Zachariah 10:1 Ask the Lord for rain in the springtime; it is the Lord who sends the thunderstorms. He gives showers of rain to all people, and plants of the field to everyone.
Psalms 65:9 You visit the earth and water it; you greatly enrich it; the river of God is full of water; you provide their grain, for so you have prepared it.
Ezekiel 34:26 And I will make them and the places all around my hill a blessing, and I will send down the showers in their season; they shall be showers of blessing.
Job 36:27 For he draws up the drops of water; they distill his mist in rain, which the skies pour down and drop on mankind abundantly. Can anyone understand the spreading of the clouds, the thunderings of his pavilion? Behold, he scatters his lightning about him and covers the roots of the sea. For by these he judges peoples; he gives food in abundance.
How often do we take rain as a given act of nature? It is God who supplies it. It is in God’s timing for His glory and honor, but how often do we thank Him for it? This blessing of rain we take for granted is an opportunity each and every time to thank God. How many times do we acknowledge the routine things in life as being from and provided by God? How many times have you heard “boy we sure need some rain”? Shouldn’t it rather be said, “God please send us rain”? But we seem to think rain is an uncontrollable act of nature and God is not in control of it. He sends the rain, and as well, He withholds it. Both are for His plans and purposes. By faith, we trust God for forgiveness, redemption, and salvation. This mysterious act of grace, mercy, and love toward us is so far above our ability to understand that we can only believe and trust in God. Like the early and late rains that are considered by many an act of nature and deny God His glory and honor for it, so are there many who deny the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They believe God is not in control of the very “nature” He created. They believe either that God does not exist or that He is not in control of their eternal destiny. There is nothing created in heaven or earth that God is not in control of. Just as He sends showers of rain and man can deny or believe it is of God so it is when He sent His Son. We can either believe and thank, honor, and glorify Jesus Christ for His gift of salvation or deny it. The only difference is to deny God sends the rain has no eternal consequences but to deny that He sent His Son to forgive and redeem has eternal “forever” consequences. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
