Ask and it shall be given to you…
So says the gospel of Matthew 7:7. The Bible also says this:
If I shut up the heavens so that there is no more rain, or if command the locust to devour the land… and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14 NASB
Something like this happened in the state of Minnesota way back in 1877. This event was recorded in local newspapers. In fact, the governor of the state got into trouble because of the step that he took—until the answer came—and there was only praise for the action.
In that era, the economy was almost entirely based on agriculture. And the year before had been awful. Grasshoppers had very nearly destroyed the Minnesota economy, eating up a lot of the crop. Some lost everything, and most were brought to a razor thin margin of just barely getting by. Farmers knew that these kinds of things came in waves; they were fearful that the grasshoppers might return for a second year, and push them from survival to ruin (or even starvation).
The situation was so very serious that the Governor (John S. Pillsbury) took the unusual step of proclaiming a statewide day of prayer and fasting. The edict indicated that on April 26, 1977, every business, shop, school and office close to seek the mercy of heaven on their state. It requested that every person in the state stop everything they were doing, and seek the Lord so that the grasshoppers be prevented from ravaging the crop.
Every man, woman and child in the state was included in that proclamation.
In that moment of history, the population listened.
Every office, store, school business, every form of work was shut down as people went to churches, schools, or their homes to pray, imploring the Lord God of heaven for mercy. The records of the day indicate that a holy hush fell all over the state.
The next day dawned bright and clear. Strangely, temperatures soared to mid-summer heat—in the mid80s Fahrenheit—something quite odd for April in Minnesota. Everyone was devastated as they discovered billions of grasshopper larvae wriggling to life. For three days the unusual heat persisted, and the larvae hatched out. It appeared that it wouldn’t be long before they would start feeding and destroying the beginnings of the wheat crop.
On the fourth day, however, temperatures plummeted to well below freezing; that night a very harsh killing frost covered the earth. That frost was so severe that it killed every one of the grasshopper larvae as surely as if poison or fire had been used.
Grateful farmers never forgot that day. It went down in the history of Minnesota as the day that God answered the prays of the people…
It’s a great story and a true one, recorded not only among the faithful, but in the newspapers of the day.
God pays heed when we take his Word and live it out as far as we know it.
And you can do that too! If there is a condition to answered prayer, meet the condition--and watch the Lord at work.
© David Chotka 2020
