#Bible study elijah and the cloud how to#

The fact is, there was yet no indication that so much as a drop of rain was going to fall on any part of Israel! One commentator put it this way: What exactly was it that Elijah heard? Nobody else seemed to hear the rain nor did they see it. The longer the drought dragged on, the more obvious it would become that Baal was not the great god his followers thought him to be but that Yahweh was the only Great God.Īs we look at Elijah’s prayer, there are a number interesting points worth pondering:Īnd Elijah said to Ahab, “Go, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain.” “As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.”

It was back in 17:1 that Elijah told King Ahab that the drought had come in defiance of Baal. The people had absolutely no concept of a sovereign God who ruled over His creation.

When the autumn rains came in October, the people viewed Baal as awake and active once again. They believed that during the long, hot, dry days of summer Baal was either asleep or away traveling. The people had looked to Baal as the god of storms and rain. The whole purpose of the prolonged drought and the resultant famine was to show to the people of Israel that Baal was a complete fraud a fabrication of man’s twisted imagination. The Israelites were about to learn that God is not only in control of the human realm but also the realm of nature. The people had to be made to understand that it was God, not Baal, who was in control and it would be God, not Baal, who would end the drought. But Elijah was not finished! The best was yet to come.Įlijah made it crystal clear that the devastating drought and famine were sent by God and not by Baal. The people who had witnessed this astounding miracle were convinced that Yahweh was indeed God, and as if to prove their faith to Elijah, they renounced Baal and slayed the idolatrous priests of that detestable false god. The fire had fallen upon the prophet’s sacrifice at his request. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. James gives Elijah as his prime example of a righteous man-Įlijah was a man just like us. In fact, many centuries before James wrote about prayer in his letter, we find its fulfillment in the prophet Elijah! The prayers of a righteous man are prayers that are heard and answered by God.

#Bible study elijah and the cloud how to#

Elijah is a classic example of a man who knew how to pray.