Thank You, Father, for a beautiful day. It has rained all day, but everything looks so green and lush! Thank You for Your bounteous provision!

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Today has been a day full of gentle rain. It began raining before our first service was over this morning (before 10:00) and has rained off and on all day long. Now that could have added up to a substantial accumulation of rain but the last I looked we have just about one inch of rain…total!

I believe farmers prefer this kind of rain. It doesn’t beat the plants down. It doesn’t wash plants and soil away, it just gives plenty of opportunity for the needed moisture to saturate the earth, gently permeating every nook and cranny. As the day progresses the corn and soybeans in the fields, as well as the produce in fields and gardens, the flowers lying in their beds, the blackberries growing in the wild, all of them refreshed and invigorated. Our grass is even a vibrant green!

But I recall a day a couple of years ago when we got almost three inches of rain, but it all came in a very short period of time. There is a fairly deep ditch that runs along the road across from our home, and it rained so hard and fast that the water quickly overflowed the ditch’s banks, flooding the highway and filling our driveway and yard with a river of water! The water flowing through our front yard (which to my knowledge, it has never done that before!) ran into the drainage ditch that runs through our property. The ditch itself was at least nine or ten feet across with racing water! It was crazy!

Sure, that kind of rain provides moisture, but it arrives too much and too fast! The ground has no time to absorb it and it all just flows away, taking topsoil, debris, and anything else that gets in its way with it!

When we make our weekly run to church, what are our expectations? Do we want all that God has for us just dumped on us, filling us to overflowing, wanting it to last until we return the next weekend? Often that mentality is accompanied by such busy lives that we have no time to refresh ourselves throughout the week.

If you drank a gallon of water on Sunday, would your body make it to the next Sunday without another drink of water? We know it wouldn’t! It would be extremely detrimental to our physical health. Most sources, though it has never been scientifically verified, state that you would only survive for about 3 days without water. Some say a little longer, but you would be in a very bad way.

So, why do think we can get away with spiritual dehydration? It is a poor and spiritually unhealthy way to live our lives.

Crops can survive a deluge of rain, but they do so much better with light and gentle showers over a period of time. It is the same for us.

Lord Jesus, there are times when we receive a great influx of water, and we benefit from those times, but may we expose ourselves to regular showers of blessing. May we feel called to spend time with You every day. May we get a good soaking of Your love and may Your Word gently saturate us through to every nook and cranny! Amen!

I will bless my people and their homes around my holy hill. And in the proper season I will send the showers they need. There will be showers of blessing. Ezekiel 34:26 NLT

July 17th, 2022, Sun, 8:05 pm