A Little Cloud!

A few days ago, I was driving through the countryside.  It was a lovely morning, and as I drove along I noticed that the sky was a beautiful blue with not a single cloud in sight!  I looked in every direction as far as I could see, and could not see even one tiny cloud!  I started thinking about the prophet, Elijah, up on Mt. Carmel.  It had not rained for three years, but after many days the Lord spoke to His prophet and told him that He was going to send rain!

King Ahab was instructed to gather all Israel, and the 850 prophets of Baal and the groves, and go to the top of Mt. Carmel.  What a contest they had there between Jehovah and Baal!  The prophet Elijah said in I Kings 18:24 -- "Call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord: and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God."

The prophets of Baal called on their god from morning until the time of the evening sacrifice; even cutting themselves with knives and lancets "till the blood gushed out upon them".  Then Elijah "repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down."  After he finished repairing the altar, it was time for the good prophet to pray.  Praise the Lord!  "And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that Thou art God in Israel.  Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that Thou art the Lord God.  Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt-sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.  And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The Lord, He is the God; the Lord, He is the God.  And Elijah said unto Ahab,  Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain.  So Ahab went up to eat and to 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.

I wonder if Elijah was thinking, "Where is God"?  The sky was still a beautiful blue -- not even a hint of a cloud rising up out of the West -- but Elijah said to his servant, "Go up now, look toward the sea.  And he went up, and looked, and said, There is nothing."  But Elijah said, "Go again"!  Still Nothing!  But Elijah answered -- Go again and again and again and once again --- Nothing!  I really don't know what was going through Elijah's mind by this time, but in spite of the devil, the crowd, the king -- he knew God had spoken, and he said to his servant -- "Go again!"  And the seventh time, the servant came back and said -- "Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand."  That was enough for God's prophet!  Praise the Lord!  "And he said, 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 mean while, that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain."

What a mighty God we serve!  Nothing is impossible when we put our trust in Him!  Let us be strong in faith, knowing that what He has promised, He is able to perform!
May we pray with the songwriter --

     "Oh, for a faith that will not shrink, though pressed by every foe,
That will not tremble on the brink of any earthly woe.
      That will not murmur nor complain beneath the chastening rod
But in the hour of grief or pain, will lean upon its God.

      A faith that shines more bright and clear when tempests rage without;
That when in danger knows no fear, in darkness feels no doubt.
      Lord, give us such a faith as this; and then, whatever may come,
We'll taste, even here, the hallowed bliss of an eternal home."