elijah, that he pulled up his robe and outran Ahab’s chariot to Jezreel.
I ask myself, do I give up on prayer too easily? Would I have sent the messenger one or two times to look at the cloud? Do I have “seven-time faith?” Do I refuse to give up? Do I put works to my faith so it isn’t dead? Would I stand in the face of the enemy and say “You’d better run, a downpour is coming” during a drought?
This Elijah story, God’s word seeding a cloud, provokes me to pay attention to small encouragements, to have faith in prayer answers, and to never give up on God.
– Nan Robertson
Christ Fellowship