In Namibia we know much about drought, and we love to talk about the years where there has been an abundance of rain. The Bible has surprisingly much to say about drought and rain. The Bible frequently attributes drought to God’s judgment in response to man’s sinful, ungodly behaviour. For example, God says through Jeremiah: “You have polluted the land with your vile whoredom. Therefore the showers have been withheld, and the spring rain has not come…” (Jer. 3:2,3). Amos says: “You did not return to me, declares the LORD. I also withheld the rain from you when there were yet three months to the harvest; I would send rain on one city, and send no rain on another city; one field would have rain, and the field on which it did not rain would wither…” (Amos 3: 6,7). Through the prophet Haggai the LORD speaks about “… my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house. Therefore the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce. And I have called for a drought on the land and the hills, on the grain, the new wine, the oil, on what the ground brings forth, on man and beast, and on all their labours.” (Haggai 1:10,11). The second coming of the Lord will be preceded by famines (due to drought), earthquakes and pestilences (e.g. Matt 24:7; Mk 13:8 ; Lk 21:11).
Positively,
God in Leviticus 26:3,4
says: “If you walk in my statutes
and observe my commandments and do them, then I will give you your rains in
their season , and the lands shall
yield its increase…”.
And
then there is the fact of God’s
mysterious mercy. Despite man’s sin
Jesus and Paul remind their hearers
that God in His mercy and grace continues to give rain to the good and the evil, the just
and the unjust ( Matt 5:45;Acts 14:17).
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| Heavy Rain in Namibia (Photo : J.Rieck 2011) |
The
biblical worldview is very different
from the modern world view
which sees rain simply as the result of
a weather pattern. There is of
course some predictability to rain, and
there are scientific explanations as to
why the Namib desert
receives so little rain - so little, that the Walvis Bay town council has never bothered to
invest in street drainage! But if
we understand that the so called “ laws
of nature” are also God’s laws then we are moving into the realm of biblical worldview , and the
complexities associated with weather
forecasting are then understood to be the hand of God.
Sadly,
sinful men continually wish to divest
themselves of the thought that an all seeing, all powerful, omnipresent Creator God should rule this world through
His intelligent and good decrees[1].
Oddly enough men resent the thought that
God is personally and intimately involved
in the governance of this world. They prefer
to believe that this world is ruled by
fate or by chance. They reckon
that on the 16th
February 2013 a comet, approx. 50 meters in diameter, 130 000 metric tons in weight, 27
000 kilometers away from the earth, moving at 8
x the speed of the bullet of a high-powered rifle was a
lucky miss! From a God centered perspective, this was a
warning that God has His own missiles flying around our universe, armed with far greater
destructive power than the most lethal atomic weapon found on earth.
While
my friend Rod Thomas, a missionary to the
city of Sendai in Japan, sees the recent tsunami
as God’s hand in the affairs of Japan, the average
Japanese makes no such connection.
They, like the rest of mankind think of such events as a ‘natural disaster’. Nothing more than that!
If
the Japanese had seen this
tsunami for what it really is, namely a
temporary judgment and a loud message from God, then
they would have repented like the Ninevites under Jonah’s preaching. They would have heeded the call to repent and return to their true Creator. Lest
we think that Japan has no Christian
roots or revelation , I remind
you that
to the best of my knowledge Christ has been proclaimed in Japan by various
missionary groups for over 500 years!
Back to Elijah…
We notice
that this severe drought in Samaria (17:1) had come about by God’s doing. It would not be
broken except at
the Word of the LORD (17:1). And now after
3 ½ years since God had first announced
the drought through Elijah, the drought was
about to come to an end at the Word of the LORD. But, understand , that God first had a
work to do before He would send rain. He
first was going to smash the conspiracy of evil. The cult of the 450 prophets of
Ba’al had to be destroyed, and the people of
Israel needed to acknowledge
that God was indeed the sovereign LORD of Israel (18:39). This having happened, Elijah could now say to king Ahab[2]:
“Go up, eat and drink, for there is a sound of the rushing of rain” (18:41). When Elijah had said this to
Ahab there was as yet no sign or promise of a cloud (see v. 43).
