Rain in Answer to Prayer

The Setting: God's Vindication and Israel's Readiness for Blessing

0:06 Let us turn again this evening to the 18th chapter of 1 Kings, 1 Kings chapter 18, and I hope to conclude our studies in the 18th chapter tonight. I'm not quite sure, but at least that's what we're going to aim at this evening. I remind you very briefly of the general setting of the portion that is before us tonight, verses 41 to 46. God has taken in hand to break the back of Baal worship in Israel and to demonstrate that he, Jehovah, is indeed the only true and living God.

0:50 He has done so by the hand and instrumentality of this unique man, a man of like passions with us, but utterly unique, a man whose very name is a summary of his life. His mission for the name Elijah means, I trust you remember, Jehovah is God or Jehovah is my God. For three and a half years at the word of this rugged prophet, the heavens have been shut up, no rain. God has so superintended the temperature and the moisture content that there's been no dew as well as no rain. Now upon Mount Carmel, God has vindicated himself as the true God.

1:32 God has shown. Baal to be what he is, a mere nothing. And yet before God can once again bring rain upon that land, there must be the humbling of the people and the cutting off of the false prophets. And so in our recent studies, we have seen how God brought the people to their knees, crying Jehovah, he is God. And then following that vindication of his name and that national humiliation, there is in verse 40, the record of the destruction of these false prophets.

2:02 Now and not until now, the nation is ready to be blessed with rain and all that it will bring in the restoration of material prosperity to that nation. And this pattern of sin, the judgment of God, and then the turning from sin and renewed blessing in a material sense is the pattern which fits perfectly what God had announced at the very initiation of his covenant relationship with Israel there in the giving of the law. The law to Moses. If you will read carefully the book of Deuteronomy, particularly chapters 11 and 28, you will find this constant reminder where God says, if you keep my commandments, there will be the blessing of rain and fruitfulness in your fields. But if you do not keep my precepts, and if you go a whoring after other gods, part of the way the judgment of God would come would be in making the heavens as brass and bringing blight and famine and pestilence upon the people.

3:01 You find that theme reiterated at the dedication of the temple when Solomon in his prayer says in essence, if the people honor you, then bless them. But if they turn aside for other gods and you shut up the heavens, then if my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves and turn from their wicked way, then will I hear from heaven and heal their land in a very literal sense. For God's displeasure was shown in terms of the shut heavens, in terms of inability to conquer her enemies. In terms of pestilence and famine and sickness upon his people in that particular age of his dealings with them. But now, because at least outwardly the sin of Baal worship has been put away and the people have been humbled and the prophets of Baal judged, the land is ready for the blessing of God in rain once again. And now that brings us right to the point of our study tonight, beginning with verse 41. And Elijah said unto Israel, Ahab, get thee up, eat and drink, for there is a sound of abundance of rain.

Elijah's Command to Ahab and the Sound of Abundance

4:08 So Ahab went up to eat and drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel. And he cast himself down upon the earth and put his face between his knees and said to his servant, go up now, look toward the sea. He went up and looked and said, there is nothing.

4:29 And he said, go. And he said, go again. Seven times. And it came to pass at the seventh time that he said, behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea like a man's hand.

4:44 And he said, that is Elijah, go up, say unto Ahab, prepare thy chariot and get thee down that the rain stop thee not. And it came to pass in the meanwhile that the heaven was black with clouds and wind and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode and went. And he said to Jezreel, the hand of the Lord was on Elijah.

5:07 And he girded up his loins and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel. Let us pause to ask the Lord's help as we look into this portion of his holy word. Holy Father, we who are creatures of ignorance and of sin, come now to plead from thee, O holy God, the God of infinite knowledge and wisdom. You might be pleased to minister to us that our understanding might be opened, that our hearts may be moved by the ministry of the word to our hearts through the Holy Spirit. O God, meet us now and bless us in our study together.

6:01 Amen.

6:04 Now as we try to think our way through this particular portion that is before us, consider with me in the first place the command to Ahab. And his subsequent obedience. Try to get the picture now. The whole nation has acknowledged Jehovah his God.

6:20 Immediately afterward the prophet says, Take all the prophets of Baal and bring them down to the brook Kishon. One by one those prophets are slain until that brook is red with their blood and their dead carcasses cast out on the dry earth as food for the birds of heaven. And Ahab, the king, as it were, helpless before this man Elijah, who has taken the field and, like a general in charge of an army, is giving direction to the entire nation from the king down. And now at this point he turns to Ahab, who was apparently there bearing witness to all that transpired in the slaying of the prophets of Baal.

6:59 He said unto Ahab, and can you put yourself in Ahab's shoes what you might be thinking? Here you are, the one who has been the instrument of bringing all this Baal worship into the land. For earlier, you remember when they met, Ahab said, Art thou the troubler of Israel? And Elijah turned and said, It is not I who troubles Israel, but thou and thy father's house.

7:20 Can you imagine what Ahab might have been thinking? As you saw the prophets slain one by one, and it goes from 450 down to 400, to 350, 300, 250, 200, 100, 50, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. And you know that every one of those prophets is there because you welcomed him.

7:42 If you had any sense, you might be reasoning, I wonder if I'm next. I wonder if I'm next. If the prophets who prophesied falsely in the name of Baal were slain, how much more accountable is that man who had all the light of the truth of God and who, as it were, opened the gate to them and let them come and be the darlings of his court and of his table. And I like to picture the look on Ahab's face when Elijah turns to him as he wonders what words will come.

8:11 And then the words come forth from the prophet. Get thee up, eat and drink. For there is sound of abundance of rain, and Ahab went up to eat and drink. I imagine if anyone ever breathed the proverbial sigh of relief, this blinded, sotted, sinful man breathed the sigh of relief at the words, get thee up to eat.

8:37 Now, the question comes,

8:41 why does Elijah tell him to go on up and eat? Well, we know one of the reasons is, as far as the time is concerned, that it's going to rain soon and he wants him to dispose of this matter of taking care of his physical necessities to eat and drink before the rain comes and hinders him from going down to his headquarters at Jezreel. But why doesn't the prophet say, Ahab, join me as we give thanks to God that he has vindicated his name. Ahab, join me in prayer as we plead with God that he would send the much needed and now the rain for which we are warranted to pray.

9:16 It would seem that there's a biting irony in the words that he mentions, says here to Ahab, as though he says, Ahab, in spite of all that you've seen, your spirit is so dull to spiritual realities and your eyes so blinded to eternal verities, the only thing that's on your mind after this day in which you've been occupied in watching the folly of all this business of the Baal prophets and then this mighty demonstration of God is your physical appetite. So go on. Ahab, get up and eat and drink and hurry up and get it over with because rain's coming and you're going to have to get out of here with me. What a picture of the character of Ahab.

