Pondering in the Rain

Asherel and I drove several hours through the countryside of NY on route to Boston to see my son, Anders, yesterday. It was a torrential downpour -- such a deluge that there were times I really could not see more than ten feet in front of me. Sadly, we drove hours to spend one day in a great city, but saw very little of it. It was too rainy to venture out, so we satisfied ourselves with the sole activity in Boston being dinner with my first born...who I get to see far too infrequently. Normally I enjoy the drive as it is strikingly pretty countryside. But this time, I saw nothing but furiously wiping windshield wipers and buckets of rain. We never left the hotel. It had a fine restaurant, so Anders agreed to join us there for dinner when his work was done.

God sends the rain. Why did He send it so ferociously just at that time? Would it have been so terrible to delay it a few hours so it rained only at night while I slept? Instead of wandering around the beautiful city of Boston,  my daughter and I sat in the hotel room. I read the Bible, answered email, and rested. Just for giggles, I did a word study of 'rain' in the Bible. There are some patterns that emerged.

First, God sends the rain.
Second, sometimes He withholds the rain, usually in response to His people sinning.
Third, sometimes He sends buckets of rain, to the point of floods, usually in response to His people sinning.
Fourth, God uses the rain not only to remind His people of His sovereign power, (and of their sinning,) but also to water the flowers.

I peered through the deluge and wondered which aspect of rain God wanted me to consider.

Anders walked from his apartment to join us for dinner, apparently during a let-up in the rain. He wanted to walk back as well, but as we stepped outside to say goodbye, the heavens had opened and torrents of rain were falling again. He happily took my offer for a drive, and we had a lovely last few minutes together. I found myself praising God for the rain.


************
James 5:18 - And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.

Zechariah 10:1 - Ask ye of the LORD rain in the time of the latter rain; [so] the LORD shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field.

Leviticus 26:4 - Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.

1 Kings 8:35 - When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, when thou afflictest them:

Isaiah 55:10 - For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:

Jeremiah 14:22 - Are there [any] among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain? or can the heavens give showers? [art] not thou he, O LORD our God? therefore we will wait upon thee: for thou hast made all these [things].

Genesis 6:3-8
Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the LORD said, 'I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.' But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD."

Genesis 9:15

And I will remember my covenant, which [is] between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.