Chapter 10 – WELCOME RAIN

Chapter 10 – WELCOME RAIN

Not a little is said in the Scriptures about rain, yet is such teaching quite unknown today even to the vast majority of people in Christendom. In this atheistic and materialistic age God is not only not accorded His proper place in the hearts and lives of the people, but He is banished from their thoughts and virtually excluded from the world which He has made. His ordering of the seasons, His control of the elements, His regulating of the weather, is now believed by none save an insignificant remnant who are regarded as fools and fanatics. There is need, then, for the servants of Jehovah to set forth the relation which the living God sustains to His creation and His superintendence of and government over all the affairs of earth-to point out first that the Most High foreordained in eternity past all which comes to pass here below, and then to declare that He is now executing His predetermination and working “all things after the counsel of His own will.”

That God’s foreordination reaches to material things as well as spiritual-that it embraces the elements of earth as well as the souls of men, is clearly revealed in Holy Writ. “He made a decree (the same Hebrew word as in Psalm 2:7) for the rain” (Job 28:26)-predestinating when, where, and how little or how much it should rain: just as, “He gave to the sea His decree, that the waters should not pass His commandment” (Proverbs 8:29), and as He has “placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree that it cannot pass it; and though the waters thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail” (Jeremiah 5:22). The precise number, duration and quantity of the showers have been eternally and unalterably fixed by the Divine will, and the exact bounds of each ocean and river expressly determined by the fiat of the Ruler of Heaven and earth.

In accordance with His foreordination we read that God “prepares rain for the earth” (Psalm 147:8), and unless He did so, there would be none, for puny man can no more create rain than he can make the sun to shine. “I will cause it to rain” (Genesis 7:4) says the King of the firmament, nor can any of His creatures say to Him, Nay. “I will give you rain in due season” (Leviticus 26:4), is His gracious promise, yet how little is its fulfillment recognized or appreciated. On the other hand He declares, “I have withheld the rain from you . . . I caused it to rain upon one city and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon and the piece whereon it rained not withered” (Amos 4:7 and cf. Deuteronomy 11:17); and again, “I also will command the clouds that they rain no rain” (Isaiah 5:6), and all the scientists in the world are powerless to reverse it. And therefore does He require of us, “Ask you of the LORD rain” (Zechariah 10:1) that our dependence upon Him may be acknowledged.

What has been pointed out above receives striking and convincing demonstration in the part of Israel’s history which we have been considering. For the space of three and a half years there had been no rain or dew upon the land of Samaria, and that was the result neither of chance nor blind fate, but a Divine judgment upon a people who had forsaken Jehovah for false gods. In surveying the drought-stricken country from the heights of Carmel it would have been difficult to recognize that garden of the Lord which had been depicted as “a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills: a land of wheat and barley, and vines and fig trees: a land wherein you shall eat bread without scarceness, you shall not lack anything in it” (Deuteronomy 8:7-9). But it had also been announced, “And your Heaven that is over the head shall be brass, and the earth that is under you shall be iron: the LORD shall make the rain of your land powder and dust” (Deuteronomy 28:23, 24). That terrible curse had been literally inflicted, and therein we may behold the horrible consequences of sin. God endures with much longsuffering the waywardness of a nation as He does of an individual, but when both leaders and people apostatize and set up idols in the place which belongs to Himself alone, sooner or later He makes it unmistakably evident that He will not be mocked with impunity, and “indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish” become their portion.

Alas that those nations which are favored with the light of God’s Word are so slow to learn this beneficial lesson: it seems that the hard school of experience is the only teacher. The Lord had fulfilled His awful threat by Moses and had made good His word through Elijah (1 Kings 17:1). Nor could that fearful judgment be removed until the people at least avowedly owned Jehovah as the true God. As we pointed out earlier, until the people were brought back unto their allegiance to God, no favor could be expected from Him; and neither Ahab nor his subjects were yet in any fit state of soul to be made the recipients of His blessings and mercies. God had been dealing with them in judgment for their awful sins, and thus far His rod had not been acknowledged, nor had the occasion of His displeasure been removed.