9:59 A pattern established early in the picture we gain of this man when his own nation, the nation over which he was to rule as the representative of God, for that's what the kings were in Israel, in this nation that was peculiarly the nation of God, when his own people, when his own people are smarting beneath the judgment of God, we find this man out with his servant looking for water for his horses. What a picture of a man who in the midst of the smarting judgments of God is so given over to the flesh and to the sensuous that he's preoccupied with feeding his horses status symbol for earthly kings, status symbols of power and of wealth. Now that the judgment of God is rolled back, it makes no difference in the life of this man. What a picture. But now the immediate occasion of his sending him up is this. Ahab, get up, eat and drink, for there is a sound of abundance of rain.

11:06 Now what do those words mean? Was there some audible sound that all could hear? Was there a rumbling of thunder off in the distance? The subsequent narrative would seem to exclude this.

11:20 For even after Elijah begins to pray and sends his servant to look and see, he says, there's nothing. There's not a speck of a cloud. Sky just as cloudless, bright and clear as it has been through the three and a half years of drought. There is nothing.

11:35 But what then is this sound of abundance of rain that causes the prophet to tell Ahab to get on with feeding his flesh so that he can get that task over with before the rain comes? It's doubtful that the prophet is not a prophet. It's doubtful that the prophet is not a prophet. It's doubtful that there was any kind of sound audible to all.

11:53 Was there a sound specifically given to the prophet? You remember there's another occasion in Scripture where certain things were seen by the prophet that were not seen by others. We read in the book of Acts concerning the conversion of Paul that though he heard the voice speaking in distinct words, the others did not. It could be that God actually caused the prophet to hear in his ears just as they sometimes were enabled to see with their eyes what others could not see.

12:24 Perhaps he heard the rumbling and thunder which was the pledge of God to the prophet that rain was coming. I rather think that what the prophet is doing, having heard nothing with these ears, either outwardly or inwardly, he was expressing his own implicit confidence that rain was on the way and he could do it and say to the prophet, there is a sound of abundance, a sound of rain. In either case, whether God enabled him to hear inwardly the actual sound of rain or whether this is just an affirmation of his own faith, Elijah was enabled to hear what Ahab could not hear because Elijah was a man of faith. And Scripture says to us as God's people, we walk by faith and not by sight. It's faith that hears the voice of God saying in the midst of the most trying circumstance, all things are working together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. The Ahabs who live according to the flesh and according to the situations that can be seen and touched, they hear no such voice. When calamity comes, they go to pieces.

13:42 How can a good God treat me like this? If there's a God in heaven, how do you explain this mess I'm in? Or how do you explain the mess so-and-so is in? They don't hear any voice.

13:51 Saying, all things work together for good. But you see, the child of God hears something that others do not hear because he walks by faith and not by sight. When it seems as though the Lord has absolutely forsaken His child and as people look at a child of God, if ever it looked like the child of God was forsaken, He does in times of the Lord's severe dealings with Him. The child of God hears the Lord saying, I am with thee.

14:19 I will not leave thee. I will not leave thee nor forsake thee. Faith breaks through the world of the tangible. The world of now and its faith and in the life of the child of God relating to our message this morning hears the trump of God, the voice of the archangel, the shout of the Lord Jesus.

14:40 Do you hear it?

14:43 You ought to be hearing it. If you're living in expectation of that day when He shall come according to His promise, you can say as surely as did Elijah, there is a sound of abundance. There is a sound of abundance of rain. You've already heard that voice.

14:57 You've already heard that trump. You've already heard that shout and you hear it time after time after time. If you're living by faith and Elijah was a man of faith and we find him now giving orders to Ahab upon the occasion of this hearing of faith of the coming rain. Now, the next segment in our narrative is the retirement of the prophet to pray.

The Prophet's Retirement to Pray: Prayer Precipitates Promise

15:22 After giving orders to Ahab to go up and eat and drink and giving his reason for doing so, then the prophet retires to pray. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel and cast himself down upon the earth and put his face between his knees. Now someone says, but pastor, wait a minute. There's nothing that explicitly says that he was praying up there on the mountain.

15:47 There's every suggestion, but are we warranted to say he's retiring to pray? Yes, I believe we are. And I believe we are from the comment on this particular situation as found in the book of James in the New Testament. And here we find Scripture being its own infallible interpreter.

16:06 The only pope that can interpret the Scripture infallibly is Scripture itself. And we find in James chapter 5 in verse 17, Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain and it rained, may not, on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again and the heaven gave rain and the earth brought forth her fruit. Just as the heavens were shut up in answer to his prayer and the account of that prayer we have no record, so the heavens were opened by his prayer and here God has given us the record of the prayer that acted as a key to unlock the heavens again and precipitate them. So we can establish the fact that he is retiring to Carmel to pray from the comment of James 5.17 and also from the immediate context, the very posture he assumes, the very interchange between himself and his servant and then the sequel to this entire narrative. Now, will you, before we look at some of the details of what his prayer teaches us about the subject of prayer, consider the relationship of prayer to the purpose of God.

17:29 Here he says in the preceding verse, there is a sound of abundance of rain. Rain is coming. So what does he do? He retires to pray for the rain.

17:44 And the skeptic says that's ridiculous. If rain is coming and it's fixed in the purpose of God, why pray for it? The skeptic can't handle a passage like this. He just dances a jig around it.

18:01 He says, see, prayer is just talking to yourself. Rain was going to come. Prophets' prayers had nothing to do with it.

18:12 What's the relationship? Why does Elijah, from making this tremendous pronouncement of faith, there is sound of abundance of rain immediately and Elijah went up to the top of Carmel, bowed himself upon the earth to plead with God for rain.

18:29 What has his prayers to do with the coming of the rain? Well, Elijah, Elijah knew that mysterious law of God's kingdom and it is this. Prayer precipitates the purposed and promised blessings of God. That's very simple, isn't it?

18:51 But how slow we are to learn. Prayer precipitates the purposed and promised blessings of God. Had God purposed to send rain at this time? Yes.

19:06 The first words, the first words of chapter 18 in verse 1 are these. Go show thyself unto Ahab and I will send rain upon the earth. It was purposed in the plan of God to send rain. It was promised.

19:22 And yet Elijah knew that what God purposes, and I can only know his purposes in terms of his promises, that very thing is to be precipitated by prayer.

