I saw part of a documentary the other night about the early days of the Second World War. The German army had swept across Western Europe and had pushed the British Army back to Dunkirk on the French coast.

The situation looked almost hopeless for the British. With the German navy in the channel and its air force overhead there seemed to be no way that any but a very few soldiers could be got back to England. Futhermore, on the international front it seemed that Britain was all alone. Her European allies had all been overrun, and the USA was refusing to get involved. When the British War Cabinet met there was a very strong move to accept the German terms for peace.

However, at that point the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, took a courageous step that turned the whole situation around; he called for a National Day of Prayer. All over Great Britain the Churches were full as the people called out to Almighty God for His help. History records the result of that mighty upsurge of prayer, with the miraculous change in the weather and a flotilla of small ships that plucked the British Army from under the noses of the Germans. Many thousands of lives were saved because the people prayed.

Our land has never had to face the threat of an invading army, but there is a very serious threat facing us now that could cause great suffering. That is the problem of drought that is ravaging much of the eastern part of our continent. There are already many farmers who are suffering, because they have had no significant rain for several years. Large numbers of sheep and cattle are dying, and the weather forecasters do not expect any significant change for at least six to eight months!

The idea of praying to God for His help in such a crisis does not seem to have got through to our political leaders. Perhaps they have not yet grasped the seriousness of the problem. More likely, they are not convinced of the effectiveness of prayer.

With our highly technical understanding of the weather patterns that cause drought and the observance of influences such as El Niņo there seems to be little room for God.

Yet, the Bible tells us very clearly that it is God who controls the weather, and sends the rain as He determines. When God's people were in Egypt, the land was watered by the annual flooding of the Nile River. However, when God brought them out of Egypt and into the land of Canaan they found that they were dependent on regular, seasonal rain to make their crops grow. Their temptation was to copy the pagan rituals of the Canaanite inhabitants, who sought by sympathetic magic and ritual prostitution to persuade their gods to send the rain in season.

However, God gave His people the promise: "If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, I will send you rain in its season and the ground will yield its crops and the trees of the field their fruit." (Leviticus 26:3, 4). That promise was repeated again in Deuteronomy 11:13-15, but the warning was given that if the people were enticed away to worship other gods, then the Lord "will shut the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce". (v. 16, 17)

This principle is found many times throughout the Old Testament. Psalm 147:8 celebrates the Lord who "covers the sky with clouds; he supplies the earth with rain and makes grass grow on the hills". In 1 Kings 17 the Lord sent a three year drought on the land because of its idolatry, and then sent rain in response to the prayer of the prophet Elijah. In the New Testament, James quotes this as an example of the effectiveness of prayer. "The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective." (James 5:16)

As those who take the Bible seriously, we need to respond in a Biblical way to the needs of the present hour. In other words, we need to pray! However, our prayer is not just a request for rain. Since God has said that He sends droughts as a punishment for the sins of the land, we need to pray that any such sin be revealed and dealt with. In 2 Samuel 21 King David had a three year famine due to drought for which he "sought the face of the Lord." The Lord told him that the problem was due to a sin of king Saul many years earlier that had never been dealt with. The remedy was drastic, requiring the execution of seven of Saul's male decendants, but after that serious step was taken "God answered prayer on behalf of the land."

Our relationship to the land is not the same as that of the Israelites in the land that God had specifically given them. Nevertheless, the principle of seeking God's face in prayer and seeking to deal with the effects of sin where the exist is still relevant. Who knows whether this may not turn out to be the precursor of great blessing? Certainly, when people began to pray during the great drought of 1994 a great outpouring of God's blessing came upon us, as well as an end of the drought.

John Davies
28 July 2002