But the wonderful miracle wrought on Carmel had entirely changed the face of things. When the fire fell from Heaven in answer to Elijah’s prayer, all the people “fell on their faces, and they said, The LORD He is the God; the LORD, He is the God” (1 Kings 18:39). And when Elijah ordered them to arrest the false prophets of Baal and to let not one of them escape, they promptly complied with his orders, nor did they or the king offer any resistance when the Tishbite brought them down to the brook Kishon and slew them there (v. 40). Thus was the evil put away from them and the way opened for God’s outward blessing. He graciously accepted this as their reformation and accordingly removed His scourge from them. This is ever the order: judgment prepares the way for blessing; the awful fire is followed by the welcome rain. Once a people takes their place on their faces and render to God the homage which is His due, it will not be long before refreshing showers are sent down from Heaven.

As Elijah acted the part of executioner to the prophets of Baal who had been the principal agents in the national revolt against God, Ahab must have stood by a most unwilling spectator of that fearful deed of vengeance, not daring to resist the popular outburst of indignation or attempt to protect the men whom he had introduced and supported. And now their bodies lay in ghastly death before his eyes on the banks of the Kishon. When the last of Baal’s prophets had bitten the dust, the intrepid Tishbite turned to the king and said, “Get you up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain” (1 Kings 18:41). What a load would his words lift from the heart of the guilty king! He must have been greatly alarmed as he stood helplessly by watching the slaughter of his prophets, tremblingly expecting some terrible sentence to be pronounced upon him by the One whom he had so openly despised and blatantly insulted. Instead, he is allowed to depart unharmed from the place of execution; nay, bidden to go and refresh himself!

How well Elijah knew the man he was dealing with! He did not bid him humble himself beneath the mighty hand of God and publicly confess his wickedness, still less did he invite the king to join him in returning thanks for the wondrous and gracious miracle which he had witnessed. Eating and drinking was all this Satan-blinded sot cared about. As another has pointed out, it was as though the servant of the Lord had said, “Get you up to where your tents are pitched on yon broad upland sweep. The feast is spread in your gilded pavilion, your lackeys await you; go, feast on your dainties. But ‘be quick’ for now that the land is rid of those traitor priests and God is once more enthroned in His rightful place, the showers of rain cannot be longer delayed. Be quick then! or the rain may interrupt your carouse.” The appointed hour for sealing the king’s doom had not yet arrived: meanwhile he is suffered, as a beast, to fatten himself for the slaughter. It is useless to expostulate with apostates: compare John 13:27.

For there is a sound of abundance of rain. It should scarcely need pointing out that Elijah was not here referring to a natural phenomenon. At the time when he spoke a cloudless sky appeared as far as the eye could reach, for when the Prophet’s servant looked out toward the sea for any portent of approaching rain, he declared “there is nothing” (1 Kings 18:43), and later when he looked a seventh time all that could be seen was “a little cloud.” When we are told that Moses “endured as seeing Him who is invisible” (Hebrews 11:27) it was not because he beheld God with the natural eye. And when Elijah announced, “there is a sound of abundance of rain” that sound was not audible to the outward ear. It was by “the hearing of faith” (Galatians 3:2) that the Tishbite knew the welcome rain was near at hand. “The Lord God will do nothing, but He reveals His secrets unto His servants the Prophets” (Amos 3:7) and the Divine revelation now made known to him was received by faith.

While Elijah yet abode with the widow at Zarephath the Lord had said to him, “Go show yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth” (1 Kings 18:1) and the Prophet believed that God would do as He had said, and in the verse we are considering he speaks accordingly as if it were now being done, so certain was he who his Master would not fail to make good His word! It is thus that a spiritual and supernatural faith ever works: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1). It is the nature of this God-given grace to bring distant things close to us: faith looks upon things promised as though they were actually fulfilled. Faith gives a present subsistence to things that are yet future: that is, it realizes them to the mind, giving a reality and substantiality to them. Of the Patriarchs it is written, “these all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off” (Hebrews 11:13): though the Divine promises were not fulfilled in their lifetime, yet the eagle eyes of faith saw them, and it is added they “were persuaded of them and embraced them”-one cannot “embrace” distant objects, true, but faith being so sure of their verity makes them near.

