Thought for Today

Genesis 7:4  For in seven days I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights; and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground."  

Psalm 68:9  Rain in abundance, O God, you showered abroad; you restored your heritage when it languished;  

Matthew 5:44  But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45  so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.  

Matthew 7:25  The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock.  

For those of you not living in our corner of New England, to understand why I am thinking about rain this morning, you may need to look at a national weather map. It would probably also help deepen your understanding to know that much of our area, and especially in the Merrimack Valley and southern New Hampshire, we are in a severe drought. Yesterday, it was dark and dank, not really raining, but constantly on the verge of raining. Last night, the rain began. By Texas Gulf Coast standards, it is not a very heavy rainfall. But, by any standards, it is much needed rainfall. The rainfall is forecast to continue all day and possibly through tomorrow. Whew!! Nothing yet about 40 days and 40 nights, but thankfully rainfall.

Drought or flooding, it is always hard not to wonder “Why?” Why has God created a world in constant hydraulic imbalance? Wouldn’t our world be better if each area received just the correct amount of rainfall, snowfall and other forms of precipitation? Were I a farmer or rancher, I would certainly think so.

In fact, it is nice to dream about a world where everything worked like that. A world where material wealth and comfort, talent and ability were equally distributed to all of God’s children. At least a world where peace and stability were provided for all.

But, Jesus said, “he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.” I have often heard a phrase appended to that, “and the evil and unrighteous have stolen all the umbrellas.” Why has our loving Creator God created a world of such stark imbalance? Especially when we read the Creation Story in Genesis, with every creative act followed by some version of, “And God saw that it was good.” Certainly God’s children in North Carolina, California and other ravaged areas are having trouble finding any ‘good’ in hurricanes, floods and fires.

Most of us tend to associate prosperity, bounty, security and everything else we value and treasure with being blessed by God. Even in scripture, we find hints of that idea. Yet, Jesus said, “he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.” Why?

We tend to pick and choose from the Bible to support our preconceptions and to suit current conditions. We forget, “Romans 4:3 For what does the scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness." We cannot look at our material wealth, our security or anything else other than our faith to be indicative of our relationship with God.

The apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God—” The watchwords of the Reformation were, sola fide (Latin for ‘by faith alone’), sola gratia (Latin for ‘by grace alone’), and sola Scriptura (Latin for ‘Scripture alone’).

Climatic stability, material wealth, safety and security are all desirable. It would be nice to get all those umbrellas back from the evil and unrighteous. But at the end of the day, at the end of our lives, it is our faith and the grace of our Creator God that matter. We have Jesus’ promise, “John 14:2 In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.”

Stay safe, enjoy the rain in its time and the sunshine in its, trust God,

Pastor Ray