Trusting God AFTER He sends the rain

1. When the rain comes, doesn’t mean that our problems leave

1 Kings 19:2 CSB

So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “May the gods punish me and do so severely if I don’t make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow!”

Elijah had just won a tremendous battle for the Lord, He had just out ran King Ahab to Jezreel, the Lord had proved who He was to the King and the nation, yet at the threat from Jezebel, Elijah became afraid and ran for his life immediately.

2. When we think that God won’t hear our prayers, or that we are no longer capable of living for God.

1 Kings 19:1–8 CSB

Ahab told Jezebel everything that Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “May the gods punish me and do so severely if I don’t make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow!” Then Elijah became afraid and immediately ran for his life. When he came to Beer-sheba that belonged to Judah, he left his servant there, but he went on a day’s journey into the wilderness. He sat down under a broom tree and prayed that he might die. He said, “I have had enough! Lord, take my life, for I’m no better than my ancestors.” Then he lay down and slept under the broom tree. Suddenly, an angel touched him. The angel told him, “Get up and eat.” Then he looked, and there at his head was a loaf of bread baked over hot stones, and a jug of water. So he ate and drank and lay down again. Then the angel of the Lord returned for a second time and touched him. He said, “Get up and eat, or the journey will be too much for you.” So he got up, ate, and drank. Then on the strength from that food, he walked forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God.

James 5:16–18 CSB

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect. Elijah was a human being as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the land. Then he prayed again, and the sky gave rain and the land produced its fruit.

Often we feel that we are not worthy enough because of our past sins, and failures of God hearing and honoring our prayers. James points toward the effective power of prayer, and then reminds his readers that Elijah who prayed for the rain to stop for 3 1/2 years and then prayed that it would rain again through the power of prayer, had struggles just like us.

How quickly do we dismiss God’s victories in our lives?

In Elijah’s brokenness God restored and refreshed him.