You Shall Not See Wind

Three kings marched out to war and, after seven days in the wilderness, found themselves dying of thirst. There was no water for the army and none for the animals. Defeat was not looming because they lacked strength or strategy; it was looming because they lacked water. And so, at the end of themselves, they went looking for a word from God.

This is what the Lord says: You will see neither wind nor rain, yet this valley will be filled with water, and you, your cattle and your other animals will drink.

2 Kings 3:17

Dig ditches, the prophet said, in a dry valley, under a cloudless sky. No storm on the horizon, no visible reason to hope, and yet, prepare to receive. It is one of Scripture's clearest pictures of the way God still loves to work: bringing the end about without the means we assumed were required.

A God Who Still Works Wonders

We serve a God of miracles. By a miracle I simply mean this: when the natural order would ordinarily produce one outcome, and yet, by God's own hand, a different outcome comes to pass without the usual cause. Since sin entered the world, creation itself has been thrown out of joint, subject to frustration and decay. And sometimes God graciously reaches into that broken order and shifts things Himself.

I want to be careful here, because faith is not a formula and God is not a vending machine. He is a loving Father, not a technique we master. But it is right and good to come to Him expecting His goodness, because a life of faith really does anticipate that God will act. We do not manufacture the outcome; we bring our need to the One who is able, and we trust Him with the result.

Expectation Is the Atmosphere

Notice something about the wilderness that day: those kings came looking for God to move. Expectation is the atmosphere in which miracles are received. Scripture says the hope of the righteous will not be cut off, but if the righteous carry no hope at all, they close themselves off from what God longs to give.

Someone once said that a Christianity with no fruit at all is a poor advertisement for the God we serve, and there is truth in that, though I would say it gently. God never measures your worth by whether you have received your breakthrough yet. But He does intend your faith to make a real difference in the world, not to leave you resigned and expecting nothing. So let me encourage you: do not let hopelessness settle over your heart as though God has stopped working. Ask Him to birth fresh expectation in you, a holy anticipation that He is still good, still near, and still able.

• Bring Him the very thing that looks impossible, the debt with no income to clear it, the diagnosis, the closed door, the long-held longing.
• Dare to hope, not because you have engineered an outcome, but because the God you are asking is kind and powerful.
• Trust Him with the timing and the shape of His answer, knowing that even what feels like a delay is held in His hands.

The Seed Is in the Word

Why did those kings seek out Elisha in particular? Because, as one of them put it, "the word of the Lord is with him." That is the heart of it. The seed of a miracle is carried in the word of God. They did not need the opinion of an advisor or a general; they needed to hear heaven speak.

It is worth asking honestly why we sometimes see so little of the supernatural. Part of the answer may be that we are surrounded by every word except God's. The word of the expert is with us, the word of the news is with us, the word of our own anxious calculations is with us, and all of them are merely natural. Only the supernatural can give birth to the supernatural. So if you are hungry to see God move, begin by receiving His word, His promises, His voice in Scripture, over your situation, rather than letting the loudest natural voices have the final say.

The Word and the Hand of the Lord

But the word does not work in isolation. Watch what happens next. Elisha calls for a musician, and as the music plays, the hand of the Lord comes upon him, and then the word of promise breaks forth. The hand of the Lord, the Holy Spirit Himself, is the agent who brings God's word to life.

Think of a matchstick and a matchbox. A matchbox alone will not make fire. A matchstick alone will not make fire. But bring the two together and you have a flame. So it is with the word of God and the Spirit of God. Receive His promise, and then invite His Spirit to rest upon your body, your finances, your family, your relationships, and things begin to happen that no natural effort could produce.

Dig the Ditches

Here is where faith becomes visible. The prophet did not tell the kings to sit and wait; he told them to dig. Imagine the scene, soldiers hacking trenches into a parched valley floor. Picture a passerby asking, "What on earth are you doing digging ditches out here?" and the only honest answer being, "Because we are told there will be water, though we see no wind and no rain." It looks foolish. But God delights in that kind of trust.

It was William Carey, the pioneering missionary to India, who said, "Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God." Those two belong together. Ask anyone who has genuinely seen God move, and behind the story you will usually find many bold attempts that came to nothing, and a heart that kept stepping out anyway. The breakthrough often waits on the other side of an act of faith, a step out of the comfort zone, a ditch dug in a dry place. What is God asking you to dig today, even before you see a single cloud?

A Small Thing in His Sight

There is one more line in the story that is easy to rush past. After promising water in the desert, the prophet adds that this is only a small thing in the eyes of the Lord, for God will also hand their enemies over to them. Notice the scale of that. What looked to three exhausted kings like the very edge of survival, water enough to keep from perishing, was, to God, a light and easy thing. And He intended to give not only the water but the victory beyond it.

That is worth holding onto when your own need feels overwhelming. The thing that looms so large it fills your whole horizon, the provision you are desperate for, the healing you are pleading over, is not too big for God; it may be, in His sight, a small thing. And He is often at work on more than the immediate crisis. He tends to the deeper battle too, the fear, the discouragement, the long-standing thing that has stood between you and peace. So when you bring Him the ditch you are digging, do not be surprised if His answer reaches further than the single request you came with.

Your Action of Faith Will Meet Him

So hear the word over your own valley: you may not see the wind, and you may not see the rain, but your action of faith is not wasted. When you receive God's word, come under the touch of His Spirit, and then step out and obey, you place yourself exactly where God loves to meet His people.

If your heart is stirred, make it a simple prayer: "Lord, birth in me a real expectation of Your goodness. Let me receive Your word over my life, let Your hand rest upon me, and give me the courage to dig ditches in the wilderness. I trust You with the water." That is not a demand laid on God; it is a heart leaning fully on Him. And leaning on Him, in expectant, obedient faith, is never in vain. Come thirsty, and bring your need to the One who fills dry valleys with water.