19:35 He didn't bother trying to figure out how this could be and in what sense. The prayers and the pleadings of a frail creature are woven into the fabric of the warp and woof of the plans and purposes of a sovereign God. What do the feeble whimperings of a poor creature of sin and dust have to do with the mighty sovereign purposes of a holy God? He didn't bother himself with the philosophy behind prayer.

20:03 He was too busy working out his clear understanding of the place of prayer in the purpose of God. And he recognized, and I repeat, not for the sake of filler, because I say I don't know if we'll get through tonight, but for the sake of emphasis, he knew this principle that operates in the whole realm of the kingdom of God. Prayer precipitates promised, purposed blessings of God. There's a section in Charles Spurgeon's autobiography that is most illustrative of this.

20:34 In the early days when he came to London and they had an unusual visitation of the Spirit of God, he said, at one time to his people, words to this effect, he said, it seems by faith I see a great cloud hanging over London, a cloud that is full of the blessing of the outpoured Spirit. And he pled with his people, he said, oh, let our prayers ascend and be the instrument that will precipitate the cloudburst. God, he said, is purposing a blessing. Let our prayers bring it down.

21:10 Let our prayers bring it down. He understood this principle. He understood well this principle. Well, you'll notice several passages in Scripture that very wonderfully state this principle.

21:23 One in Ezekiel chapter 36. What we're trying to do is see why Elijah would make a pronouncement that rain is coming and immediately retire to pray for the very thing that he said was coming. In Ezekiel chapter 36, we have some of the most wonderful promises of what God will do in his sovereign grace for sinful men.

21:50 In Ezekiel 36, beginning with verse 25, we have words like this. I will sprinkle clean water upon you. Verse 26, a new heart will I give you. Verse 27, I will put my spirit within you.

22:06 Verse 29, I will save you from all your uncleanness. Then he goes on to say, beginning with verse 32, I don't do it for you. I don't do it for your sake, but I do it because I want to vindicate my own name. I do it because I'm God.

22:20 All of this tremendous pronouncement of the sovereign saving activity of God. And yet, when he finishes, he says in verse 37, Thus saith the Lord God, I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them.

22:40 Well, how do you make sense out of that? I will, I will, I will, I will.

22:46 Moreover, I will, I will, I will, I will. Moreover, I will be inquired of to do it.

22:50 Well, don't bother yourself with the philosophy or the mechanics behind it. Just let the sheer authority of that principle grip your heart. All that God has purposed and promised, he says, must be precipitated by the prayers of his people. Now there's a very interesting one over in the book of Zechariah.

23:14 I was going to say Zephaniah. Zechariah. Zechariah, chapter 10. And verse 1.

23:26 Zechariah 10, verse 1.

23:30 Ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain. So the Lord shall make bright clouds and give them showers of rain to every one grass in the field. He said, you see the time of the latter rain coming? It looks as though the rain should come, then pray that it will come. Well, if it looks like it's coming and it's the time of the latter rain, wait and let nature take its course. Well, see, you're thinking like a pagan when you think that way. To think God's thoughts after him is to recognize even blessings that from a human natural standpoint seem sure to come. He has taught us we are to pray that they may come, that we may receive all of them as the gifts of God to us. This is why we're taught

24:21 to pray even for our daily bread, something which few of us honestly do, because we just expect that our bread will be there. And so we really miss the blessing of true thankfulness when we receive our bread. You see, that terrible reminder that I'm sure many of us have, that when we bow to say our blessing or say grace, whatever we call it, most of the time our hearts really aren't in it. There is no real bursting forth of thanksgiving.

24:49 You know what the problem is? We haven't really asked God for the provision of that bread. Having not asked for it from his hand, we find it difficult to really receive it. It is from his hand. Having expected it to come through natural courses, when it's actually there by those, quote, natural processes, we find it very difficult to be grateful. At least I've got a sneaking suspicion that's my problem, and it just might be the problem of some of the others. So much then for why Elijah would move from this pronouncement of faith to this situation of prayer. Now, consider the principles of prayer that are found here in this account of Elijah's praying on Mount Carmel. God has put it here to teach us by example what it is to truly pray. Sin has so affected us that even such holy duties as prayer must be learned by the word of God. And I don't think that the majority of Christians are convinced of this. We're convinced the Bible has to teach us certain things about some things, but certainly anybody who's a Christian and gets on his knees, what he says on his knees is his business.

The Principles of True Prayer: Conforming to Scripture

25:59 Well, no, it isn't his business. You see, when the disciples said, Lord, teach us to pray, he didn't say, oh, no, you don't need to be taught to pray. Just pray any way you want. No, he taught them how to pray. He gave them the content that should fill up their prayers, and then he gave them illustrations as to the manner in which they should pray, particularly in Luke 11, again in Luke chapter 18. So by precept in some places, God teaches us how to pray, and our praying must be conformed to the Scriptures. I don't think most of us believe that. We somehow think there's something unspiritual about stopping in the middle of our prayers and saying, why am I praying the way I'm praying?

26:37 Do I have any warrant in Scripture for praying this way?

26:42 It might be the most spiritual thing you could do, is to cut off your praying halfway through and ask yourself, why am I praying the way I'm praying? Do I have any warrant to pray this way? You see, the Lord Jesus in teaching the subject of prayer said, don't pray like the heathen, and he told what characterized their praying. Then he said, after this manner pray ye, indicate that if our prayers are not in that pattern, they are sinful prayers.

27:07 If I may put it as coarsely as I know how, if they are prayers that disregard the directive of God, it's just as much sin to disregard his directive about prayer as it is about the ordering of the home. Suppose I will not assume my proper headship as a husband and a father. Is that sin? Why?

27:26 The whole Bible says, husbands ought to. Alright, if I don't assume my proper role as a son or daughter, obedient to my mother or father, is that sin? Yes, because God says, obey your parents. Well, if I don't conform my prayers to the directive of scripture, is that sin?

27:44 You say, I never thought of that. No, most of us don't. But we ought to. And this is put here in order to teach us by example some of the ingredients of true prayer.

The Place and Posture of Elijah's Prayer: Solitude and Humility

27:56 So that just as my role as a husband or wife or father or employer or employee is more and more patterned according to scripture or conformed to the pattern of scripture, so more and more my praying should be conformed to the pattern of holy scripture. Now will you notice as we look at the factors that relate to his prayer, first of all, the place where he retired to pray. Then we'll look at the posture he assumed in prayer. Then we'll look at the specific ingredients of his prayer and then the wonderful answer to his prayer. Notice the place, to which he retired in order to pray. In verse 42, and Elijah went up to the top of Carmel. You remember this whole scene of the vindication of God's name took place halfway up the slope at this natural leveled spot. From there he went with the people down to the brook Kishon and slew the prophets.

