I guess the first question is where does a drought come from? Is it man made or is it an act of God? Typically we look to blame, or at the very least ascertain root cause, in order to help us understand what happened or what is happening.
Depending on your world view, each will come to their own conclusions. People who do not have a relationship with God will have a view based on how the media portrays things and a basic opinion formed from their own observation of the rhythms of life. Their response is essentially that of a victim. “Hey, it’s happened – we just have to ride it out, make adjustments and live through the bad until it gets good.” Some decisions will be made on ‘expert’ advice. This is not unreasonable – wisdom, the bible says, comes from the multitude of counsel.
The more pressing question for us who are in God is; if God is the author and the finisher, is it also possible he is the author of this current financial drought? Haggai suggests that drought is a God response to mankind’s obsession with their own wealth and focus on their own house (Haggai 1).
1 Kings 18 also gives us the story of a drought inflicted on a people in order to create in them a change of heart. Makes sense really. How else can God get our attention except through circumstance? A lack of supply is always an attention grabber!
So the question is, what is the right response for a man of God? What is the Kingdom response? What is the Kingdom directive? Our desire and need must surely be to hear what God says. It’s at these times we must find the men and women in the Kingdom, who like the men of Issachar ‘understand the times and the seasons’. If ever there was a need for the prophetic, it is now. The story of the drought in 1 Kings 18 is overlaid with Jezebel’s agenda to kill all the prophets of God. Elijah stood as a lone voice.
I can’t help but wonder if as a body we are not in a similar state today. Facing drought without a prophetic voice of direction, giving clear understanding of the season. After all, the spiritual man is able to judge all things. 1 Cor 2:16 says, we have the mind of Christ.
It has been with this in mind that I have sought the Lord in a new way for His direction since June 2008. I write this post simply to record His faithfulness, and to encourage those of us in the market looking for a lamp for our feet to share what the Holy Spirit is saying, and in so doing, bring a Kingdom response to the market place. It is my hope this response will prove to be a sign and wonder and a testimony that God is God, and that there is a way of life available that is counter culture, called the Kingdom of God.
