"Now Elijah said to Ahab, 'Go up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of the roar of a heavy shower.' So Ahab went up to eat and drink. But Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he crouched down on the earth and put his face between his knees. He said to his servant, 'Go up now, look toward the sea.' So he went up and looked and said, 'There is nothing.' And he said, 'Go back' seven times. It came about at the seventh time, that he said, 'Behold, a cloud as small as a man’s hand is coming up from the sea.'” 1 Kings 18:41-44
God had placed the land of Israel into a great drought due to the wickedness of the people, most notably Ahab, the king. If you have ever heard of Jezebel, she was his wife and was responsible for contributing to the king's idolatry, killing the prophets of God and building a group of priests dedicated to a pagan deity. In a great showdown between the One True God and the pagan deity, Baal (the pagan deity) was shown to be non-existent and God was shown to be alive and supreme through the obedient work of His prophet Elijah. Subsequent to this, all of the failed prophets of Baal were destroyed thereby resulting in God relenting from withholding the rain from the land.
Hebrews 11:1 famously says, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen" (KJV). In a conversation with Ahab after all was said and done, Elijah said that he heard a major thunderstorm. The fact that his servant scanned the horizon six times before so much as seeing a tiny cloud seems to belie this. But does it?
Beloved Elijah had the ultimate trust and faith in God. He had seen Him work in his life too many times to deny or doubt anything He said. To him, the word of God became as fact even though something He said may not yet have come to pass. We must also take the word of God as fact. When He tells us that He loves and cares for us, we must accept it as we do that of a loving parent. When He tells us that He sent His only begotten for our reconciliation, we must treat it as if we witnessed it ourselves. When He tells us that we have been saved from destruction, we must feel as secure as we do in our comfortable homes during a storm. And when He tells us that heaven will be our home, even though others may not yet see it, we must know it as a foregone conclusion.
Torrential rains came just as God promised and Elijah said. The land was replenished and the people were saved. Believe God. Nothing and no one in life is more true.
Committed,
Lee
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