I remember the first time that I asked God to do something 'whatever it takes.' I was praying for a friend’s spiritual maturity and wanted God to help this person be all God intended. The next events shocked me. They involved two career changes and a move, all of them traumatic and difficult for the person involved. Since then, when people express a desire that God do something, whatever it takes, I suggest that they duck.
I’ve also noticed that whenever I ask God to fix a problem, there is often something standing in the way that must be moved, or a stronghold built up that must be torn down, or a stubborn attitude that needs softened before the prayer can be answered.
There is an example of all this in today’s reading in 1 Kings. Ahab was king in Israel. He served idols and “did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.”
Elijah was God’s prophet at this time, and to put the fear of God in Ahab, he decided to go that ‘whatever it takes ' route and proclaimed a drought. He told Ahab, “As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word.”
It happened as Elijah asked. No rain, drought, desperate people, and while they seemed to want to follow the Lord, they worshiped idols too. Elijah challenged Ahab and his idolatry again and, in a remarkable confrontation with their prophets, God sent fire from heaven proving that He alone is God. The false prophets were executed and the curse was lifted.
“Then Elijah said to Ahab, ‘Go up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of abundance of rain.’ So Ahab went up to eat and drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; then he bowed down on the ground, and put his face between his knees, and said to his servant, ‘Go up now, look toward the sea.’
“So he went up and looked, and said, ‘There is nothing.’ And seven times he said, ‘Go again.’
“Then it came to pass the seventh time, that he said, ‘There is a cloud, as small as a man’s hand, rising out of the sea!’ So he said, ‘Go up, say to Ahab, “Prepare your chariot, and go down before the rain stops you.”’
“Now it happened in the meantime that the sky became black with clouds and wind, and there was a heavy rain.”
James 5 mentions this whole event in the context of prayer for specific needs. It says, “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. 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.”
Elijah did have a nature just like mine. He was terrified of Ahab’s wife, ran for his life at her threats, at times felt all alone and helpless in his concern for ungodliness in his country, and had to send his servant several times to check out that the rain he’d asked for was actually coming. I’m like that when I pray.
However he still prayed. He asked God for big things. He wanted God to be honored and glorified. I’m thinking also that when he prayed ‘whatever it takes’ that he wasn’t concerned for his own well-being or reputation. He earnestly wanted God to do something and boldly asked, but like me, he also forgot to duck.
I have prayed for the salvation and spiritual life of family members for years. We often say, 'Whatever it takes . . . ' and often fear that the answer will be traumatic. Guess what? It often is, and like Elijah who “ran for his life” and hid under a tree, I often want to do the same. But God is at work. I cannot see the answer yet, but there is a noise that sounds like the abundance of rain.
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