28:56 And now that he shooed Ahab away to feed his flesh, he ascends up beyond that place, El-Mukraka, and if there was any smoldering left, I imagine as the prophet and his servant walked by, they saw it there as a vivid reminder of the mighty power of God that had sent the fire of heaven and consumed the altar and the sacrifice and even licked up the dust. And he goes beyond that place to the very pinnacle of Carmel that would overlook the sea. And there he begins to plead with God for rain. Now why does scripture specify the place to which he retired?

29:32 Again, I think for the simple reason that God is teaching us something very essential to the nature of true prayer. As Ahab goes off with the members of his court to feast and to blubber trivialities, the man of God ascends from the crowds, from the victory, from the glory and the bloody sequel to be alone with his God, undisturbed by the rude stare of the mob. When he came out to say, choose you this day whom you will serve, or if the Lord be God, serve him. If Baal be God, then serve him. How long halt you between two opinions? When he's praying that God would vindicate his own name, he doesn't mind the crowd and the mob as it were. But now when it comes to intercede for this specific blessing, he wants to be away from the rude stare of this undiscerning multitude and to be shut up, alone with his God. I believe we see the first reason for choosing this place, a place alone, apart, undisturbed by thought, thoughts that would distract.

30:35 And secondly, he wanted to be accessible to every indication of the answer to his prayers, for from this peak of Carmel, he could look out over the waters from which he could expect the clouds to begin to form in that region. And I'll read later from someone who's given us a record of how storms brew over the Mediterranean Sea in that section. There he wanted to be able from that vantage point to see by the mediation of his servant whether or not his prayer was answered. Perhaps some of you have already thought of the words of our Lord, who when he gave direction to pray, said, Don't be like the heathen, but when you pray, enter into your closet and shut the door. Everything else that follows is conditioned upon this context of isolation from the pressure of other interest, from the rude stare and gaze of an undiscerning world. He says, shut the door and pray to thy Father who is in secret, and thy Father who seeth in secret shall himself reward thee openly. True spirit impulsed prayer is work. Work which

31:50 demands the employment of the whole man. Therefore, one's mind and spirit must be undivided and undistracted for this kind of prayer. Now this is not to negate the kind of praying we do on our feet, with our hands in the dishpan, with our hands on the wheel of the car, the kind of praying we do as we walk about in the press and responsibility of every day's labor. No, that's another kind of praying. We'll come to that in Thessalonians. Pray without ceasing. But this is talking about the engagement in specific intercessory prayer for specific needs. And it's that kind of prayer, Jesus said, which demands the closet and the closed door.

32:31 And so the prophet retires that he might do this very thing. Now consider in the second place not only the place he retired to pray but the posture he assumed in his prayer. And he cast himself very vivid word, he cast himself down upon the earth and put his face between his knees. Now I'll do almost anything to make a passage live to myself and so when I came to study this I got up out of my desk, out of my chair and got out of my study floor and I tried to do exactly what it says here.

33:09 And either Elijah was a very thin man or he was in unusual physical condition. Because I couldn't quite get my head between my knees. I could get it pretty close to it, about like so. And when a man is in that position, almost like the fetal position of an unborn child, he's just a ball of flesh and in this case with his long flowing robe, we know he had it on because later on it says he girded up the loins.

33:35 Can you get the picture? This man that stood tall and straight as a ramrod before the nation and said, if Jehovah be God, serve him. If there be God, serve him. And his piercing eye glances around to the multitudes.

33:52 Not a word is spoken. Then he issues his orders, moves like a commanding general before the multitudes. Now when he's come to shut the door and his mind is turned to the God whom he's to address in prayer, the thoughts of the greatness, the might and grandeur of his God cause him to throw himself upon the ground. This wasn't a man coming up and very carefully picking up his trouser and moving the crease to the left so he wouldn't take the crease out of his. No, no.

34:20 The thoughts of the God he was to now address so overpowered him that he threw himself upon the earth and he buries his face between his knees and his forehead in the dust.

34:34 And I submit to you that the Holy Spirit has recorded this posture of his prayer to teach us something significant about true prayer. There is no virtue in any particular posture of prayer, for scripture records mighty men of prayer who prayed in different postures. Our Lord himself prayed with his eyes lifted up to heaven, John 17. Paul says that men should pray lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting. Daniel kneeled three times a day to prayer. There are times when scripture records Joshua prostrated himself upon his face. But in each case, the posture is significant of the attitude of the heart. And that's what we're going to.

35:18 What attitude of heart is signified by this posture? This is a physical object lesson. Just like the black fist raised in defiance has become a symbol in our day of the black revolution. Just as the sign of a Heil Hitler signifies something so we have in this physical posture of the prophet, something signified of his own spiritual and mental attitude.

35:48 And I would submit to you that the primary characteristic signified by this is deep humility and reverence in the presence of God. When he stands before men, even kings, he doesn't bend or flinch. When sustained by the power of God. In the next chapter we'll see what happens as he's not sustained by the power of God. But when the power of God is sustaining him, standing before the very king, he takes command and says, do this and do that. And the prophets of Baal likewise commands that this be done and that. But when he who is a sinner by nature and practice comes into the presence of his God, there's only one place for him. Down on his face in the dust.

36:44 With his head between his knees. I would suggest that this is the secret, if there's any, of the prophetic ministry of the prophet Elijah and of all who are truly bold in accomplishing the purpose of God. And if anything is a call to us in our shallow, frothy age, it's this call to remember that true prayer is uttered only in this context of deep humility and reverence in the presence of a holy God. Ah, but someone says, aren't we sons and daughters of God?

37:22 We do not need to come in a cringing way. Ah, yes, we are sons and daughters, but never forget, we're still sinners and we are subjects.

37:32 Sons, but still sinners. And we must never forget it. Sinners, cleansed and covered in the blood of Christ, yes, but sinners still. And the only attitude of a sinner in the presence of a holy God is one, of humility and brokenness. And though we are sons, we are still His subjects. He is the King, the Sovereign upon a throne, and the only fitting posture for a subject in the presence of His Sovereign is one of humility and brokenness. I instruct when I read in the book of the Revelation something that I hope will break through to us as we read through that book Sunday mornings, that whenever you have a glimpse of the posture of the redeemed in the presence of God, all time, all times, that posture is one of being bowed before His throne. If anyone would have a right to dance a jig around the throne, it's people who don't have any sin who've already made it. Right?

