A devastating drought threatened to destroy a
generation--the generation before Jesus.
The last of the Jewish prophets had
died off nearly four centuries before.
Miracles were a distant memory. And God
was nowhere to be heard.
But there was one man, an old sage who lived outside
the walls of Jerusalem,
who dared to pray anyway. His name was Honi.
And even
if the people could no longer hear God,
he believed that God could still hear
them.
With a six-foot staff in his hand,
Honi drew a circle in the sand.
Then he dropped to his knees and raised his
hands to heaven.
With the authority of the prophet Elijah who called down fire
from heaven,
Honi called down rain.
Lord of the Universe,
I swear before Your Great Name
that I will not move from this circle
until You have shown mercy upon Your children.
Then it happened.
As his prayer ascended to the
heavens, raindrops descended to the earth.
The people rejoiced over the rain,
but Honi wasn't satisfied with a sprinkle.
Still kneeling within the circle,
Honi lifted his voice over the sounds of celebration.
Not for such rain have I prayed,
but for rain that will fill cisterns, pits, and caverns.
The sprinkle turned into such a
torrential downpour
that the people fled to the Temple Mount
to escape the
flash floods.
Honi stayed and prayed
inside his protracted circle.
Not for such rain have I prayed,
but for rain of benevolence,
benediction, and grace.
Then, like a well-proportioned sun
shower on a summer afternoon,
it began to rain in perfect moderation.
Some
within the Sanhedrin threatened excommunication
because his prayer was too bold
for their taste,
but the miracle couldn't be repudiated.
Eventually, Honi the Circle Maker was honored for
"the prayer that saved a generation."
The circle he drew in the sand
symbolizes the power of a single prayer
to change the course of history.
It's
also a reminder of this timeless truth:
God honors bold prayers because
bold prayers honor God.
