on the seventh occasion when he sent his servant the latter saw a little cloud like a man’s hand rising from the sea. Elijah rushed off in haste to Jezreel after sending a message to the king urging him to set off before his chariot wheels got bogged down in the torrent of rain and mud. The earnestness of his prayer has little to do with passion, or posture, or the length of the prayer. It has everything to do with God’s promise of rain (1 Kings 18:1). Elijah knew beforehand that God would answer.