Thoughts of Grace

An early spring evening light

Good Afternoon

So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees, And said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said, There is nothing. And he said, Go again seven times. And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man’s hand. And he said, Go up, say unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down that the rain stop thee not. 1 Kings 18:42-44

Come up on top of Carmel.
and see that remarkable parable of Faith and Sight
It was not the descent of the fire that now was necessary,
but the descent of the flood;
and the man that can command the fire
can command the flood by the same means and methods.
We are told he bowed himself to the ground
with his face between his knees;
that is, shutting out all sights and sounds.
He was putting himself in a position where,
beneath his mantle,
he could neither see nor hear what was going forward.

He said to his servant,
“Go and take an observation.”
He went and came back,
and said–how sublimely brief!
one word–“Nothing.”

What do we do under such circumstances?

We say, “It is just as I expected!”
and we give up praying.
Did Elijah?
No, he said, “Go again.”
His servant again came back and said,
“Nothing!”
“Go again.”
‘Nothing!”

By and by he came back, and said,
“There is a little cloud like a man’s hand.”
A man’s hand had been raised in supplication,
and presently down came the rain;
and Ahab had not time to get back
to the gate of Samaria with all his fast steeds.
This is a parable of Faith and Sight–
faith shutting itself up with God;
sight taking observations
and seeing nothing;
faith going right on,
and “praying with prayer,”
with utterly hopeless reports from sight.

Do you know how to pray that way,
how to pray prevailingly?
Let sight give as discouraging reports as it may,
but pay no attention to thee.
The living God is still in the heavens
and even to delay is part of His goodness.
~~Arthur T. Pierson

Go right on with Faith . . .Today
With my prayers, desiring yours, Leslie