Shepastor: “Rain Can Be Beautiful, Depending Upon Where You Stand…”

1The LORD then said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation. 2Take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and one pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, 3and also seven pairs of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth. 4Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.”
5And Noah did all that the LORD commanded him. Genesis 7:1-5, NIV

Leviticus 26:3-4, NIV
'If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments so as to carry them out, then I shall give you rains in their season, so that the land will yield its produce and the trees of the field will bear their fruit.

When I was growing up, I can remember hearing older people talking about knowing that rain was coming because their joints would begin to ache. As the years have passed, I can now relate to what they were saying! Rain and cloudy days impact me differently now.

As a child I enjoyed seeing the oily puddles on the ground, infused with gasoline from my dad’s car and thinking that the iridescent colors were mini rainbows. I remember jumping in those puddles, making mud cakes and tossing rocks to make a big splash. Rain was fun. Rain was interesting. Rain was not a problem, except when I couldn’t go outside due to thunder and lightning! But as I have gotten older, rainy and cloudy days can bring me down. My joints ache, my energy feels zapped and I just want to stay in bed! From this “new” vantage point, I no longer see rain as fun. So imagine my surprise when my daughter bounds into the room, carefree and happy and declares, “Mommy, isn’t the rain beautiful? Sometimes, rain can be beautiful!”

As always, her innocent words carried me to another place. I began to think about rain being synonymous with blessings – except for the great flood. In Genesis, God used rain to “wipe the earth clean,” from the wickedness of the sinful. Subsequently however, doing so grieved God’s heart. He gave us the rainbow as a promise and a reminder that He would never use that method again. From that time forward, rain blessed the earth with fruitfulness, healing and new life. Yes, rain can be beautiful!

Without rain, we experience drought. Without rain, new blossoms can’t form. Without rain, clean water can’t be caught. Without rain the ground would become hard and cracked. Without rain we would die.

Though inconvenient at the time, rain is beautiful. As the “rain” falls in your life, remember that blossoms, new life, rich soil and an abundant harvest are each on the way!

Post a comment or send me an email at Shepastor1@hotmail.com

Until next Wednesday,
In Faith, Hope and Perseverance,
Pastor Chris
www.shepastorchris.org