And [Elijah] said to his servant, “Go up now, look toward the sea.” So he went up and looked, and said, “There is nothing.” And seven times he said, “Go again.” Then it came to pass the seventh time, that he said, “There is a cloud, as small as a man’s hand, rising out of the sea!” So he said, “Go up, say to Ahab, ‘Prepare your chariot, and go down before the rain stops you.’” (1 Kings 18:43-44)

As Elijah prayed for rain, he expected an answer and he would not stop praying until he saw the answer come. So, he sent his servant out to look for the clouds of coming rain. The servant went out and saw nothing; Elijah kept praying. Five times more the prophet sent his servant to see the answer to prayer and the servant saw nothing.

Yet, “it came to pass the seventh time.” This was stubbornly persistentprayer. It was as if Elijah would not take “no” for an answer, because he was confident that it was God’s will to send rain. He stubbornly furthered the will of God by his persistent prayer. It is a good thing that Elijah didn’t quit praying after six previous disappointments.

Finally, the servant brought a report: “There is a cloud, as small as a man’s hand, rising out of the sea!” The evidence of coming rain came slowly and in a small way, but out of this small evidence God brought a mighty work.

Four Signs

Charles Spurgeon used these verses as an illustration of the small signs that come before a mighty work of God. He spoke of four “certain signs and tokens for good which prayerful faith clearly perceives when an awakening, a genuine revival is about to come.” Christians should regard such things as clouds, as small as a man’s hand, rising out of the sea. Spurgeon noted these four things which, in his opinion, were like a small cloud that signaled a great downpour of blessing to come:

– A growing dissatisfaction with the present state of things, and an increasing anxiety among the members of the church for the salvation of souls.
– When this anxiety leads believers to be exceedingly earnest and bold in prayer.
– When ministers begin pray together, and to say, “What must we do?”
– When we shall see the doctrine of the individual responsibility of each Christian fully felt and carried out into individual action.

Elijah knew that the small cloud meant a big work was on the way. He told King Ahab in faith, “Prepare your chariot, and go down before the rain stops you.” Based only on the sighting of a cloud that was as small as a man’s hand, he knew a torrent was on the way. When we see God moving in even small ways among us, we should have great faith for a greater work to come.

Click here for David’s commentary on 1 Kings 18

He who sits in the heavens shall laugh;
The LORD shall hold them in derision. (Psalm 2:4)

We don’t often think of God as laughing, but Psalm 2 tells of a special reason why God laughs. Here, God laughs because man thinks he can plot and work against the Almighty with any hope of success. It says in the first few verses of the Psalm:

Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, “Let us break Their bonds in pieces and cast away Their cords from us.” (Psalm 2:1-3)

God’s response? “He who sits in the heavens shall laugh.” God looks at the way man plots against Him and He laughs. God isn’t afraid or confused or depressed about the opposition of man. God laughs at it.

God laughs because He sits in the heavens. He sits as the Great King on a glorious throne. He doesn’t pace back and forth in the throne room of heaven, wondering what He should do next. God sits in perfect peace and assurance. He doesn’t even rise from where He sits; God simply laughs.

God laughs because He sits in the heavens. It isn’t an earthly throne He occupies; it is the throne of heaven with authority over all creation. What does heaven have to fear from earth?

Please notice that God does not laugh at the suffering of humankind, even their suffering as a result of sin. God laughs at the proud man or woman who thinks so highly of themselves that they will fight against God and seek to prevent His will.

Simply said, “The LORD shall hold them in derision.” Through the centuries many have opposed God and His Kingdom in Jesus Christ. Each one of these opponents have been and shall be frustrated and crushed.

An Example of God’s Laugh

A famous opponent of Christianity was the Roman Emperor Diocletian (AD 245-313). He was such a determined enemy of Christians that he persecuted them mercilessly and wanted to believe that he had defeated Christianity. He struck a medal with this inscription: “The name of Christianity being extinguished.”

Diocletian built monuments with inscriptions that said he had “extinguished the name of Christians” and had “abolished the superstition of Christ.”

Diocletian is dead and gone, now only a few paragraphs on the pages of history. The fame and glory of Jesus Christ is spread over all the earth. God laughs from heaven, and the LORD shall hold them in derision. Let this comfort your troubled heart today.

Click here for David’s commentary on Psalm 2

And let our people also learn to maintain good works, to meet urgent needs, that they may not be unfruitful. All who are with me greet you. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. Amen. (Titus 3:14-15)

These last sentences from Paul’s letter to Titus give us a few final things to remember. We can first look at the goal: that Christians may not be unfruitful. God wants us to “bear fruit” as believers.

The idea of “fruit” or being unfruitful here is a poetic way to speak of a Christian life that brings forth good things. It’s good for an apple tree to bring forth good apples, and it’s good for a Christian life to show the “fruit of the Spirit” described in Galatians 5:22-23: “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.”

Here, Paul says we will not be unfruitful if we maintain good works, and if we meet urgent needs, giving us the opportunity to show forth the fruit of the Spirit. It’s good for Christians to do good, and to do good in Jesus’ name! We should not only start doing good works, but we should maintain good works, keep on doing them. We should look for urgent needs and try to meet them in Jesus’ name.

This is another way that the wonderful letter to Titus encourages us to do good and to show the reality of our faith through such good works. We also see another way that the message of Paul and the message of James were not in contradiction, and that Paul also believed that real faith would show in real life.

A Special Kind of Love

In the last verse of Titus, we are reminded of Paul’s warm relationships with Christians all over the Roman Empire. He sent a greeting both to Titus and to the other Christians on the Island of Crete. In this, notice this line: greet those who love us in the faith.

We should be grateful for the people in our life who love us in the faith. We enjoy our bond as brothers and sisters in Jesus, a bond that can go deeper than blood because it is in the faith. I want to say “thank you” to those who love us in the faith.

At the end of it all, Paul wrote: Grace be with you all. Even though the letter to Titus has a lot of emphasis on practical Christian living, we can only live the way God wants us to when we walk in His grace. We’re grateful for all His grace gives us and teaches us, and we long for that grace to be with us more and more. By faith, receive His grace today and for the coming week – and then maintain good works!

Click here for David’s commentary on Titus 3