Sending his servant 7 times to check whether there was a cloud, his servant
said after the 7th time: “behold,
a little cloud like a man’s hand is rising from the sea” (v.44).
Elijah, by faith in the God who so often works through small, insignificant means knew that the time had come. God was going to
multiply that cloud even though it was looking so very unpromising right now.
We who live in Namibia know a little
about that. When a little grey cloud appears in the morning during rainy season,
a heavy thunderstorm may follow a few hours later! Small beginnings often produce wonderful
effects as the parable of the mustard seed proves to us. (Matt 13:31,32). So, Elijah, by faith, heard the sound of the rushing of rain even before it had
begun to rain. He knew that this had to
happen since God’s word and promise was connected to this. Ahab, the apostate king of Israel did of course not see or hear this. And, ironically, he depended on
Elijah’s word (which he hated) in this
matter.
The
hardness of this king’s heart is scary.
Yes, he and his people needed rain, and now that Elijah, the man of God
promised that there was rain on the way, he could only stuff his face, instead
of putting his head between his knees
like Elijah in this prayer posture (v. 42), and turning to God, in thankful anticipation of this severe mercy! Do you
see the difference between Ahab and Elijah?
Listen
again to A.W. Pink’s profound remarks
:
“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 white-washed 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.[3]
Vv.44-46 : ”And at the seventh time he said, ‘Behold, a little cloud like a man’s
hand is rising from the sea.. ‘. And he
said: ‘Go up, and say to Ahab, “ Prepare your chariot and go down, lest the
rain stop you.” And in a little while
the heaven’s 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.”
Faith
recognized the hand of Almighty God behind that
little cloud, just as earlier, in Chapter 17, by faith, a handful of flour in the widow’s
household had been sufficient to sustain
3 people for a few months .
And the hand of the LORD was on Elijah, and he gathered up his
garment and ran before Ahab to the
entrance of Jezreel.”
Here is the
last thing that I want us to see and ponder: How far God will go to show us
His mercy and grace! King Ahab is our
example. Let us review what
Ahab had seen of God that day. He had seen the
reality of Israel’s God in action
as the prophets of Ba’al were defeated.
He had seen the terrible drought broken
and the rain fall in response
to the word of Elijah. And now in v.
46 at the end of all these things he
is , once again, found face to face with
Elijah, the man of God. Elijah was given
supernatural strength by God to arrive
at the gate of Jezreel before Ahab did. Why? Because God Almighty was forcing
Ahab to make a decision. The people
had their turn on that day (18:21,39).
Now it is Ahab’s turn to make a decision. God was speaking to him loudly and clearly, one more
time, and this all against the
background of Ahab’s unspeakable
ungodliness. He was the one who permitted the Ba’al worship to
come to Israel. He himself had participated in such worship (16:31-32).
He allowed his wife Jezebel to kill the LORD’s prophets (18:4). He is the one
who had at one time intensely persecuted
and sought to kill Elijah (18:10,17).
And now God offers him another
opportunity to return and repent. Never
accuse God for not pursuing us
sufficiently! This is amazing grace –
once again.
But you
know the end of the story. Ahab knew the
truth, but it did not move him. He was convinced but not converted. Let A.W. Pink
have the last word on this: “How
many like him are there in the churches today, who have religion in the head
but not in the heart: convinced that the gospel is true, yet rejecting it;
assured that Christ is mighty to save, yet not surrendering to Him.” [4]
COMMUNION
Dear people,
How the
grace of God amazes us again and again.
How the generous love of Christ confronts us again and again. How far God will go to send an Elijah into our lives, even as far as the portals of hell. Even there He has His
gospel preached to us. We marvel that God has so much patience with us, but
that is the nature of His love.(1 Corinthians 13:4-7)
Today, on
this Lord’s day and before the Lord’s
table we
have the privilege to remember
the stubborn love of Jesus for us, again! Dear believer, as you participate in this sacred meal
today, pray that the love of Christ will not be a merely external thing to you. Call
upon the Holy Spirit to help you to let
the love of Christ stir your heart anew. Amen
“ May the love of
Jesus fill me, as the waters fill the sea
Him exalting, self
abasing, this is victory![5]
( John Greenleaf Whittier,1866)
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