Bring on the Rain!

They are like clouds without rain…

Jude 12

I was born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona – a city of blazing sunshine with precious little rain.  Located in the Sonoran Desert, Phoenix gets on average about eight inches of rain per year.  There were years when it seemed like it didn’t rain at all, yet I never remember anyone telling us that we could not water our plants or fill the swimming pools.  Watering restrictions were not a part of my life there.

Now I live in Virginia – a verdant area with no evidence of desert sand.  The average rainfall in my area is forty-four inches – almost six times that of Phoenix, yet water restrictions in the summer are a way of life here.  First it is voluntary three-day-a-week watering, then mandatory, then emergency.  Last year we sank to the level of emergency restriction:  no watering at all. 

Whenever rain is forecast – I will often be found on my porch, looking at the sky, praying that this time it might actually rain in my area.  It reminds me of Israel in the time of Ahab and Jezebel – who had no rain for three plus years.  I cannot even imagine.  How did the people survive?  They believed that their god Baal provided the rain.  After more than three years of drought, you’d think they would begin to wonder about that. 

The human heart can experience drought – a  barrenness of the soul that shrivels the spirit.  Without hope, the human soul begins to die.  The writer of Hebrews tells us that “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure…”  He is referring to the love and ministry of Jesus Christ, who died for us, rose again for us, and lives for us – a constant Companion, a source of hope in the midst of hopelessness.  He invites us to come to Him and “…take the water of life freely.”