38:34 If anyone would be excused for what we would call an irresponsible familiarity with God, it would be those who are already landed safe in His presence. But instead we find the elders that says, casting their thrones before the throne of God and falling upon their faces, crying, holy, holy, worthy.

39:02 I'll never forget when listening to a tape of Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones. He made this remark, and I've tried to check it through, and I haven't found him wrong on this point yet. He said, you will search in vain for any record in Scripture where any prayer recorded of a saint of God, Old or New Testament, ever finds that saint addressing God as dear God or loving Father or loving Heavenly Father. He said the Son of God Himself addressed Him how? Holy Father. John 17. Holy.

39:43 Daniel and Daniel 9 addressed Him as the great and the terrible God.

39:51 Have you attained to Daniel's piety? An intimate acquaintance with God so that He reveals His secrets to you as He did to Daniel? And yet He addressed Him as the great and the dreadful God. Ah, but someone says, didn't Jesus teach us to pray? Our Father, who art in Heaven, yes. Our Father, who art in Heaven.

40:11 Yes, He did teach us that very principle, that when we address Him in all the intimacy of the Father-Son relationship, we never forget the transcendence and the majesty of the God of Heaven, the place of His rule, and of the undimmed display of His glory. Then the first petition that acts like a canopy over all the others is what? Hallowed be Thy name.

40:37 What a shallow fraught the age in which we live.

40:42 We snuggle up to the deity and make cheap love to it.

40:47 When men like Elijah, who know deeply and experimentally the presence of God and the secret of His ways, hold before the multitudes, straight and unbent as a ramrod, but going up to Carmel to pray, casting himself down upon the earth and putting his face between his knees. And he wasn't doing it for a show. There was no one there but his God and his servant.

41:18 Apparently he didn't even bow his knee to pray when he was before the multitudes. Standing there by the sacrifice, the whole indication of the passage is that standing by the sacrifice he simply lifted up his eyes to Heaven and made his prayer.

41:32 Now when he's alone and has the opportunity of giving vent to the deepest emotions of his heart, he prostrates himself before God. Let me ask you something, child of God. When's been the last time you've been to the church? The last time that if you didn't actually do it physically, you just felt that you wish you could.

41:53 You wanted to stretch yourself straight out in the dirt when you prayed. Get yourself down as low as you possibly could before God. How long has it been since you've at least longed for that kind of posture as an expression of the disposition of your heart?

42:18 If you can't remember when, if ever, then may I suggest that you need to start taking serious seriously the whole teaching, the majesty and transcendence and glory and holiness of God.

The Ingredients of Elijah's Prayer: Specificity, Promises, and Earnestness

42:33 Elijah the prophet did. Well, so much then for the place where he prayed. So much for the posture he assumed in his prayer. Now consider with me in the third place the actual ingredients of his prayer.

42:46 The first thing we notice that there was a specific blessing desired from God. It was rain, the sound of which he had heard. There is a sound, a sound of abundance of rain. It was rain that that parched, cracked land desperately needed above all else.

43:06 And it was rain that he looked for when he sent his servant out. He sent him out to look to see if there were any of the portents, any of the previews of rain, namely the gathering clouds over the sea as was normal for rain to come in that day. There was no doubt whatsoever in the mind of the prophet as he prays. Of the specific blessing he desired from God.

43:33 Again, I see far more contrast than comparisons with my own praying. This passage has torn me all up. I just feel like I've got to go back and enroll in kindergarten again. How much of my praying, of your praying, is buckshot praying?

43:46 We're like a man who goes out in the woods with a shotgun, a two-barrel shotgun. And he goes out with his pockets loaded with shells and he loads up his shotgun and he goes all through the woods. Boom, boom, boom, boom. And someone says, what are you shooting for?

43:58 Well, I'm just shooting for anything that gets in the way of my bullets. Maybe it'll be a bird. Maybe it'll be a deer. Maybe it'll be a rabbit. Maybe it'll be a grouse. Or maybe it'll be a pheasant. I'm just hoping to get something. Boom, boom, boom. And he's just shooting all over the place.

44:13 Well, if he doesn't scare all of the poor creatures away, he just might happen to come home at the end of the day with a few feathers from a pheasant.

44:24 How different the man who goes out with his rifle and a few shells in his pocket. And he knows what he's out for. He's out hunting bears. And he parks himself in a certain place where he knows he's seen some bear track in the past. And he waits 15 minutes, half an hour, an hour, two hours. Boy, you've got to love to hunt to do that. But I know some men that'll do it. They'll sit all day in sub-zero weather on a bump in a log, treason to death, waiting for that thing that they want.

44:54 A snake can wiggle by. They don't shoot at it. They can see a flock of geese. They don't bother with it.

45:00 They can see a deer. They don't bother with it. He's out. He's out for bear. He's bear hunting.

45:05 And when he sees what he wants, he takes that rifle and he aims and he gets his bear. Well, at least when he comes back at the end of the day, you ask him, did you get what you're going out for? He can give you an answer. Yes or no.

45:15 That first fellow, would you get what you went for? Yeah, well, I guess so. I've gotten a few feathers from a pheasant. Well, what were you out for? It was just anything.

45:23 Isn't that our praying much of the time? Just sort of like that poor man going out in the woods. And we just shoot out these buckshot prayers all over the place. And never really zero in. Get the crosshairs.

45:34 On the target. And say, Lord, this is the blessing you've promised. This is the blessing I need. This is the blessing I'll pray for and look until I see it come.

45:47 That's what Elijah did. Rain, I hear it. Rain, we need it. Rain, I'm going to look for it as I pray. A specific blessing was desired. Jesus said this should mark our praying. What things soever ye desire when ye pray, pray. Believe that ye have received them and ye shall have them. What things. Specifics.

46:11 What things soever ye desire. Second thing about the ingredient of his praying. Not only a specific blessing desired, but notice, specific promises relative to that blessing were no doubt. I can't say with finality, but I hope I present a case that's convincing. Specific promises relative to that blessing were no doubt pleaded. How is he so confident? Sound of abundance of rain. Tells his servant, go look.

46:40 Comes back, nothing. Prays right on. Go look again. Nothing. Three times.

46:44 Four, five, six, seven. Where is this confidence? May I suggest that he had some promises upon which he was as it were arresting his case or to change the figure. Promises which acted as handles on the horns of the altar so that he could take hold and plead with God. He had said in chapter 17, verse 1, there shall be no dune or rain, but according to my word, he knew that he was the appointed instrument to shut up the heavens and to open them. That he knew, God had revealed it to him. Chapter 18, in verse 1, he has the word from God, go show yourself to Ahab, there shall be rain upon the earth, another promise from God. And then perhaps a little preview of it when he says, there is sound of abundance of rain.

