God's timing vs. Coincidence

I've been impressed today by the Spirit's work in bringing a passage of scripture to my mind today. This morning I received a lovely note from a virtual stranger who had commented on photos that were posted on another URL-->http://www.flickr.com/photos/48889100198@N01/). This person, by way of encouraging me, made a reference to Elijah and his battle with fear in the wilderness, when he felt completely alone.

I was touched by his words, but was even more impressed when I began reading a word by a brother in the Lord, the late Norman Meek, who gave an address while at a Bible Conference in my hometown in 1981. I picked up the book which contained the address out of idle curiosity but felt a real sense of the Spirit working when I began reading and found it was about Elijah and his struggle with fear in the wilderness. Mr. Meek points out this fear occurs almost immediately after Elijah had seen, in faith, a manifestation of God coming in, in the way of blessings raining down from heaven. He says, “Elijah’s had been a remarkable stand, a fearless stand. God had blessed it. And now, Elijah detects a sound of an abundance of rain, that is, a ministry of blessing. We always need, dear brethren, to look for that.” “Raising the Level and Other Ministry-N.T.M” Pg. 313 Published by G. J. Richards.

He also speaks, in the same address, of how Elijah passed his mantle to Elisha, than continues his walk without turning back, still feeling alone and despondent. Mr. Meek wonders whether Elijah would have heard the sound of running feet as Elisha came to him and what his feelings would have been; the joy in his heart as he wonders whether Elisha will take up the mantle given to him, through Elijah, by God. He ends the address with the following, in reference to the older generation of believers, “Have they cause for any comfort? Is there cause for any joy? Well, dear brethren, I think there may be the sound of the abundance of rain, the latter rain that will fill up the crop, so that when the Lord comes there will be something that will just answer to His heart. And then may there also be in our localities, perhaps not running too fast yet, the sound of these running feet in young brothers and sisters, for the Lord’s names’ sake.” Pg. 319 December 25, 1981

Finally, when I was looking for another passage tonight, while writing another entry, I opened my Bible to the following verses in James 5:end of v. 16-18, “The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore fruit.”

Some might call these three incidences coincidence, but all I can say is, "Wow!" How can I not be impressed with this evidence of God’s love as He trys to bring me into deeper relationship with Himself? I feel humbled and a little shaky, with an intense longing to know exactly what it is He would have me learn from these words. Pray for me in this, please. May you, too, have a sense of the Lord’s blessing in them!