Faith Between the Fire and the Rain

By Dean Collins

God sometimes moves in big and dramatic ways. In those times, we do not hesitate to give praise to God and declare to others how caring, how faithful, and how big our God is. But there are other times when we pray and we believe and we wait for God to show up in our situation. We can learn from Elijah that sometimes we need to keep checking for the little clouds of hope to appear in the horizon.

1 Kings 18 is likely on your top 10 action stories of the Bible. It is an epic story that is filled with humor, tension, a challenge, and anticipation as we wait to see how Elijah the prophet fares against the 400 prophets of Baal. The stakes are high. If the 400 prophets and Baal bring fire from heaven, then it likely means lights out for Elijah, Obadiah, and other prophets of God.

 If you haven’t read chapter 18 in a while, then do yourself a favor and read it now. You won’t regret it. Of course, we know that the God of creation will win this battle. But take a minute and imagine yourself in the sandals of Elijah. And what about the 400 prophets of Baal? We know the outcome, but they were living in both faith and fear as the contest rules were laid out by Elijah.

 Maybe our situation isn’t so different. As people of the resurrection, we know the battle is already won. Jesus defeated the enemy of God and of ours on the cross and declared that “it is finished.” And we know that with his resurrection Jesus proved victorious over sin and death and began the new creation that is described throughout the New Testament. Yet, in our moments of difficulty when facing big obstacles and enemy threats, we sometimes forget that God will deliver on his promises. He will not abandon us. But I will admit to times when I know all that but still fear that in this particular situation he might not show up.

Elijah was confident when he mocked the prophets of Baal. He then seemed extremely confident when he had the trenches dug around the sacrifice and poured out precious and limited water by the bucketful on the sacrifice. It was time for the moment of truth. Hundreds, maybe thousands, stood watching as Elijah prayed:

 “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.”

And just like that, God moved in a big and dramatic way, sending fire from the sky, and it burned up the sacrifice along with all the wood and stones of the altar and licked up all of the water in the trenches. The crowd witnessed the power of God in a tangible way and fell to their knees and proclaimed, “The Lord, he is God; the Lord, he is God.” Elijah kept the drama going and called for the prophets of Baal to be captured and taken to the brook Kishon, where he slaughtered them all.

But what about the rain? I don’t know how long it took for Elijah to finish off the 400 prophets of Baal, but when he was finished there was still no rain. I imagine that it would be in this moment that his faith may have begun to waiver a tad. Yes, God had moved in a big and dramatic way, but he hadn’t actually delivered everything that Elijah had promised. This whole story began by Elijah declaring that it wouldn’t rain until he received the word from the Lord. 

Sometimes, even after we have seen God deliver on promises of provision, protection, or healing, when we don’t see the next thing right away, our fear begins to rise. And when we don’t see God move in a big way again soon, we start to wonder if he will. In times like that, we need not pull back but rather lean into our faith and continue our prayers.

In the case of Elijah, he knelt down and put his head to the ground and prayed for God to send rain. He prayed, and then he sent his servant to look at the horizon for clouds. No rain. He repeated this seven times and finally there was some hope. The servant reported a small cloud about the size of man’s hand was forming over the sea.

Elijah’s final instruction to his servant was, “Go up, say to Ahab, ‘Prepare your chariot and go down, lest the rain stop you.’ And in a little while, the heavens grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode and went to Jezreel. And the hand of the Lord was on Elijah, and he gathered up his garment and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.”

What do we do when we don’t see the signs we want to see? We get down on our knees and continue to pray and watch for the clouds of hope to form. In his time, we will see our deliverance and not a moment earlier.

Father, thank you for the wonderful stories you provided for us in scripture that teach us of your power and show us what is required of us. Today, even as we wait for you in various situations in our lives, we bow in prayer, asking you to meet our needs in your time and in your way. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Your Time with God’s Word
1 Kings 18:1-46 ESV

Photo by Pexels
To receive daily posts delivered directly to your inbox, complete the form at the bottom of our home page.