Source/Author: Dr Michael Dalseno

Each time Elijah's servant returned to report on the weather, he declared the very same thing; “there is nothing” (v.43). But the eyes of faith see a small cloud, "the size of a man;s hand..."

“BEHOLD, A CLOUD, THE SIZE OF A MAN’S HAND...” (1Ki 18.44)

By Dr   D

Six times Elijah sent his servant to the ascent of Mt Carmel to survey the Mediterranean. Each time, the servant would return and declare the very same thing; “there is nothing” (v.43).  

Without the eyes of faith, this is the declaration common to most. We look from the viewpoint of experience, informed knowledge, evidence of movement, and the like, and reach the same inevitable conclusion. Yet Elijah would have none of it, and simply would not accept “there is nothing” as the final outcome of his fervent prayers (v.42). He heard the sound of heavy rain in his spirit (v.41), and would not be shaken from his resolve.

Each time the servant returned armed with reality and the facts as he saw it, Elijah would pray and send him back to look again. Probably the servant felt much the same as the leprous Naaman (2Ki 5 10) who, after emerging from the Jordan 6 times, reached the same inevitable conclusion, “there is nothing” in the manner of healing in that river. What if both men, Elijah and Naaman, gave up after trying 6 times? There would have been no end to Israel’s drawn out drought and no end to the creep and consumption of leprosy.

Instead, Elijah said to his servant, “go again!” On the 7^th occasion, the servant returns, surprised and shaken, and made a very different declaration; “Behold, a cloud, the size of a man’s hand!” That’s exactly what Elijah was waiting to hear. The reality of rain was about to coincide with faith for rain and produce such a deluge that King Ahab would have to mount his chariot and flee for home before the Kishon river flooded and the dusty plains of Jezreel turned to an immovable mire of mud (v.44).

Faith is “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not yet seen” (Heb.11.1). Faith enables us to hear “the sound of heavy rain” in our spirit and enables us to see “a cloud, the size of a man’s hand.” Without faith there will never be the substance and never be the evidence. Faith does not declare “there is nothing,” but instead demands of us to “go again,” believe God, and persevere in prayer, faith and expectancy.