WHAT THE SMALL CLOUD MEANS
And [Elijah] 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.'" (1 Kings 18:43-44)
Elijah had prayed and for three and a half years rain was withheld
from the Kingdom of Israel as judgment against their state-
sponsored idolatry and persecution of the people of God. After the
dramatic defeat of the priests of Baal on Mount Carmel it was time
for Elijah to change course in prayer. Now he would pray that God
would send rain after having previously stopped the rain.
Elijah bowed down on the ground, in a posture of deep submission.
A few hours before he stood tall like a mighty oak tree against the
prophets of Baal; now Elijah bowed like a wind-blown blade of
grass in his prayer to God. It shows the truth of what F.B. Meyer
wrote: "The men who stand straightest in the presence of sin bow
lowest in the presence of God."
As Elijah prayed for rain he expected an answer and he would not
stop praying until he saw the answer come. So he sent his servant
out to look for the clouds of coming rain. The servant went out and
saw nothing; Elijah kept praying. Five times more the prophet sent
his servant to see the answer to prayer and the servant saw
nothing. Yet, "it came to pass the seventh time." This was
stubbornly persistent prayer. It was as if Elijah would not take "no"
for an answer, because he was confident that it was God's will to
send rain. He stubbornly furthered the will of God by his persistent
prayer. It is a good thing that Elijah didn't quit praying after six
previous disappointments.
Elijah prayed, asking in faith for God to send the rain. Elijah
obviously sensed this was the will of God, yet it was his fervent
prayer that brought the rain.
Finally the servant brought a report: "There is a cloud, as small as
a man's hand, rising out of the sea!" After all that prayer Elijah
probably wanted a bigger evidence than a small cloud on the
distant horizon. Instead, the evidence of the rain came slowly and
in a small way, but out of this small evidence God brought a mighty
work.
In the November 9 1904 edition of The Life of Faith, a London
newspaper dedicated to the deeper life movement, a writer named
Jessie Penn-Lewis reported on a remarkable work just beginning in
Wales under the ministry of men like Evan Roberts and Seth
Joshua. She reported that a "cloud no bigger than a man's hand"
had arisen in Wales. It was a fitting description of the clear but
small beginning of what became a mighty work; so mighty that
within six months there were 100,000 conversions in Wales alone,
launching a revival that touched virtually the whole world over the
next ten years. But it all started with a small sign, a "cloud no bigger
than a man's hand."
Charles Spurgeon used this text as an illustration of the small signs
that precede a mighty work of God. He spoke of four "certain signs
and tokens for good which prayerful faith clearly perceives when an
awakening, a genuine revival is about to come." Christians should
regard such things as clouds, as small as a man's hand, rising
out of the sea. Spurgeon noted these four things which, in his
opinion, were like a small cloud that signaled a great answer to
come:
* A growing dissatisfaction with the present state of things,
and an increasing anxiety among the members of the church
for the salvation of souls.
* When this anxiety leads believers to be exceedingly earnest
and importunate in prayer.
* When ministers begin to take counsel one with another, and
to say, "What must we do?"
* When we shall see the doctrine of the individual
responsibility of each Christian fully felt and carried out into
individual action.
Elijah knew that the small cloud meant a big work was on the way.
He told King Ahab in faith, "Prepare your chariot, and go down
before the rain stops you." Based only on the sighting of a cloud
that was as small as a man's hand, he knew a torrent was on the
way. When we see God moving in even small ways among us, we
should have great faith for a greater work to come.
By David Guzik
For Bible Study resources by David Guzik, go to:
www.enduringword.com/library_commentaries.html
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David Guzik is the director of Calvary Chapel Bible College Germany, near Siegen, Germany. David took this position in January of 2003, after serving for 14 years as the founding and Senior Pastor of Calvary Chapel of Simi Valley. He has been in pastoral ministry since 1982. Learn more about David and his ministry at his website “The Enduring Word,” located at: http://www.enduringword.com where you will find excellent bible study commentaries and much more.