Waiting For Rain

1Ki 18:42-45
(42) And Ahab went up to eat, and to drink; and Elijah went up to the top of Carmel, and he stretched himself out on the earth, and he put his face between his knees;
(43) and said to his young man, Now go up, look closely to the way of the sea. And he went up and looked closely, and said, There is nothing; and he said, Go back seven times.
(44) And it happened at the seventh time, he said, Behold, a little cloud like the hand of a man is coming up out of the sea. And he said, Go up and say to Ahab, Bind up and go down, that the rain may not stop you.
(45) And until this and this, it happened that the heavens became black with thick clouds and wind, and the rain was heavy; and Ahab rode and went to Jezreel;

There is a spiritual principle about praise that can be gleaned from a word-study on the word "Judah". Hosea 10 says, "Judah shall plow". We all know that plows are used on earth to make it plantable - to break it up so 'water' and 'seed' can penetrate. Jesus used earth as an example of the heart of man. Some hearts are hard, as the earth along the roadside. Others are fertile, as is earth with dark soil. Judah means praise, so we can imagine that praise will plow up the hardened ground of our heart so that the water of the Holy Spirit and the seed of the Word can penetrate.

When we have a fantastic worship service - I mean - truly fantastic - we all get plowed up... broken... ready to be 'productive'. That's when we screw up. We quit... and we go home... right before the rain comes. I've heard some very wise men teach on this, and they all say that the key is to wait... wait... wait... It may not be the first prayer, or the second, or the third, but pretty soon, the cloud is on the horizon. When the rain does come, it comes in torrents and the miraculous is released. What might that look like?

1Ki 18:46
(46) and the hand of Jehovah was on Elijah, and he girded up his loins and ran before Ahab until [the place where] you enter Jezreel.

Elijah outran Ahab's horse-drawn chariots from Carmel to Jezreel. What will it look like when it happens to us? We may be outrunning a Crown Victoria back to the house.