You Can't Force the Rain

For those of us here in the city of Houston, we have been enduring an inexhaustible drought. Though this weather makes for somewhat desirable conditions for a day at the beach, we seek quick for a sign of relief. Our electric bills are high as we try to maintain some comfort inside and try our best to keep our families, pets and plants well hydrated. The weather people have begun to sound like a broken record with their “record high temperatures” and “still in the triple digits”. They do their job well at explaining what is happening in the climate and in the ocean and how it affects us here in Texas but that is all they can do…explain, they cannot make anything happen. My mom and I have a running joke that God has either allowed or authored this drought for a lesson He is teaching someone, so she and I joke that we should pray in agreement with this person so that the lesson be learned and the drought can be over.

Today was a relatively off day for me and it actually started from the moment I had trouble getting out of bed. In one large swoop, every unhealthy behavior that the Lord has called me to forsaken seemed very enticing. My heart was weighed down from “doing good” and my flesh was on fire for rebellion and taking back some sense of control. My heart was weighed down at my daily self-sacrifice, always saying “no” to my flesh and yet not really seeing any fruit. My heart grew frustrated at this process and this obedience and it sought to rebel even for just a moment of temporal gratification. I prayed and struggled with God all morning and afternoon; fighting to take every thought and temptation captive to Jesus. His Spirit of Wisdom confirmed to me that temporal gratification would be vain, fruitless, filled with guilt/shame/regret/condemnation and insufficient. Then I was stuck, “So what am I supposed to do? I don’t feel like anything is working and the only thing I am feeling is foolish.”

As I sought counsel from a dear friend, I was staring out her office window when she said:

“You are like the ground out there, yes dry, for now, but it will not stay that way. There will be rain but on God’s timing. You can’t force the rain.”

I thought about my mom and I’s inside joke, could it be that this drought, this lesson, was for me all along?

Disobedience leads to drought. Many times in scripture, we see God cease the rain in result of the people’s disobedience. I recall hearing in a sermon that “rain” signifies “blessings’ and “favor”, God ceased these heavenly pleasures because of the rebellious heart in His people. I confess to my own sin of disobedience, and this drought in my life, is definitely fruit of it, but none I wish to partake in. And all those behaviors that resurrected that I daily sacrifice to the Lord, are just poor attempts at trying to hydrate areas that requires more than a sprinkle to bring back to life.

Therefore, I encourage you, during your season of drought, humble your heart and obey the Lord. Place yourself under the umbrella of His grace. As your fleshly behaviors attempt to stir up within you, quiet them with the assurance that God is aware of your drought but He has no intention on leaving you there. At any moment, the first inkling of true repentance and humility He sees in your heart, He is prepared to provide you a downpour of blessings and favor.

“Sow for yourselves righteousness;
    reap steadfast love;
    break up your fallow ground,
for it is the time to seek the Lord,
    that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.” Hosea 10:12

“I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees their fruit.”  Leviticus 26:4