47:30 And now furnished with these specific revelations of the mind and will of God, he can plead those promises before. Before the Lord until they are fulfilled.

47:43 Now this is the point at which so much of our praying breaks down. We're just plain too lazy to examine whether or not we have any warrant to pray for the thing that we're asking. And to stick with it and continually buttress that petition with the promises of God as they are given in the word of God. We're just plain too lazy. You see, it's much easier for the guy to go out and just start shooting off his buckshot, hoping somewhere some poor little bear will jump in the way of his shot. Then perhaps to take the hours to study whether or not the man has any warrant to expect bear in that particular country. Maybe there just ain't no bear in that part of the woods. And so he may have to find out is this a place where bear come by?

48:33 And if so, what are their patterns? What are their habits? In the same way, it's much easier for us when we get a whim, a spiritual whim for something to send up a little buckshot prayer somewhere, hoping something will happen, than to say, now wait a minute. Do I have any warrant to ask this in Scripture?

48:50 And search the Scriptures. And when we found that we do have warrant, bring that warrant before the Lord and plead it in His presence. And then as we plead it and we find another passage and another precept in promise, then we plead that before the Lord until our case is strengthened and as we pray and wait and pray and wait, faith mounts and expectancy intensifies and we continue to stick with it until the blessing comes. I read something in one of the commentators as I was preparing. It was a great blessing to me and I want to quote it verbatim. Listen to this. Maybe it's because I've got a little poetic sensitivity that this strikes me. I don't know.

49:27 I hope it hits you the way it hit me.

49:31 The promises of God show the direction in which we may ask and the extent to which we may expect an answer. What do the promises do? They show the direction in which we may ask and the extent to which we may expect an answer. Now here's the phrase.

49:48 They, that is the promises, are the mold hard word to say when you've got a cold. They are the mold into which we may pour our fervent spirits without fear. Isn't that beautiful? What are the promises of God?

50:09 They are the mold into which we may pour our fervent spirits, our fervent longings without fear. You see, I long for something and I'm afraid. Well, wait a minute. Am I asking amiss? God says you ask and receive, not because you ask amiss. Ah, but if I've got a promise, hallelujah. There's a promise. There's the mold.

50:29 Now I can pour all of my longings into the mold of that promise without any fear.

50:37 That's what Elijah was doing. Pouring all the white hot heat of his holy longings into the mold of the promise of God. Go, show yourself to Ahab. I will send rain.

50:49 Can't you picture him? Leading it before God and when the servant comes back and says, Nothing! Lord, you said I will send rain. Go look again.

51:01 And he comes back. Nothing! Lord, you said I will send rain. And he keeps his pleading within the mold of the promise.

51:14 Maybe I'm just preaching myself into blessing. I don't know, but that to me is a tremendous thought. Then your prayers, you see, are just not dissipated in a thousand directions. Formed and molded in the promise. Then the third thing I see about the ingredients of his prayer, specific blessing desires, specific promises pleaded. And then he was in earnest.

51:40 James 5 and verse 17 gives this adjective to describe the kind of praying that he did. He prayed fervently. Prayed fervently. Fervently.

52:02 All the prayers of the Bible one has said are a glow with the white heat of intensity. We have the record of Jacob wrestling, of David panting, of Daniel fasting, and of our Lord who prayed with strong crying and tears. Well, what does our earnestness have to do with God's answer? Isn't that getting into heathenish concept? Isn't that what those Baal prophets thought? That the more earnest they got, maybe God would hear them? No, that's not the relationship at all. This is the relationship, and I quote, prayer is only and answered for the glory of Christ, but it is not answered unless it be accompanied with such earnestness as will prove that the blessing sought is really needed.

52:48 You got it? God isn't going to cast the pearls of answered prayer before the swine troughs of indifferent men and women. Is the blessing really needed? If it is, we'll be in earnest about getting it.

53:02 I've watched the most quiet people, when they really got convinced they needed something, get awfully awfully earnest.

53:09 Awfully earnest. Awfully earnest. When the blessing was needed, earnestness was the natural result. Isn't that one of the aspects that should mark our prayer according to the teaching of our Lord in Luke 11 and Luke 18? Luke 11, you have the friend going to his friend at midnight asking for bread, and he was dead in earnest. He said, friend, some people come to visit me. I've got nothing to set before me. Give me some bread.

53:37 Come on home, my kids are in bed. Come with me. You'll rupture our friendship for good. Now lay off. Leave me alone.

53:44 Kept right on pounding. Dead in earnest. Jesus gave that parable to teach us how we should pray. And there's that woman, Luke 18. Avenge me of my adversary. She was in earnest, and that judge just tried to get her off his back until finally he said this poor woman's going to wear me out. I'll give her what she's asking. Earnestness. And isn't earnestness really another check as to how much we really feel we need the blessing? How much was Elijah convinced that land needed rain? He was dead in earnest. They had to have rain. Just as they would have been blotted out by the judgment of God if they hadn't turned from their Baal worship and acknowledged that Jehovah was God, so that land would be made extinct through the continuation of this famine. Rain was desperately needed, and so the prophet is in dead earnest. Need I say anything by word of application? Our lack of earnestness is simply a reflection of our lack of conviction that the blessings we ask are really needed. Do I really believe

54:52 that greater spiritual sensitivity is needed? That more insight into the word is needed? That greater power over sin is needed? Then with earnestness I will cry to God. Now in sum, their earnestness will be expressed in terms of volume. So don't you ever look down on a man who prays with a loud voice. Some people, when they're in earnest, the only way their earnestness expresses itself is in volume.

55:16 That's all right. That's all right. Never bothers me when someone's in earnest. Now if someone thinks that earnestness can only be expressed in volume, and that volume means earnestness, then I get disturbed.

