James 5:17-18 – I Wanna Know, Have You Ever Prayed for Rain?

Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

I chuckle a little every time someone from our church asks me to pray for them, with the implication that, as their pastor, my prayers somehow have more influence with God. I usually try to respond with something like “Of course I’ll pray for you, and I wonder if you’d pray for me about…”

You may remember from our previous devotional, one of the points James makes is precisely that there is no hierarchy when it comes to the power of prayer, the requests of the clergy have exactly as much force as the laity. Hence, the “one another” language in verse 16.

And now, in our current text, James moves to confirm just that…and to do so, he reaches back into the Old Testament and comes up with the example of Elijah.

Yes…Elijah. Call down fire, raise the dead, multiply oil, confront Jezebel, go to Heaven in a fiery chariot…that Elijah. Hardly seems like the kind of guy we would pick to make the point about the prayers of the “regular guy”.

But James insists that Elijah is actually a good example. Look at the phrase he uses:

Elijah was a man with a nature like ours…

That’s the New King James. I actually like how the King James translates the word ὁμοιοπαθὴς:

Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are…

In other words, the amazing things that Elijah did…well…that was God working through him. At his core, he was just like the rest of us. And he prayed…and God answered his prayer.

I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest that when James talks about Elijah’s “like passions”, he is referring, at least in part, to the events of I Kings 19. Here the mighty Elisha, who has just won very public victory over the Phoenician interloper queen Jezebel and her imported prophets of Ba’al, succumbs to fear, discouragement, depression, and one epic pity party. Interestingly enough, this low point was immediately after the episode mentioned by James, where Elijah prayed for rain.

And this is important: It’s not that Elijah was weak, but then strengthened himself and God heard his prayer. No, Elijah was weak, and God heard his prayer anyway.

The point is this: God delights in hearing and answering the prayers of his children. He is fully aware of our weakness, and desires to show Himself strong on our behalf.

You may feel unworthy to pray. That is not necessarily a wrong feeling. But it is a terrible reason not to pray.

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And be sure to read the action-packed adventures of Missionary Max: Missionary Max and the Jungle Princess and Missionary Max and the Lost City.