There is a sound of abundance of rain (1 Kings 18:41). Does not the reader now perceive the spiritual purpose of this language? That “sound” was certainly not heard by Ahab, nor even by any other person in the vast concourse on Mount Carmel. The clouds were not then gathered, yet Elijah hears that which shall be. Ah, if we were more separated from the din of this world, if we were in closer communion with God, our ears would be attuned to His softest whispers: if the Divine Word dwelt in us more richly and faith were exercised more upon it, we should hear that which is inaudible to the dull comprehension of the carnal mind. Elijah was so sure that the promised rain would come-as if he now heard its first drops splashing on the rocks or as if he saw it descending in torrents. O that writer and reader may be fully assured of God’s promises and embrace them: living on them, walking by faith in them, rejoicing over them, for He is faithful who has promised: Heaven and earth shall pass away before one word of His shall fail!

So Ahab went up to eat and to drink (v. 42). The views expressed by the commentators on this statement strike us as being either carnal or forced. Some regard the king’s action as being both logical and prudent: having had neither food nor drink since early morning and the day being now far advanced, he naturally and wisely made for home, that he might break his long fast. But there is a time for everything, and immediately following a most remarkable manifestation of God’s power was surely not the season for indulging the flesh. Elijah, too, had had nothing to eat that day, yet he was very far from looking after his bodily needs at this moment. Others see in this notice the evidence of a subdued spirit in Ahab: that he was now meekly obeying the Prophet’s orders. Strange indeed is such a concept: the last thing which characterized the apostate king was submission to God or His servant. The reason why he acquiesced so readily on this occasion was because compliance suited his fleshly appetites and enabled him to gratify his lusts.

So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. Has not the Holy Spirit recorded this detail so as to show us the hardness and insensibility of the king’s heart? For three and a half years drought had blighted his dominion and a fearful famine had ensued. Now that he knew rain was about to fall, surely he would turn unto God and return thanks for His mercy. Alas! he had seen the utter vanity of his idols, he had witnessed the exposure of Baal, he had beheld the awful judgment upon his prophets, but no impression was made upon him: he remained obdurate in his sin. God was not in his thoughts: his one idea was, the rain is coming, so I can enjoy myself without hindrance; therefore, he goes to make merry. While his subjects were suffering the extremities of the Divine scourge he cared only to find grass enough to save his stud (18:5), and now that his devoted priests have been slain by the hundreds, he thought only of the banquet which awaited him in his pavilion. Gross and sensual to the last degree, though clad with the royal robes of Israel.

Let it not be supposed that Ahab was exceptional in his sottishness, but rather regard his conduct on this occasion as an illustration and exemplification of the spiritual deadness that is common to all the unregenerate-devoid of any serious thoughts of God, unaffected by the most solemn of His providences or the most wondrous of His works-caring only for the things of time and sense. We have read of Belshazzar and his nobles feasting at the very hour that the deadly Persians were entering the gates of Babylon. We have heard of Nero fiddling while Rome was burning, and even of the royal apartment at Whitehall being filled with a giddy crowd that gave itself up to frivolity while William of Orange was landing at Tor Bay. And we have lived to behold the pleasure-intoxicated masses dancing and carousing while enemy planes are raining death and destruction upon them. Such is fallen human nature in every age: if only they can eat and drink, people are indifferent of the judgments of God and their eternal destiny. Is it otherwise with you, my reader? Though preserved outwardly, is there any difference within?

And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees (1 Kings 18:42). Does not this unmistakably confirm what has been said above? How striking the contrast here presented-so far from the Prophet desiring the convivial company of the world, he longed to get alone with God. So far from thinking of the needs of his body, he gave himself up to spiritual exercises. The contrast between Elijah and Ahab was not merely one of personal temperament and taste, but was the difference there is between life and death, light and darkness. But that radical antithesis is not always apparent to the eye of man: the regenerate may walk carnally, and the unregenerate can be very respectable and religious. It is the crises of life which reveal the secrets of our hearts and make it manifest whether we are really new creatures in Christ or merely whitewashed worldlings. It is our reaction to the interpositions and judgments of God which brings out what is within us. The children of this world will spend their days in feasting and their nights in revelry though the world be hastening to destruction; but the children of God will betake themselves to the secret place of the Most High and abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel: and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees. There are some important lessons here for ministers of the Gospel to take to heart. Elijah did not hang around that he might receive the congratulations of the people upon the successful outcome of his contest with the false Prophets, but retired from man to get alone with God. Ahab hastens to his carnal feast, but the Tishbite, like his Lord, has “meat to eat” which others knew not of (John 4:32). Again-Elijah did not conclude that he might relax and take his ease following his public ministrations, but desired to thank his Master for His sovereign grace in the miracle He had wrought. The preacher must not think his work is done when the congregation is dismissed: he needs to seek further communion with God, to ask His blessing upon his labors, to praise Him for what He has wrought, and to supplicate Him for further manifestations of His love and mercy.

