The Roar of the Rain

1Ki 17:1 Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, "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."

Elijah:
- Prophet of God
- Raised the dead
- Blessed the widow women with provision
- Called down fire from heaven

Ahab:
- King in Israel
- Was wicked King
- Married a wicked wife who practiced witchcraft and had God's prophets executed.

1Ki 16:30 Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the LORD than any of those before him. 31 He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him.  32 He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he built in Samaria.  33 Ahab also made an Asherah pole and did more to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger than did all the kings of Israel before him. 

Rain was a blessing:

Ps 65:9 You care for the land and water it; you enrich it abundantly. The streams of God are filled with water to provide the people with grain, for so you have ordained it.  10 You drench its furrows and level its ridges; you soften it with showers and bless its crops.  11 You crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance.  12 The grasslands of the desert overflow; the hills are clothed with gladness.  13 The meadows are covered with flocks and the valleys are mantled with grain; they shout for joy and sing. (NIV)

Lack of rain was devastating:

- promised for rebellion
De 28:24 The LORD will turn the rain of your country into dust and powder; it will come down from the skies until you are destroyed.

Jer 3:3 Therefore the showers have been withheld, and no spring rains have fallen. Yet you have the brazen look of a prostitute; you refuse to blush with shame.

Elijah had prophesied no rain because Israel had followed Ahab and Jezebel into the worship of the Baals and asheroth.

I. A Moment of Self Evaluation

A. Is God sending or withholding rain in your life?

B. Your parched ground may be a season of trial, or it may be self inflicted.

II.  God Withholds Rain in Israel for 3 Years

A. They were an agricultural people - this would've been devastating.

- Crops don't grow
- Animals do not have food and water

III. During this time God has a Remnant Praying

A. Prophets hidden in caves praying

B. People who had not followed Jezelbel were praying

IV. God Answers those Prayers and Speaks to Elijah

1Ki 18:1 After a long time, in the third year, the word of the LORD came to Elijah: "Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the land."

A.  Elijah talks with King Ahab

1Ki 18:17 When he saw Elijah, he said to him, "Is that you, you troubler of Israel?"  18 "I have not made trouble for Israel," Elijah replied. "But you and your father's family have. You have abandoned the LORD's commands and have followed the Baals.

B. Elijah challenges the prophets of Baal to a contest

- Build an altar and let's see whose God answers by fire.

-  Elijah gathers all the people and encourages them to follow God.

1Ki 18:21 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.

 

- Prophets of Baal try, but can't get their gods to answer by fire.

- Eljah's turn:  Soaks the altar with water….

1Ki 18:36 At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: "O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command.  37 Answer me, O LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again."  38 Then the fire of the LORD fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.  39 When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, "The LORD-- he is God! The LORD-- he is God!"

- Prophets of Baal are executed for leading Israel astray

IV.  What About the Rain?

A. Elijah's Rain Statement

1Ki 18:41 And Elijah said to Ahab, "Go, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain."

KJ -  there is a sound of abundance of rain.
NAS -  the roar of a heavy shower

Rain's coming I can hear it!

- Not one drop yet
- Not a cloud in the sky
- Forcast says: Sunny and dry

 

1Ki 18:41 And Elijah said to Ahab, "Go, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain."  42 So Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees.  43 "Go and look toward the sea," he told his servant. And he went up and looked. "There is nothing there," he said. Seven times Elijah said, "Go back."  44 The seventh time the servant reported, "A cloud as small as a man's hand is rising from the sea." So Elijah said, "Go and tell Ahab, 'Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.'"
 45 Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy rain came on and Ahab rode off to Jezreel.

 

V. The Spirtual Lessons of this Passage

#1.  God does not bless rebellion

What about America:
Many are living off the blessings of those who have come before them.

Jer 3:3 Therefore the showers have been withheld, and no spring rains have fallen. Yet you have the brazen look of a prostitute; you refuse to blush with shame.  4 Have you not just called to me: 'My Father, my friend from my youth,  5 will you always be angry? Will your wrath continue forever?' This is how you talk, but you do all the evil you can."

Don't confuse rebellion with human imperfection

- None of us could expect anything from God is perfection was required before blessing.
- All we would have is condemnation and no faith
- Imperfection is trying failing and getting back up.
- Rebellion is saying no to God
- You know what God has said to you - and you have refused to obey Him.

God may withhold rain/blessing in your life for your own good.  He wants your attention.

WHEN JEWS WENT TO REBUILD TEMPLE
- God told them build!
- They decided to do other things
- God withheld blessing

Hag 1:3 Then the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai:  4 "Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?"  5 Now this is what the LORD Almighty says: "Give careful thought to your ways.  6 You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it."  7 This is what the LORD Almighty says: "Give careful thought to your ways.  8 Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored," says the LORD.  9 "You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?" declares the LORD Almighty. "Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house.  10 Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops.  11 I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the oil and whatever the ground produces, on men and cattle, and on the labor of your hands."

 

#2.  God responds to faith

Elijah:
- Heard the voice of God and believes it and obeyed
- Heard the sound of rain before it was there
- He expectantly looked for a cloud   Not to see if - but to see when

Heb 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

2Co 1:20 For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God.

#3.   Elijah is not superman

Jas 5:13 Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise.  14 Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.  15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.  16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.  17 Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.  18 Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.

- Elijah lived by faith
- We are no different than him

God wants us to live a life that always has the roar of the rain in our ears.

God's provision, blessing, presence - always being and ready to be poured out on his children that love Him.

Don't shoot yourself in the foot by being rebellious.

- Quickly repent and move towards God , and experience the Life of Christ

Ps 65:9 You care for the land and water it; you enrich it abundantly. The streams of God are filled with water to provide the people with grain, for so you have ordained it.  10 You drench its furrows and level its ridges; you soften it with showers and bless its crops.  11 You crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance.  12 The grasslands of the desert overflow; the hills are clothed with gladness.  13 The meadows are covered with flocks and the valleys are mantled with grain; they shout for joy and sing. (NIV)

Our attitude: 
I'm there, or heading that direction in God