340 VISIONS AND PROPHECIES OF ZECHARIAH
Israel was brought into covenant relationship with God, we read, " Thou, O God, didst send a plentiful rain ; Thou didst confirm Thine inheritance when it was weary" 1
And when Jehovah shall have mercy upon Zion again, and bring back His people after the long centuries of their " weary " wanderings, the light of His blessed countenance shall be as " life " to them, " and His favour as a cloud of the latter rain " 2 yea, in response to the spirit of grace and of supplication which shall then be created in them, God says, " / will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and streams (or floods } upon the dry ground ; I will pour My Spirit upon thy seed, and My blessing upon thine offspring. " s
Viewed as a symbol of spiritual gifts and blessings, there is a message also for you and me in this ancient exhortation, dear reader. Indeed, 1 look upon this passage as one of the most beautiful scriptures in the Old Testa ment in reference to prayer, and God s manner of answering.
I. " Ask ye of Jehovah, . . . and Jehovah shall give" which reminds us of the word of our Lord Jesus : " Ask, and ye shall receive," for the God of Israel is a God who does answer prayer. Sometimes the answer may be brought about by apparently natural causes, but all the same it is " Jehovah that maketh lightnings," 4 and commandeth the clouds to discharge their fertilising showers.
II. "Ask ye of Jehovah RAIN, . . . and He shall give them showers of rain, D5?J "i?p, tritar geshem " literally, " rain of plenty, or pouring rain " ; for our God is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, and this both in relation to temporal and spiritual things.
III. "And He will give to every one grass in the field? \ for He individualises His gifts and blessings, and not one!; is left out of His gracious and bountiful provision and careJ
But one great condition of effectual prayer is that our; hearts and expectations be set wholly upon God. " Hear
1 Ps. Ixix. 9. - Prov. xvi. 15.
- Isa. xliv. 3.
4 The lightnings are spoken of as the harbingers of rain ; see also Jer. x. 13, " He maketh lightnings for the rain," which is a verbal repetition of Ps. cxxxv. 7