And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel: and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees (1 Kings 18:42). We have pointed out that this verse sets forth some important lessons which ministers of the Gospel will do well to take to heart, the principal of which is the importance and need of their retiring from the scene of their ministry that they may commune with their Lord. When public work is over they need to betake themselves to private work with God. Ministers must not only preach, but pray; not only before and while preparing their sermons, but afterwards. They must not only attend to the souls of their flock, but look after their own souls also, particularly that they may be purged from pride or resting on their own endeavors. Sin enters into and defiles the best of our performances. The faithful servant, no matter how honored of God with success in his work, is conscious of his defects and sees reason for debasing himself before his Master. Moreover he knows that God alone can give the increase to the Seed he has sown, and for that he needs supplicate the Throne of Grace.

In the passage which is now before us there is most blessed and important instruction not only for ministers of the Gospel but also for the people of God in general. Once again it has pleased the Spirit to here let us into the secrets of prevailing prayer, for it was in that holy exercise the Prophet was now engaged. It may be objected that it is not expressly stated in 1 Kings 18:42-46 that Elijah did any praying on this occasion. True, and here is where we discover afresh the vital importance of comparing Scripture with Scripture. In James 5 we are told, “Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the Heaven gave rain” (vv. 17, 18). The latter verses clearly have reference to the incident we are now considering: as truly as the heavens were closed in response to Elijah’s prayer, so were they now opened in answer to his supplication. Thus we have before us again the conditions which must be met if our intercessions are to be effectual.

Once more we emphasize the fact that what is recorded in these Old Testament passages is written both for our instruction and consolation (Romans 15:4), affording as they do invaluable illustrations, typifications and exemplifications of what is stated in the New Testament in the form of doctrine or precept. It might be thought that after so discussing so much about the secrets of prevailing intercession there is really no need for us to take up the same subject again. But it is a different aspect of it which is now in view: in 1 Kings 18:36, 37 we learn how Elijah prayed in public, here we behold how he prevailed in private prayer, and if we are to really profit from what is said in verses 42-46 we must not skim them hurriedly, but study them closely. Is the reader anxious to conduct his secret devotions in a manner that will be acceptable to God and which will produce answers of peace? Then let him attend diligently to the details which follow.

First, this man of God withdrew from the crowds and “went up to the top of Carmel.” If we would hold audience with the Majesty on High; if we would avail ourselves of that “new and living way” which the Redeemer has consecrated for His people and “enter into the holiest” (Hebrews 10:19, 20), then we must retire from the mad and distracting world around us and get alone with God. This was the great lesson laid down in our Lord’s first word on the subject before us: “But you, when you pray, enter into your closet, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father which is in secret; and your Father which sees in secret shall reward you openly” (Matthew 6:6). Separation from the godless and the shutting out of all sights and sounds which take the mind off God is absolutely indispensable. But the entering of the closet and shutting its door denotes more than physical isolation: it also signifies the calming of our spirit, the quieting of our feverish flesh, the gathering in of all wondering thoughts, that we may be in a fit frame to draw near unto and address the Holy One. “Be still, and know that I am God” is His unchanging requirement. How often the failure of this “shut door” renders our praying ineffectual! The atmosphere of the world is fatal to the spirit of devotion and we must get alone if communion with God is to be enjoyed.

