The Sunday Mail
Father Tendai Reki
‘‘Is anyone of you in trouble? He should pray, ’’ James 5 vs 13. Surely we are a troubled nation. We do need rain to survive. Elijah in the Old Testament prayed for rain and it rained and the earth produced crops.
As a praying nation we ask God for rain. Usually at this time of the year we should be seeing crops flourishing, animals healthy and rain pouring consistently but we do not see that scenario.
We are experiencing the effects of climate change. There is drought in the southern part of Africa. It is important to seek divine intervention in such a crisis.
As a nation we are experiencing the effects of drought – that is unemployment and people selling their cattle at low prices for survival. It is common to hear the religious say that drought is a punishment from God because of sin.
Traditionalists say people have angered the ancestors, while the meteorological department say it is climate change.
There is the need to ask God to show us mercy and pour down His glory on His children so that the earth will flourish. He has the answer to all our problems.
Honi Hu-Mi’agel, a Jewish scholar in First Century B.C on one occasion when it did not rain well in Israel drew a circle in the dust and asked God to make it rain and he would not move until it rained. It started to rain and he asked it to be calm and sufficient rain.
Honi is an example of the power of prayer. We need to approach the throne of God with boldness and confidence and ask Him to give us the rain we so much need to bring life to our crops and animals.
Vice- president Phelekezela Mphoko on January 8, called on Zimbabweans to have a national week of prayer for the rains. In some parts of Buhera people have not put anything in the ground because they have not received any rains.
In the Catholic church there is a prayer for rain offered in October every year.
They pray through Saint Medard patron Saint for weather. Even Saint Augustine prayed for rain and Saint Heribert prayed for the end of a drought.
In the traditional culture there is mukwerera, a prayer for rain from God (Mwari, Mlimo) in Matobo. The ceremony is held at Njelele. In as much as there are scientific ways of bringing rain through cloud seeding it is not sufficient unless we ask God to show us mercy. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful therefore fellow Zimbabweans lets pray for the rain.
