From Desparation to Joy

Some time ago, Amber and I had one of the scariest nights of our marriage. We were returning from Bible study with our small group when suddenly my pregnant wife began to bleed. We were caught by surprise and were quickly moved to tears as we both sat in the bathroom and all we could think about was that our baby had just went on to be with the Lord before ever being with us. As in the midst of all times of desperation, the child of God is faced with a choice: to trust in Him or not. That night, we were faced with this decision to trust God or not.

That long night, Amber and I resolved together to let God know loud a clear that if He wanted to take our child into His presence we would accept it, but we were earnest it telling Him our preference to spare our child. I remember kneeling next to Am as she lay on our bed and saying that I believed our baby was going to be okay, that I could not explain it, but I was choosing to believe it. Under God’s providence, we just so happen to have our first prenatal appointment scheduled the next day. Hence, we only had to wait less than 24 hours to discover whether or not we would be parents this October or not. As a result of the bleeding, the doctors scheduled Amber for an emergency ultrasound. After a long night, and much intense prayer, we were relieved with inexpressible joy to both hear a healthy heartbeat and see our little peanut moving around inside Amber’s stomach. We went from desperation to joy as we confided in the Lord, trusting His will for our child. Most of the time this is easier said than done.

God heard our prayers and acted on our behalf as He longs to do for His children. Of course not every story as such ends the same way, but nevertheless, in our time of need and desperation in all situations, as God's children, we are to yield our wants and preferences to the God's plan, whatever it may be and turn to Him in prayer. During the next week I began to either stay up late or arise earlier than usual to plead with God to preserve our baby. Though the bleeding has persisted to some degree since then, we nonetheless have a healthy baby. Prayer is powerful and effective not because of who is praying, but because of Who one is praying to – the Lord. My wife is quite the amazing woman, and one of my heroes for enduring through this, carrying our baby for us.

What is it you are facing today which is causing you to lose sleep? What person or obstacle in life is causing you to grow in anxiousness? I encourage you to have faith in your prayers and turn to Him with your every concern. If God cared about the rain falling on behalf of Elijah's request and because Elijah was "like us in our nature," surely we can be comforted God is here with us and for us.

If Amber and I can pray for you in any way, please comment and let us know how.

I hope you will look over the scriptures below regarding Elijah which James gives us.

Effective Prayer
James 5:16b-18
16b πολὺ ἰσχύει δέησις δικαίου ἐνεργουμένη 17 Ἠλείας ἄνθρωπος ἦν ὁμοιοπαθὴς ἡμῖν, καὶ προσευχῇ προσηύξατο τοῦ μὴ βρέξαι, καὶ οὐκ ἔβρεξεν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἐνιαυτοὺς τρεῖς καὶ μῆνας ἕξ• 18 καὶ πάλιν προσηύξατο, καὶ ὁ οὐρανὸς ἔδωκεν ὑετὸν καὶ ἡ γῆ ἐβλάστησεν τὸν καρπὸν αὐτῆς.

“16b The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours; yet he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain for three years and six months on the land. 18 And again he prayed, and the sky gave rain and the land produced its fruit.”

“The results of prayer in your life will be effectively seen in God’s timing.”

16b
πολὺ ἰσχύει δέησις δικαίου ἐνεργουμένη
“[the] prayer of [the] righteous is powerful and effective”
- ἐνεργουμένη (“effective”) is in the middle voice emphasizing that praying has significant power.
- prayer causes things to happen because God responds to it (cf. Psa. 116).
- we pray to God who is all powerful, and who takes action on our behalf (cf. Phil. 4:6).

17
Ἠλείας ἄνθρωπος ἦν ὁμοιοπαθὴς ἡμῖν
“Elijah was a human being, like us”
- Elijah was a sinner as we are
- yet here, he is the example of a righteous person whose prayer was effective
- it is the faithful person who is motivated and oriented to faith, and who is righteous in the Lord’s sight whose prayer is effective.
- ὁμοιοπαθὴς could be also translated as “like us in experience.” Hence, although Elijah had many occurrences in his life which most do not have, he still had a normal everyday life like us today.

καὶ οὐκ ἔβρεξεν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἐνιαυτοὺς τρεῖς καὶ μῆνας ἕξ•
“and it did not rain for three years and six months”
- Remember, sometimes in a time of need or trouble, we must wait and pray patiently for some time before God’s answer is seen.
- prayer is a call to patience and endurance

18
καὶ πάλιν προσηύξατο
“and again he prayed”
- may we never be timid about praying “again”

ἡ γῆ ἐβλάστησεν τὸν καρπὸν αὐτῆς
“the land bore/produced its fruit”
- the Lord acted on Elijah's behalf
- what are the concerns in your life?
- patiently pray and await God to act