Second, observe well the posture in which we now behold this man of God: “And he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees” (1 Kings 18:42). Very, very striking is this. As one has put it: “We scarcely recognize him, he seems to have lost his identity. A few hours before he stood erect as an oak of Bashan: now he is bowed as a bulrush.” As he confronted the assembled multitude, Ahab and the hundreds of false prophets, he carried himself with majestic deportment and becoming dignity; but now as he draws near unto the King of kings the utmost humility and reverence marks his demeanor. There as God’s ambassador he had pleaded with Israel, here as Israel’s intercessor he is to plead with the Almighty. Facing the forces of Baal he was as bold as a lion-alone with God Most High he hides his face and by his actions owns his nothingness. It has ever been thus with those most favored of Heaven: Abraham declared, “Behold now I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am dust and ashes” (Genesis 18:27). When Daniel beheld an anticipation of God incarnate, he declared, “my loveliness was turned in me into corruption” (10:8). The seraphim veil their faces in His presence (Isaiah 6:2).

That to which we are now directing attention is greatly needed by this most irreverent and blatant generation. Though so highly favored of God and granted such power in prayer, this did not cause Elijah to take liberties with Him or approach Him with indecent familiarity. No, he bowed his knee before the Most High and placed his head between his knees, betokening his most profound veneration for that infinitely glorious Being whose messenger he was. And if our hearts are right, the more we are favored of God the more shall we be humbled by a sense of our unworthiness and insignificance, and we shall deem no posture too lowly to express our respect for the Divine Majesty. We must not forget that though God is our Father He is also our Sovereign and that while we are His children we are likewise His subjects. If it is an act of infinite condescension on His part for the Almighty to so much as “behold the things which are in Heaven and in the earth” (Psalm 113:6), then we cannot sufficiently abase ourselves before Him.

How grievously have those words been perverted, “Let us therefore come boldly to the Throne of grace” (Hebrews 4:16): to suppose they give license for us to address the Lord God as though we were His equals, is to put darkness for light and evil for good. If we are to obtain the ear of God then we must take our proper place before Him, and that is, in the dust. “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,” comes before, “Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:6, 7). We must abase ourselves from a sense of our baseness. If Moses was required to remove his shoes before he approached the burning bush in which the Shekinah glory appeared, we, too, must conduct ourselves in prayer befitting the majesty and might of the great God. It is true that the Christian is a redeemed man and accepted in the Beloved, yet in himself he is still a sinner. As another has pointed out, “the most tender love which casts out the fear that has torment, begets a fear that is as delicate and sensitive as that of John’s, who though he had lain his head on the bosom of Christ, scrupled too hastily to intrude upon the grave where He had slept.”

Third, note very particularly that this prayer of Elijah’s was based upon a Divine promise. When commanding his servant to appear again before Ahab the Lord had expressly declared, “And I will send rain upon the earth” (1 Kings 18:1). Why, then, should he now be found earnestly begging Him for rain? To natural reason, a Divine assurance of anything seems to render asking for it unnecessary: would not God make good His word and send the rain irrespective of further prayer? Not so did Elijah reason-nor should we. So far from God’s promises being designed to exempt us from making application to the Throne of Grace for the blessings guaranteed, they are designed to instruct us what things to ask for, and to encourage us to ask for them believingly, that we may have their fulfillment to ourselves. God’s thoughts and ways are ever the opposite of ours-and infinitely superior thereto. In Ezekiel 36:24-36 is found a whole string of promises, yet in immediate connection therewith we read, “I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them” (v. 37).

By asking for those thing which God has promised, we declare Him as the Giver and are taught our dependence upon Him: faith is called into exercise and we appreciate His mercies all the more when they are received. God will do what He undertakes, but He requires us to sue for all which we would have Him do for us. Even to His own beloved Son God says, “Ask of Me, and I shall give You the heathen for Your inheritance” (Psalm 2:8): His reward must be claimed. Even though Elijah heard (by faith), “a sound of abundance of rain,” nevertheless he must pray for it (Zechariah 10:1). God has appointed that if we would receive, we must ask; that if we would find, we must seek; that if we would have the door of blessing opened, we must knock; and if we fail so to do we shall prove the truth of those words, “you have not, because you ask not” (James 4:2). God’s promises then are given us to incite prayer, to become the mold in which our petitions should be cast, to intimate the extent to which we may expect an answer.