55:27 I remember one time I was in a prayer meeting, and one dear brother, when he'd pray and get in earnest, the only way he expressed it naturally was volume. And he'd pray so as to make this roof dance. But it was genuine, as best I could discern. I prayed often with this dear brother, and he loved God and loved the souls of men. And when he got praying and he had a high-pitched voice, one of these got schooled preaching on the street corner. He had a terrible problem with stuttering, but turning loose to pray or preach, and his stuttering would leave him. And one day he was just praying up a storm, pleading with God for blessing on the ministry we were to have together at a certain place and on some other matters. And one of the faculty members of the school we were at came by and was walking down below, two stories below, I think it was, and he heard my friend John praying. And he came

56:13 in to break up the prayer meeting because he was scared to death. This was some kind of wild, wild fanaticism, and he told my friend John that the Lord wasn't deaf, and that he didn't need his loud praying. Well, I don't mean to be irreverent, you see, but the Lord isn't nervous either, and he isn't disturbed by that, if it's the genuine expression of real earnestness. Now, it'll be that with some. With others, real earnestness may not express itself in volume, may not express itself in any way tangible to us. So please, don't anyone think that I am saying that unless we pray a certain way that can be judged by others, I'm dealing with the attitude of the heart. And you know when you are in earnest for something. And I know when I am, and you and I know when we aren't.

56:57 But I find it very difficult to believe in an assembly of this size, with the diversity of personality, that there wouldn't be some who, when they're in earnest, will have to express it in volume. Others may have to express it in tears. Others may have to express it in other ways. And I trust that we will never impinge upon the liberty of the Holy Spirit in this area. I'm always suspicious of a church where everybody prays the same way. You go into some Pentecostal churches and everybody's got volume and a quiver in the voice. Well, I just can't believe the Holy Ghost is that structured in His working. And so, if you don't pray with volume and a quiver, you aren't spiritual.

57:31 Other areas, everybody prays with a sigh between their petitions. And that marks you as spiritual if you have a long sigh. And others, dear ones, let's ask God to clear us of all that kind of garbage. And be ourselves in the presence of God.

Persistence and Expectation in Prayer: God's Work in the Waiting

57:47 And not be content until we're in dead earnest when we pray. Well, I don't want to enlarge the application beyond what would be warranted, but I trust this has been sufficient. Now, will you notice in the next place that He was persistent and expected. And I don't think we can separate those two.

58:04 So I've put them together. He was persistent and expected. He prays specific blessing desires, specific promises pleaded before God in real earnestness. Now He sends His servant off. Go look over the sea.

58:18 What do you see? And He comes back and says, nothing.

58:25 What a contrast. On Mount Carmel, where God is on public trial, as it were, God answers immediately. All the prophet does is say, Now, Lord, let it be known that Thou art God. I am Thy servant.

58:37 And the fire of God falls here. We don't know how long He prayed, but there's obviously a time lapse here. And after the first ejaculation of desire and petition before God, because He's so expectant of an answer, He says, He sends His servant to look for the answer. The servant comes back and says, Ain't a thing out there but blue sky.

59:00 And at that point, what would most of us have done?

59:05 We have a very spiritual answer already. Well, sometimes God answers no. Sometimes He answers yes. Sometimes He answers wait.

59:17 So it just must not be God's will to send rain now. That way, most of us, we've had a very nice spiritual answer for this. When we hear nothing, when we've been specific in our praying, when we've heeded the promises of God in our praying, when we've been in earnest, and when we've looked for an answer in that specific area, and we draw a complete blank, most of us quit. Now, when we do, we quit. But because we have a little twinge of conscience, we've got to cover up our quit with a little bit of a spiritual facade, you see. So then we say, well, it must not be the Lord's will. Now, remember now, He wasn't just out of the limb here. He had some specific warrant from God in the promise.

60:05 And so as He pleaded the promise, He was persistent in His prayer. And coupled with that persistence, there was expectation.

60:16 What about those unsaved loved ones? It's difficult to say, because we don't have, as it were, a specific warrant for every unconverted person. But certainly we have general promises to plead before God. I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that He turn and live. We have the promise, the general warrant in 1 Timothy 2, that God will have all men to be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth. And as we plead those general promises, where we don't have specific words concerning individual unsaved people, and when we look and we see nothing, how easy it is to quit. When the answer comes back, there is nothing. When we have a material need, and there we have more specific promises of God if we're doing His will, and seeking first His kingdom, what marvelous promises we have to plead before God.

61:07 We have the promise of Matthew 6, 33, of which many of us are aware. We have the promise of Philippians 4, 19. We have many gracious promises to plead before God, but when the supply does not come immediately, what do we often do? We begin to look for some way to connive and scheme to meet the need ourselves. The Lord has spoken in my own heart about this whole matter of our pleading with Him, about the obtaining of our building, as I've been in preparation and reflecting on our own situation. And I wonder again, dear ones, if God would not yet do much more if we were much more in earnest in pleading His promises. We began to plead some promises before the Lord relative to the vindication of His name and the glory we felt it would bring to Him if the Lord would bring in the entire amount.

61:58 It would seem to me if I discerned the spirit of prayer amongst us that we've lost some of that persistence and expectation. And though God has been gracious in doing far beyond anything many of us expected at the beginning, He's not done all that we expected He might do at one point in this whole project.

62:19 Could it be that in the timing of God this very passage has come before us to stir us up again to persistent, expectant prayer based upon the promises of the Word of God? When one searches through the Scriptures, particularly now I'm thinking of the Gospels, and looks for instances where our Lord has commended great faith, you will notice that great faith oft times is attached to a situation of persistence and expectancy.

62:54 There's that widow woman coming on behalf of her daughter and she's rebuffed by our Lord and turned down and yet she persists and expects blessing and Jesus says, oh woman, great is thy faith, great is thy faith. But then someone asks, well why does God do it? If He's going to give the blessing anyway, why does He make us wait and persist in prayer? I mean, I don't do that with my own kids.

63:20 If my children are hungry and they need bread and need food and say, Daddy, can I have a cookie? I don't say, well, I'm going to give you one eventually, but ask me twenty times. I don't deal with my children that way. This is a problem to us, isn't it? If it's never been a problem to you, then I doubt you've ever wrestled long in prayer about something. But when you've wrestled long, you begin to say, Lord, what's the meaning of all this? Let me read from one of the old masters in Israel, one of the old commentators, Krumacher, who's often quoted by all the other commentators. He came along first with his classic work on Elijah the Tishbite.

63:52 This is what he says.

63:56 Excuse me. The reason why we generally so easily grow weary and so soon cease from praying is because we are not sufficiently in earnest for the blessing we implore. This, however, was not the case with Elijah. He therefore bids the servant go again seven times.

64:12 But why precisely seven times? Does it mean only several times? Or is there here any particular emphasis on the number seven? And, why was the servant thus to go again and again?

64:24 What would it avail him to hear every time? There is nothing. It stimulated the prophet's ardor. It animated him to wrestle the more earnestly with God.

