Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years!
Elijah’s prayers were powerful and effective. He prayed that it would not rain in the Northern Kingdom of Israel as punishment for the sins of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. He told Ahab, “As surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives –the God I serve—there will be no dew or rain during the next few years until I give the word!” (1 Kings 17:1). After three and one-half years of famine, Elijah prayed again, this time for rain. He told Ahab, “Go get something to eat and drink, for I hear a mighty rainstorm coming!” (1 Kings 18:41). Things happened, it is clear, when Elijah prayed.
No doubt, you may be thinking to yourself, Elijah’s prayers were powerful and effective because he was a prophet of God. Given his stature, you may be thinking, it only makes sense that his prayers would be heard on high. The rest of us, on the other hand, do not have that special advantage. The rest of us are mere farmers, teachers, mothers, children, businesspeople, and so on. We can’t expect our prayers to have the same efficacy as Elijah’s prayers. We can’t draw any conclusions about our prayers from the example of a powerful man of God like Elijah, can we?
In our verse for today, James begs to differ with our way of thinking. Elijah, he tells us, was as human as we are. That is, he was not some sort of demi-god with a special access to God that the rest of us do not have. He was a mere man subject to the same kind of weaknesses and failures that every human being is subject to. Indeed, the Bible tells us that he fled from his prophetic call when Jezebel threatened his life. He even longed to die at that time (1 Kings 19:1-4). Despite these weaknesses and failures, Elijah’s prayers were powerful and effective.
The lesson, then, is that we should pray. The lesson is that we should pray boldly and not give up. Our prayers can have the same kind of power as Elijah’s prayers. Our prayers in Jesus’ name can be powerful and effective in God’s hands (James 5:16).
