Everyday Miracles: 20 Day Journey With Elijah And ElishaSample

Your small beginning is a sign of great refreshment; a great rain may start as a small cloud.

After three and a half years of withering drought, the Lord gave Elijah a word about the advent of rain. Though no precipitation had manifested, Elijah heard the “sound of the rushing of rain” (1 Kings 18:41). Though there was no natural sound of the deluge rising in the distance, Elijah discerned it and told his servant to go toward the sea to spy it. 

The servant went toward the sea and gazed upon the same barren land he’d seen for over three years. Nothing but the same dust. The same dry riverbeds. The same scorched fields. 

“Go again,” the prophet declared. 

So the servant went. Again and again and again. Still nothing but drought as far as the eye could see. 

Sometimes when God gives you a revelation of hope for the future, your natural eye may not see it for a season. God stands outside of time. In God’s eyes, the provision is already there. From God’s perspective, the rain is pouring. 

Not until the seventh journey toward the sea did the servant see any evidence of rain. In scripture, seven is the number of completion – the week isn’t over until the seventh day. Your story isn’t over until God completes it! And what the servant saw must have seemed puny: “Behold, a little cloud like a man’s hand….” 

In that tiny cloud was the beginning of the end of a three and a half year drought. God uses small things to do big things. Look, there is a cloud rising. It is a cloud of hope amidst the despair of the world. It may seem small and distant, but the grace of God is rising and, when His provision has been fully manifest, it will be a downpour of His love. And that’s the Gospel!

Questions for Reflection:

1) Imagine you’re the servant of Elijah. How would you have felt the fifth or sixth time the prophet sent you to look for rain in the barren land? 

2) What is God calling you to perceive in the distance today? What sort of “rain” needs to come your way? Spend some unhurried moments “looking toward the sea” (looking toward God as your source). Can you see any small clouds on the horizon? Write down any little “cloud” (sign of hope) that you see. 

3) What “big” thing in your life now started out as a “small cloud”? How did you feel in the “days of small beginnings”? When you reflect on the growth that has occurred, how does it make you feel about other “small clouds” in your life today? 

Prayer for the Day: 

Lord, let me not despair in the day of drought. Keep me on a quest to see every small cloud that rises from the sea of your grace. Grant me spiritual eyes to see the miracles on the horizon and sustain me by your promises until the provision is fully manifest. Build my faith not only so I can endure the heat of adversity but also so I can help others in their times of drought. In Jesus’ name, AMEN.