Late Night Rains, Labor Pains
When You're on Your Knees Desperate for the End of a Drought
Sunday night. 11:21pm.
Behind me off the backyard gutter there’s a few dozen patterns of drip-drip pulsing through my ears like hydrous drum beats in a syncopated polyrhythm.
I’m coming off a full weekend: serving as a co-host at a local student conference, leading a couple breakout sessions, then back to it first thing Sunday morning with donuts and band rehearsals and pre-service briefings and lifted hands and microphones and event flyers and teaching a LifeGroup class and laughter and pickup basketball with some high school boys and vibrant community.
Life is full, and so is my heart. But honestly, I’m beat.
My sore and neglected feet had paced innumerable laps through our kitchen as I snuck in a few precious moments catching up on my sore and neglected pace of reading. It’s been a wild few weeks. I finally get to finish Chapter 8 in Tyler Staton’s book Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools where he talks about laboring in prayer and long, persistent believing.
“The sort of prayer that gives birth to new life is slow,” he writes. “New life requires labor—laboring in prayer.”1
Yeesh. Slow?
Sigh. That can feel sooo boring to my old, immature, impatient self if I let it. I don’t like waiting. I tend to be more of a high-speed processor; I like answers, and I like them now. What I want to see is God move in my relationships today, for the miraculous to spring up in our ministries today, for direction and innovation and breakthrough today. But often, that’s just not how God operates.
Staton goes on to talk about Elijah’s story of fire and rain in 1 Kings 18. I wrote a bit about the epic showdown on Carmel last year. Something I never caught is the way that Elijah’s private persistence in prayer outweighed the wonder of the crowds when Yahweh consumed the offering.
41 Now Elijah said to Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of the roar of a heavy shower.” 42 So Ahab went up to eat and drink. But Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he crouched down on the earth and put his face between his knees. 43 He said to his servant, “Go up now, look toward the sea.” So he went up and looked and said, “There is nothing.” And he said, “Go back” seven times. 44 It came about at the seventh time, that he said, “Behold, a cloud as small as a man’s hand is coming up from the sea.” And he said, “Go up, say to Ahab, ‘Prepare your chariot and go down, so that the heavy shower does not stop you.’” 45 In a little while the sky grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a heavy shower. And Ahab rode and went to Jezreel.
— 1 Kings 18:41-45
Familiar? Me too. Still awesome.
The fire from heaven was a public spectacle, one with oohs and aahs galore in a scene of smoke and blood and tears. Israel returned, briefly returned, to Yahweh and forsook their idols as a result of His unmatched power on display.
The rain? That was another story.
After everyone has left, Elijah climbs the mountain alone. He prays alone. He puts his head between his knees, prostrated in a state of spiritual laboring, alone. When he prayed for the fire, the results were instant. Now? “Elijah prayed for fire once; he prayed for rain seven times.”2
Remember: Elijah is the one who prayed for the drought in the first place. That was a big deal.
Baal, the Canaanite deity, the ‘god’ of Ahab and Jezebel, was believed to be the god of rain and of fertility. When it rained people conceived of it as Baal “impregnating” the earth which in due course bore its fruit in the form of crops. Elijah’s prayer and the resultant drought, therefore, were a direct confrontation with and defeat of Baal.3
Yahweh had defeated Baal. Like, crushed and humiliated him in front of everyone, including King Ahab. And now it was time to reverse the curse.
So Elijah prayed. Then he sent his servant to the sea to check.
“I don’t see anything.”
“He’ll answer…go look again.”
Head between the knees. Maybe he took a deep breath and recited the shema. Cried out to the Lord for mercy, for rain.
Weary footsteps pound the dirt. “I still don’t see anything.”
“Go… back…”
Head between the knees. All over again. Seven times. Grueling, monotonous, boring, seemingly ineffectual… until it wasn’t. Then came the downpour.
Have you been waiting and waiting, in what appears to be an endless loop of praying and expecting? Keep believing. Keep laboring. Don’t grow weary and give up before the rain finally comes. It isn’t only the fantastical God does in our midst, but the payoff of the private labors of prayer that are so glorious and wonderful.
Plenty of those in today’s church would say, “I want to be there when the fire falls! I want to see revival! Bring on the signs and wonders!” Far fewer are ready to labor in secret prayer. It’s not glamorous. But it is powerful and effective.4
Have you labored for lost loved ones? Have you groaned with grief at their sin and brokenness, trodding the way of the cross daily as you bring their names to God? How many of us have honestly been consistent enough to see our prayers answered? In Spurgeon’s words, “Groanings which cannot be uttered are often prayers which cannot be refused.”5 Be encouraged! Believe. Contend. Expect for God to bring divine transformation in your home and church and city.
I know I need to. There’s a lot I am praying and seeking God for, but a lot I need to pick the towel back up for. I’m growing.
Funny, the message at church today was about Elijah in 1 Kings 18, the fire and the rain.
Had no idea what would be in this chapter. The fire and the rain.
And here it is after the end of my long weekend. With rain.
Believe patiently for things in prayer. Don’t give up. In time, He’s gonna’ bring a rainstorm.
What will you be praying for this week? Let me know and I’ll commit to praying alongside you.
Staton, T. (2022). Praying like monks, living like fools: An Invitation to the Wonder and Mystery of Prayer. Thomas Nelson. pp. 156-158
Ibid., p. 156.
Storms, S. (n.d.). Prayer, Healing, and Elijah our Example - James 5:13-18. Sam Storms: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. https://www.samstorms.org/all-articles/post/prayer-healing-and-elijah-our-example-james-513-18
Staton, T. (2022). Praying like monks, living like fools: An Invitation to the Wonder and Mystery of Prayer. Thomas Nelson. p. 159.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1870). The Treasury of David: Spurgeon's Classic Work on the Psalms. Kregel Academic. p. 249.
I love that book, Staton’s insights on that passage and your thoughts!
Great thoughts here Kaleb! I have had to make an effort to be okay "laboring in prayer"