Here's the backstory out of 1 Kings 17-18. A bunch of bad kings had come to the throne, and now decadent King Ahab and his even worse wife Jezebel were in charge. In thundered the prophet Elijah, who told the royal duo they'd pay for their sins with an extended drought on their land. Elijah went into obscurity for a while (stories than included Raven Restaurant and a widow's miracle), and when he emerged he was ready to take on Ahab. The stage was Mount Carmel, where he faced the priests of Baal, the religion of Ahab's decadent wife Jezebel. With a miracle fire igniting a water-drenched altar, Elijah won the showdown. The people who'd once chanted “Hail, Baal,” now shouted, “The Lord—He is the God!”
After, ah, eliminating Baal's priest collection, Elijah left the scene, ending up on a Mt. Carmel viewpoint looking out over the sea. He curled up into a ball to pray. He'd experienced the 3 D's of disappointment: a dry brook, a depleted cupboard, and a dead boy. Each time God had intervened with miracles. Now Elijah prayed for rain for the parched land.
“Go check the sky above the sea,” he told his servant. That happened six times. Nothing. The seventh time, the servant said he saw a cloud the size of a man's hand rising from the sea.
That was good enough for Elijah. With miraculous speed, the cloudy wisp became a stormy black sky. Then came the wind and horrific rain. The drought was over.
There's more to the story, of course, but that tiny “promise cloud” in Elijah's story encouraged me. No, I'm not comparing myself with Elijah. But there have been times I prayed desperately for negative situations. When I saw no progress, God seemed to be saying, “Wait on My time.” The answer to one situation happened like a clap of thunder and then a horrific downpour—so swift and tumultuous came the answer, in a way I never imagined.
About that time in my scripture reading, I was in Psalms, and these verses in Psalm 26 were like crashing thunder:
Vindicate me, O Lord, for I have led a blameless life; I have trusted in the Lord without wavering. Test me, O Lord, and try me, examine my heart and my mind, for your love is ever before me, and I walk continually in your truth.
The rest of the psalm talks about hanging out with people who share your faith, “proclaiming aloud your praise and telling of all your wonderful deeds” (v. 7).
We may not be Elijahs, ordained to condemn unrighteousness in spectacular ways. But we can be like him in waiting prayerfully on God to do the impossible. Even when the answer seems as fragile and unlikely as a little cloud drifting across the sky.
Feeling besieged? Hopeless? Spiritually dry? Keep praying. God has His timing for umbrellas, for laughing in the rain.
