Why Did Elijah Still Have to Travail So Earnestly in Prayer When God Was Going to Send the Rain Anyway? If He Did Not Pray, Would God Have Refused to?
1) Direct Answer
Elijah travailed because God tied the promised rain to the prayer of faith and a restored covenant order. The promise set the end; prayer was the God-ordained means. If Elijah had refused to pray, the rain would not have come then. God would not break His own order—He would wait for intercession or raise another to ask.
2) Scriptural Explanation
- God promised rain: “Go, show yourself to Ahab; and I will send rain” (1 Kings 18:1). Yet Elijah went up, bowed, and prayed repeatedly until the cloud appeared (1 Kings 18:42–45). James states the link plainly: “He prayed again, and the heaven gave rain” (James 5:17–18).
- The covenant required prayer when heaven was shut: “When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain… if they pray… then hear… and give rain” (1 Kings 8:35–36; see also 2 Chronicles 7:13–14). Elijah’s altar, the people’s turning, and his intercession fulfilled that order.
- God attaches promise to asking: “I will yet for this be enquired of… to do it for them” (Ezekiel 36:37). And, “You have not, because you ask not” (James 4:2).
- When there is no intercessor, judgment continues: “I sought for a man… to stand in the gap… but I found none. Therefore have I poured out my indignation” (Ezekiel 22:30–31).
3) Simple Clarifying Logic
- The decree set the destination (rain), but prayer was the switch that released it in time. Elijah’s travail did not change God’s will; it aligned earth with heaven.
- God doesn’t “refuse” His promise, but He refuses to bypass His Word. No prayer, no release at that moment. Delay is not denial; He honors the means He appointed.
- The sevenfold persistence shows that promises often require persevering faith against resistance until the sign appears.
4) Reinforcing Statement
Now notice—don’t stop at the promise; pray it through. The cloud appears to the one who stays on his knees.
Ask a Follow-up Question
What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
What hearest thou, Elijah?
59-0412E §18
I think we could express it like the old colored lady said down South when she had been hit by an automobile. A car had struck her, and they asked her if she wanted to sue for damages. She said, "Lawsy no, child. I don't need damage, I need repair." And I think that's about the way the church needs tonight, is a repair---a place under the juniper tree so we can be alone. The prophet that great day, how disappointed he was that he had done just exactly what God told him to do; and he thought surely if He did that, t...
What hearest thou, Elijah?
59-0412E §17
So what happened? He called them together and the God of heaven answered, and a supernatural sign to Israel that He was still the God that could answer by fire, and He did just what He always did: answered prayer, kept His Word. And after all of this, still it wasn't sufficient, and little old Elijah ... he didn't know what to do, so he run to the juniper tree. I'm glad that there is a juniper tree. All God's people needs to go to that juniper tree. It's a place where he was so discouraged, he didn't know what to d...
Why?
63-0626 §36
Now, we find that this fellow sent up there to get this information from the god of Ekron, Baal-zebub. But all the time, God knew he was doing it. So, He had a prophet down there by the name of Elijah. So He spoke to Elijah, and said, "Go up there to a certain road, and stand in that way. Messengers are coming up." You see, you cannot hide nothing from God, see, no matter what you're doing. How little did that fellow know that God was speaking to Elijah way down there in the wilderness somewhere, in a little mud hu...
An Exposition Of The Seven Church Ages
CAB 5:E-137
When Balaam asked God for permission to go, God turned him down. My that stung! But Balak insisted, promising him even greater rewards and honor. So Balaam went back to God. Now one answer from God should have been enough. But not for self-willed Balaam. When God saw his perversity, He told him to get up and go. Quickly he saddled the donkey and away he went. He should have realized that this was simply God's permissive will and he wouldn't be able to curse them if he went twenty times and tried twenty times. How l...
The Prophet Elisha
54-0723 §10
Now, they went off in such a hurry, without even considering God. And when they found out the seven days was up, well, their water supply was cut off. They didn't have any water to drink. And there they was out there with their cattle, with their animals, and their water supply was cut off. And looks like that it was just about the end for them. Now, that's what we do. Sometimes we go off on a tantrum somewhere and not think about God, not pray over it, ask the Lord whether we should do it or not, and we find out t...