Fourth, his prayer was definite or to the point. Scripture says, “ask you of the Lord rain” (Zechariah 10:1) and for that very thing the Prophet asked: he did not generalize but particularized. It is just here that so many fail. Their petitions are so vague they would scarcely recognize an answer if it were given: their requests are so lacking in precision that the next day the petitioner himself finds it difficult to remember what he asked for. No wonder such praying is so profitless to the soul, and brings so little to pass. Letters which require no answer contain little or nothing in them of any value or importance. Let the reader turn to the four Gospels with this thought before him and observe how very definite in his requests and detailed in describing his case was each one who came to Christ and obtained healing, and remember they are recorded for our learning. When His disciples asked the Lord to teach them to pray, He said, “which of you shall have a friend and shall go to him at midnight and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves” (Luke 11:5)-not simply “food,” but specifically “three loaves”!

Fifth, his prayer was fervent: “he prayed earnestly” (James 5:17). It is not necessary for a man to shout and scream in order to prove he is earnest, yet on the other hand, cold and formal petitions must not expect to meet with any response. God grants our requests only for Christ’s sake, nevertheless unless we supplicate Him with warmth and reality, with intensity of spirit and vehemence of entreaty, we shall not obtain the blessing desired. This blessing is constantly inculcated in Scripture, where prayer is likened unto seeking, knocking, crying, striving. Remember how Jacob wrestled with the Lord, and how David panted and poured out his soul; how unlike them is the listless and languid petitioning of most of our moderns. Of our blessed Redeemer it is written that He, “offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears” (Hebrews 5:7). It is not the half-hearted and mechanical asking which secures an answer, but “the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man (that) avails much” (James 5:16).

Sixth, note well Elijah’s watchfulness in prayer: “And said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea” (1 Kings 18:43). While we are constant in prayer and waiting for an answer, we must be on the look out to see if there be any token for good. Said the Psalmist, “I wait for the LORD, my soul does wait, and in His Word do I hope. My soul waits for the LORD more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning” (Psalm 130:5, 6). The allusion is to those who were stationed on the watch tower gazing eastwards for the first signs of the break of day, that the tidings might be signaled (trumpeted) to the temple, so that the morning sacrifice might be offered right on time. In like manner the suppliant soul is to be on the alert for any sign of the approach of the blessing for which he is praying. “Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving” (Colossians 4:2). Alas, how often we fail at this very point, because hope does not hold up the head of our holy desires. We pray, yet do not look out expectantly for the favors we seek. Far different was it with Elijah.

Seventh, Elijah’s perseverance in his supplication. This is the most noticeable feature about the whole transaction and it is one which we need particularly to heed, for it is at this very point most of us fail the most. “And he said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said, There is nothing.” “Nothing”-nothing in the sky, nothing arising out of the sea to intimate the approach of rain. Does not both writer and reader know the meaning of this from personal experience? We have sought unto the Lord, and then hopefully looked for His intervention but instead of any token from Him that He has heard us-there is “nothing”! And what has been our response? Have we petulantly and unbelievingly said, “Just as I thought,” and ceased praying about it? If so, that was a wrong attitude to take. First, make sure your petition is grounded upon Divine promise, and then believingly wait on God’s time to fulfill it. If you have no definite promise, commit your case into God’s hands and seek to be reconciled to His will as to the outcome.

And he went up, and looked, and said, There is nothing. Even Elijah was not always answered immediately, and who are we to demand a prompt answer to our first asking? The Prophet did not consider that because he had prayed once and there was no response, that therefore he need not continue to pray; rather did he persevere in pressing his suit until he received. Such was the persistency of the Patriarch Jacob, “I will not let You go except You bless me” (Genesis 32:26). Such was the Psalmist’s mode of praying: “I waited patiently for the LORD; and He inclined unto me, and heard my cry” (40:1). “And he said, Go again seven times” (1 Kings 18:43) was the Prophet’s command to his servant. He was convinced that sooner or later God would grant his request, yet he was persuaded he should “give Him no rest” (Isaiah 62:7). Seven times the servant returned with his report that there was no portent of rain, yet the Prophet relaxed not his supplication. And let us not be faint-hearted when no immediate success attends our praying, but be importunate, exercising faith and patience until the blessing comes.

To ask, once, twice, thrice, nay six times, and then be denied, was no slight test of Elijah’s endurance, but grace was granted him to bear the trial. “Therefore will the