We Receive Your Rain

You might have noticed on Sunday that Zion Creative featured the Elevation Worship song ‘There is a Cloud‘, it is a song that we believe mirrors where we as a Church family are and where we are going, but as lyrics can be vague I did a little bit of research around where Elevation Worship found their inspiration for this song. In particular there was mention of the verse 1 Kings 18:43-44 (NIV) 

 

Go and look toward the sea,” he told his servant. And he went up and looked.

“There is nothing there,” he said.

Seven times Elijah said, “Go back.”

The seventh time the servant reported, “A cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising from the sea.”

So Elijah said, “Go and tell Ahab, ‘Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.’”

 

These verses were taken from a time in Biblical history where the people of Samaria were experiencing a severe famine and Jezebel was killing off the Lords prophets. It was a time of fear, persecution, and of noticeable lack for all people.

Things were hard, but we know that is where God shines. In the midst of our struggle God sends us aid. In the case of Elijah we can see that God’s provision wasn’t instantaneous, and it wasn’t without risk. Elijah was exposing himself to physical harm. He was exposing himself to potential ridicule. If God had not shown up he risk embarrassment and death, but he persevered. Seven times he sent his servant to check for the signs of rain. It wasn’t until that seventh time that there was even the smallest sign of God’s provision, and even then it was a tiny cloud, not a massive storm cloud that the people may have been hoping for. The beauty of our God is that he can take a fluffy white cloud, the smallest sign of hope and turn into a deluge that has the potential to completely heal the land with its abundance.

As we absorb the words of ‘There is a Cloud’ as we declare:

“We receive Your rain
We receive Your rain
We receive Your rain
We receive Your rain

Like a flood, like a flood
We receive Your love when You come
Like a flood, like a flood
We receive Your love when You come”

Let us be watching the horizon, let us be on high alert. Let us be constantly searching for the moment when God declares that we make haste. Like Ahab we need to be ready to hitch up our chariots and go down before the rain stops us.

I am excited to see our church family prepared to receive the rain, the promise, the future God has prepared for us, and to share our abundance with the community around us.

Karla