Prayer for Our Nation
The nation had gone to "rack and ruin" under the evil king Ahab. Ahab had help, with his evil wife, Jezebel. The nation had seemingly long since left the worship of Jehovah God, and had gone after the sensual gods of Baal and Ashtoreth. (We have similar gods today of wealth and pleasure.)
How to bring a nation to her knees, that she might realize her absolute, basic dependence on the God of Heaven? Knock out the props of the gods upon whom she depends, in this case, the wealth system that supported the gods of pleasure and selfishness.
Our bread for our survival comes from raindrops. (See Isaiah 55:10.) Hopefully, physical hunger would make them aware of their spiritual hunger, to encourage them to rise above the mere physical existence of the flesh, to the level to be all that God designed them to be: selfless, caring, loving individuals who reflect the heart of their Creator.
"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."(Jas. 5:17 - 18)
A prayer of a righteous man altered the course of nature! Water-bearing clouds were steered away from the Israelite coast for 3½ years! Wow! Being a weatherman during those years (if there were such back then) would have been easy! "Fair and clear again today. Temperatures expected to soar to the high 90's by late morning. A warm front, coming in from the Arabian Desert will bring more fair skies and blistering temps of 120˚ by next week. UV index again is very high. Be sure to take adequate means to protect your skin from the ravages of sunburn. Water shortages are now reported everywhere. Water use restrictions are unusually strict in cities and villages. It has not rained in the last year-and-a-half, and there is no end in sight of the current severe drought!"
Perhaps a report from the Department of Agriculture would follow the daily weather report. You could only imagine what would have been reported!
As expected, the nation was brought to her knees. The divine contest on Mt. Carmel brought the "God Question" into sharp focus. False gods cannot feed the soul of man, nor can they save man from his ruined condition. The nation got rid of her false gods, and they again enthroned Jehovah God.
Could the prayers of God's righteous children bring about a similar reformation of our people?
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