64:34 It made him still less and less in his own eyes and drew forth deeper and deeper sighs from his contrite soul. How would his fervor in prayer thus augment from one minute to another? To obtain a speedy hearing from God is more agreeable to our natural feelings. But waiting long is far more beneficial for us. Those are the most blessed spots on the face of the earth where prayer is wont to be made with the greatest fervency and perseverance. During this process of persevering prayer our corrupt nature receives the most painful and deadly blows. The heart is then most thoroughly broken up and prepared for the good seed of the word. The remains of self-love are then demolished. The most

65:24 effectively the chambers of our minds are properly cleansed. The foundation of the truth in the soul is laid deep and when the answer comes at length how great is the joy. You see that period of waiting God is doing something in the one who is praying. That in God's eyes for that moment is more important than the blessing that he is about to give in answer to the prayer. You follow me?

65:50 Now God wanted to give rain. He had said go show yourself to Ahab. I will send rain. Ah but there were influences of the rain of the spirit's work in Elijah that God was also concerned about.

66:05 And he knew in that period of waiting God would be doing something in the prophet that was far more important than the few minutes or hours difference between sending rain at the first petition and sending it after this long wait. And so you see it brings us back to the place where whether where we must analyze as God's children whether we want God's ultimate purpose more than his immediate blessing. What is his ultimate purpose? To make me like his son. To burn up the flesh in me. To put to death the flesh. Now do I want that more than the specific blessing for which I am praying? Now I am warranted to pray for that blessing. Like Elijah I have promises to plead. But do I want God's gifts in this area more than I want his will in my heart and life in the matter of sanctification? That's the great test. And even as you apply that to our building.

67:04 Lord why do we want you to send in all of the money? What are the reasons? Then you begin to search your heart. What are my motives? See then your own motives are searched out and when there's delay then you say Lord is the cause of delay sin in me. This is a great purging experience. The experience of delays in answering to prayer. But the man who is praying on the warrant of the promises who's pouring his desires into the mold of the promises will be persistent and expectant.

The Glorious Answer and Elijah's Marathon Run

67:32 And then we have the glorious answer to his prayer. Having considered the place, the posture, the ingredients of his prayer then just look briefly at the answer. Excuse me. Came to pass the seventh time that he said behold there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea like a man's hand. And he said go up, say unto Ahab prepare thy chariot and get thee down that the rain stop thee not. I was going to read but I don't in the interest of time I won't. The account of how this is how storms will come up over there in that region that the sky can be perfectly clear and you'll see off a little above the horizon just a little cloud that looks like a hand's breath and then within a matter of minutes that cloud gathers moisture from all over and becomes a great and powerful storm. And one man was in the midst of such a storm he couldn't believe it was coming. And he was in

68:23 the ship and one of the men there with him said ah we must haste and get on to the other side a storm is coming. And by the time they got their sail hoisted and underway the storm broke upon them in its terrible fury. And so God wonderfully answered the prayer. Again let me encourage you use your imagination. Three and a half years you haven't seen a drop of rain. Here are kids who've been born in that time and they've heard mom and dad talk about drought and they say what's drought? That's when there's no rain. What's rain? Don't try to strike rain to someone who's never seen it. Well it's wet stuff that comes out of the sky. A friend of mine who was here from India had been to school down in South South Carolina and the part of India he came from they had no snow and he hadn't seen snow. And he prayed before he went back to India the Lord would let him see snow. And I'll never

69:11 forget the first time he saw snow. Some of my southern friends had never seen snow. He had a snow storm and my dear just out in it you know catching it and looking at it this was amazing. All those little kids had never seen rain and all of a sudden this thing breaks upon them in all of its fury.

69:27 People for three and a half years scanned the heavens day after day looking for the sight of just some little patch of cloud. Mary alone. And now it breaks upon them. Can you imagine them out dancing a jig with joy?

69:41 Can't you? I mean they were human beings. Don't read your Bible like they were sticks and stones and puppets. What a time that must have been.

69:49 Everybody out there in the rain holding up their hands, opening up their mouths and the parched earth beginning to soak it in and the little streams beginning to swell and the rivers beginning to flow in their fullness. God in His grace and mercy upon this nation that it turned its back upon sends the much needed rain. Then you have that interesting account that closes the narrative of the flight to Jezreel by Ahab and this strange thing of the prophet running ahead of him. Eighteen miles. Twelve to eighteen miles the estimate distance. And he runs in front of the chariot in the midst of a thunder burst. In the midst of a thunderstorm. In the midst of a thunderstorm.

70:35 Now you say if ever the prophet had just sort of lost his mental balance it sure was here. But you can't say that because it says the hand of the Lord was upon him. God equipped him to do this. Now why? Well the commentators run off in a thousand directions at this juncture. I would like to suggest two reasons. Number one this was common in those days for a king to have couriers go before him. Runners go before his chariot and they would spell one another to announce his coming and to herald his coming. And it would seem that in this way the prophet was showing Ahab that he had nothing but the good of the nation at heart. He wasn't a disrespectful rebel trying to overthrow the establishment. He was a loyal son of Israel but who recognized that as long as Baal worship was in Israel, blessing could not be upon Israel. But if Baal worship is done away with then he will be a loyal subject of the king and help in any reforms that might follow. Then the second reason

71:32 and this is my own conviction. I haven't found this in the commentators. Here's a man whose name is Elijah which means what? Jehovah is my God. There's a thunderstorm that's come from the lips of a man who said no rain but according to my word. So that as Ahab tries to see out to the front of his chariot in that blinding rainstorm he sees the form of this man whose name is Jehovah is my God. He can't separate these three things. Jehovah from his servant and the rain.

72:08 God was sure enforcing the lesson wasn't he? Enforcing the lesson. And as he sees his own steeds becoming wearied with this mad race to Jezreel and the prophet of God keeping ahead of them for this marathon race of 18 miles he's forced to acknowledge there's no explanation for this man but his name. Jehovah is his God.

72:33 There's the rain to prove it. There's the strength to prove it. And you'd think certainly now the man will repent and believe but the subsequent history shows he didn't. I think you get the application don't you? There's some of you sitting here tonight who've had abundant proofs and you're sitting with proof and looking at a proof that Jehovah is God and that his salvation is real. No explanation for some of the lives here tonight but that Jehovah is God and he's become the God of some of us. And yet you can look at all of that and go on in your impenitence. May God have mercy upon you.

73:26 And if you have any concern for your soul cry that you'll not be left to yourself to be an Ahab. But that God would be pleased with this part there. Maybe the Lord has much more to say to us from it but I hope that we'll get through this section of the word of God before too many millenniums roll by. And so you forgive me for going a little bit too long and a little bit too fast at the end. Shall we?