“Seven times he said, ‘Go again’” (1 Kings 18:43)

The prophet Elijah was a humble man, unconditionally submitted to God. God promised Elijah that He would bring rain. We learn this from Elijah’s statement to King Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of abundance of rain”. But the promise needed to be fulfilled, so Elijah obeyed God by going to the top of Mount Carmel and by praying for God to fulfil His promise.

“Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit” (James 5:17–18).

Elijah exemplifies what the New Testament calls “patience”. After he obeyed God by telling King Ahab there would be a draught, he obeyed God by staying at a brook, and ate food brought by carrion birds (a humbling experience). When the brook dried up, he obeyed God by going to ask a widow for help (a humbling experience), and God provided food for them. When the widow’s son died (a humbling experience), he obeyed God and prayed three times, and the child was restored. After waiting patiently for three and a half years, he obeyed God, and killed the prophets of Baal. Finally, he obeyed God by going to the top of Mount Carmel and prayed seven times (a humbling experience), before a cloud appeared. What am I saying here? Elijah wasn’t proud. He only prayed for what he knew God wanted.

His praying seven times for rain was a continuation of unconditional submission to God. If God promises something, it will happen. You may have pleaded with Him for years, without the slightest indication that He’s heard you, but keep doing it, not because you deserve it, but because God wants it.

“Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him” (1 John 5:14–15).

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