Expectant

When you hear the word, expectant, what comes to mind?  I’d imagine, for many of us, it would be synonymous with the word pregnant.  From the time a woman finds out she is “with child“, until she gives birth, she is said to be “expecting“. Throughout each trimester, the baby grows and develops, until it can sustain life outside of the womb.  Like a promise that has been made to her, the mother knows, without a doubt, that at the end of 9 months, she will be holding a baby, a promise come true. Way back in the book of 2 Kings, we encounter an excellent example of expectancy in prayer.  To get hold of his disobedient people’s attention, God caused a 3 year-long drought to affect the land.  As the end of the suffering was approaching, he called His chosen man, Elijah, to start praying.  He had already promised Elijah that it would rain, the man of God just didn’t know exactly when. Now you’d think that a promise made by God would be as good as gold, so why would prayer even be necessary? For the same reason an expectant mother takes vitamins, eats good foods, exercises, and prays, to ensure a healthy, fully mature infant at birth.  Elijah and his servant climbed to the top of Mt. Carmel, as he waited for the sound of heavy rain.  Seven times he told his servant to look towards the sea for any sign of the promised deluge.  After the first 6 times, with nothing on the horizon, instead of giving up, or slacking off, Elijah continued praying, bending down to the ground and putting his face between his knees.  Amazingly, this is the very same position a woman in labor took to push her “promise“, that precious child into the world!! Birthing a child is labor, and so too, in many instances, is bringing forth the fruition of a prayer promise.  The 7th time  the servant reported that “a cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising from the sea.” Elijah got up, “the sky grew black, the wind rose, and a heavy rain came on.”  What are you expecting from God?  Have you given up on His promise?  Have you stopped praying? The church, each one of us, MUST be expectant, and earnestly laboring in prayer to birth those promises into life. 2 Kings 18:41-45