'We can't bottle time'

Although I am not trained in the weather field, I believe I am qualified to say that the recent tropical storm that passed through our area made a significant step in making up any rainfall deficits we had.

There is no doubt that excessive rain can be a deadly and destructive force of nature, but for the most part we recognize rain as an essential component of life. Even though it is often inconvenient and uncomfortable when rain comes, we accept the truth that without it the inconveniences and discomforts of an extended drought would be far greater.

All of this reminds me of the devastation that spiritual drought can bring. When our lives get dry and insensitive to the presence of God, we become unproductive in our service for Him. Just as prolonged drought results in famine, extended periods of spiritual dryness leads us to spiritual famine and starvation. The good news is that even though we cannot control the weather, there are measures that we can take during spiritual drought that will lead us back to the refreshing presence of God.

First Kings 18 records the event of a drought that ended when the prophet of God, Elijah, sought God for rain. The story includes more than we have time to review right now; I recommend that you read the story for yourself to get a clearer picture of what took place. But in a nutshell, it had not rained for a long time, leading to a famine that was taking a toll on the people.

The drought that was drying up the land and depleting the food supply was the result of a spiritual drought in the hearts of the people. Many times in Scripture we find the record of God withholding rain to get the attention of His disobedient and rebellious people. So it was in the day of Elijah; rather than giving their full devotion to God, many of them had become involved in the worship of a pagan false god known as Baal..

As the story unfolds, Elijah entered into a challenge with the followers of Baal to settle the issue of which supreme being Israel was to worship. The prophet confronted them with these words: "Elijah went before the people and said, "How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal is God, follow him." But the people said nothing" (I Kings 18:21, NIV).

If you are familiar with what follows, you know that Baal was unable to answer or respond even though the people sought for his attention with all their might. Nevertheless, after a brief prayer by Elijah, God revealed His presence by fire (verses 36-38). The result? "When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, "The Lord--He is God! The Lord--He is God!"" (verse 39).

On the heels of this powerful manifestation of God and the confession of the people, the rains came and the drought ended. Not only did the Israelites receive rain for their crops, but they received spiritual rain for their souls.

I leave you with three key things that preceded the rain that ended the drought: God's altar that was in ruins was rebuilt (verse 30), God's servant willingly took an unshakable stand for Him regardless of the risks that it presented (verse 37) and the source of the real problem was eliminated (verse 40). I believe those same three things are key to experiencing the spiritual rain of God upon our lives and churches today.