Do You Need It to Rain?
Where I live, this summer has been exceptionally hot and dry. The temperature has been above normal. We went weeks without any meaningful rain. This past weekend we had a torrential downpour, dumping close to three inches of rain in a short period of time. In addition to the rain, high winds downed power lines and trees, creating quite a mess.
Then yesterday we had two more downpours, totaling almost seven inches of rain. Again, downed power lines and trees, along with widespread flash flooding. And if the forecast is correct, the remnants of Hurricane Debby will bring us lots more rain this weekend.
Maybe right now you look out your window and while the ground outside is saturated from all the rain, inside, deep down within you, in your soul, you feel anything but saturated. You feel dry. Parched. The world in which we live, one that is spinning faster and faster and dangerously out of control, has a way of sucking the life out of us, sucking us dry. Not only is the “world” a mess, but for most of us, every day is a grind, an exhausting grind, one that wears us down to the bone.
There are also times when we feel dry in our intimacy with Jesus. Psalm 42:1-2 utters words that sometimes seem very distant from what we are experiencing – “As the deer pants for flowing streams, so pants for soul for you, O God. My sou thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before the living God?” The image of a heart set aflame and a soul nourished by the living God maybe described you in the past, but today, that seems like a distant memory, a very different experience from what you experience today.
Do you feel dry and parched?
Do you need it to rain?
Let me share a verse that I find so encouraging to me in my moments of dryness. First, let me put it into context. The people (Israel) have wandered far from God and now they are urging one another to return to God; for they have confidence that he who punished their disobedience will also heal them and restore them. Let’s look at Hosea 6:1-2 – “Come, let us return to the LORD; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him.”
With that in mind, now here is the verse for us to focus on – “Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth” (v.3).
If you are a Seinfeld fan, then you know the show popularized the phrase “yada yada yada,” which in that context meant something along the lines of, “Enough, already, get to the point.” But, did you know, the word “yada” is a Hebrew word found in Bible, with a very different meaning than Seinfeld’s usage. In the Old Testament it is used in a number of contexts, all of which mean some variation of “to know and to know intimately.” For example, in Genesis 4:1, we read “Adam knew (yada) Eve, and she became pregnant.” In today’s verse (6:3), the phrase “to know (yada) the LORD” references not just a casual “knowing of” God, but rather, knowing God in a very personal and very intimate way.
So, here is what I see in that verse – If you press on and press in to know (yada) God with every fiber of your being, then He will respond to your persistence, your obedience, and come to you like the rains, turning your dryness into saturation. Think back to spring. Those first rains turned the brownness and deadness of winter into the greenness and new life of spring. If you feel dry right now, ask God for his rain, and let this season be your springtime.
If you are encouraged by this or any of my writings, you can subscribe to be notified by email when I post something new. To subscribe, click here. Once you put in your email address you will then get an email confirming that you wish to subscribe. Thank you.