“Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.”
— James 5:17–18
“Do not judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds that you plant.”
— Robert Louis Stevenson
SEEDS IN A SILENT SEASON
I was reading James 5 this past week when something caught my attention that I had never noticed before. James has always been a favorite book of mine, one I return to often when I need clarity, grit, or wisdom in seasons of tension. But these verses about Elijah, verses I’ve likely skimmed dozens of times, hit me in a new way.
James writes about Elijah praying earnestly that it wouldn’t rain.
And it didn’t.
For three and a half years, the skies stayed shut. And then, he prayed again, and the heavens opened, and “the earth produced its crops.”
That last phrase was the part I hadn’t noticed before: “the earth produced its crops.”
Despite a drought… someone had been planting seeds.
THE STRAIN OF SILENT FAITHFULNESS
Faithfulness is romantic when it bears immediate fruit.
We love stories of obedience that yield quick reward. But what about when the ground is dry and nothing seems to grow? What about the prayers that return to us with silence, the conversations that seem to go nowhere, the efforts that seem unseen?
What about when faithfulness feels… fruitless?
So much of the Christian life is about sowing.
Planting seeds of love, truth, time, discipline, and devotion.
And yet, for many of us, it feels like we’re sowing in drought.
We’re working the soil of our marriages, our ministries, our children’s hearts, and our own inner lives without seeing much fruit.
It’s easy to wonder if it’s all in vain.
But that phrase, “the earth produced its crops”, it reminds us: when the rain finally comes, the harvest will follow.
Someone had been planting.
Someone had believed that the skies wouldn’t stay closed forever.
Someone had remained faithful in the absence of perceivable fruit.
THE HIDDEN WORK OF SEEDS
Agriculture teaches us that fruit never comes before faithfulness.
Before a seed breaks through the surface, it dies. In darkness. In silence. In stillness. Roots begin to push downward long before the stalk pushes up.
There is no shortcut.
Spiritually, the same is true. Obedience often begins underground.
Jesus spoke about this in John 12:24:
“Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”
Every seed carries hidden potential. But it requires both planting and patience.
And that patience, waiting for what you cannot yet see, is what makes the drought seasons so hard. It’s not that nothing is happening. It’s that everything is happening in secret.
Soil scientists have studied how seeds remain dormant for long periods, waiting for the right temperature and moisture conditions to activate growth. Some seeds in arid places can lie in wait for years, surviving, resting, preparing.
Likewise, your season of silence might be one of survival and preparation.
It very well may not be that you’ve been abandoned.
You may just be being readied.
WHEN DROUGHT BECOMES THE SOIL OF DISCIPLESHIP
Drought seasons don’t just test your resilience, they reveal your roots.
When the surface is cracked and the skies are silent, we’re forced to ask the deeper questions:
Do I believe God sees me?
Will I keep showing up in the unseen?
Can I love without recognition, serve without applause, pray without a timeline?
This is the stuff of spiritual maturity. And this soil is the soil in which disciples are formed.
The world celebrates platform. God honors perseverance.
It’s not always about bringing down the rain… often times it’s the ability to stay faithful when the skies remain silent.
NOT ALL FRUIT IS VISIBLE
We often define fruitfulness in terms of visibility: influence, results, affirmation. But God can measure it differently.
Faithfulness is fruit.
Character is fruit.
Obedience is fruit.
Longsuffering is fruit.
Galatians 6:9 says:
“Let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”
There is a harvest, but it comes in due season.
Not in your season.
Not according to your schedule.
But in God’s perfect time.
And here’s the miracle: sometimes, when the rains return, the harvest isn’t just for you. It’s for others. For your children. For your friends. For generations unseen to you at this time.
Because faithfulness is about eternity, not just today.
THE GOD WHO SENDS RAIN
Elijah was human…just like us. That’s what James is emphasizing.
He wasn’t some superhero. He was a faithful man devoted to prayer.
And when he prayed once more…the heavens gave rain.
Not because Elijah earned it. But because God sends the rain when the time is right.
Your job is not to manufacture growth. Your job is to keep sowing in hope. To trust that the God who sees in secret will reward in due time.
Some seeds will sprout in your lifetime. Others will bloom in the next generation. Your prayers, your consistency, your obedience, it’s all forming something eternal.
We are in a generation that craves instant validation. That equates visibility with value. But the kingdom runs on a different economy. Faithfulness in silence, integrity in obscurity, obedience in drought, these are the currencies of heaven.
A FINAL CHARGE
Maybe the current season you are in is one where you find yourself weary.
Keep planting.
Keep kneeling.
Keep showing up.
Even if the skies are silent. Even if the ground looks unchanged. Even if no one sees.
The prophet Zechariah reminds us not to despise “the day of small things.” God has always done some of His greatest work in what the world considers insignificant.
And when the rains come, and they will, you won’t just see a harvest.
You’ll see His faithfulness.
The same God who brought water from a rock, manna from the sky, and rain from Elijah’s prayer will send what you need in due time.
Your labor is not in vain. Your seed is not wasted. Your season is not forgotten.
Stay faithful. Stay rooted. Stay expectant.
The rain is coming.
–––––––––––––––––––––––
Join Us
Thanks for reading! You can get more biblical wisdom and encouragement sent directly to your inbox every Monday morning with the email signup here.