PRAYING
FOR RAIN

Topics: Belief; Circumstances; Faith; Prayer

References: Matthew 21:22; Mark 11:24; John 20:29

Three farmers gather daily during a horrible drought. The men are down on their knees, praying the skies will open and pour forth rain. The heavens are silent, however, and the petitioners become discouraged. Nonetheless, they continue to pray every morning.

One morning, a stranger asks the men what they are doing. They say, “We’re praying for rain.”

The stranger looks at each of them and shakes his head. “I don’t think so.”

The first farmer says, “We are down on our knees, pleading for rain. Look around; see the drought. We haven’t had rain in more than a year!”

The stranger says their efforts won’t work.

The second farmer says, “We need the rain; we aren’t asking only for ourselves, but for our families and livestock.”

The stranger still isn’t impressed. “You’re wasting your time,” he says.

The third farmer in anger says, “What would you do if you were in our shoes?”

“You really want to know?” the stranger asks.

“We really want to know!” the farmers say. “The future of our farmlands is at stake.”

The stranger says, “I would have brought an umbrella!”

—Larry King, Powerful Prayers (Renaissance, 1998)