Let It Rain

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Asking God to let it rain, spiritually speaking, has always rubbed me wrong. Oh, I have no problem asking God for literal rain when our garden needs it or there’s a yellow layer of pollen on my car and we can’t stop sneezing. But asking for spiritual rain?? No thank you. I’ve always related it to asking for hardship or loss. I’ve had enough of that so why would I ask for more?? Can’t God do His work in and around me without it having to hurt? But this morning He woke me up at 3:30 to show me a whole different perspective on it. Rain is a good thing, a beneficial thing. Hear me out before saying “I don’t need more rain and closing the page.”

In James 5:7-8 God tells us “Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.”

I’ve been singing along with a song lately on my playlist, asking Jesus to come because there is so much evil in the world. I’ve also been praying for certain things He has led me to battle for spiritually using His Word as the Sword of the Spirit. Big things, important things. Things for people who are not only precious to me but even more so to Him. I feel like there are certain things that He has determined to do that He’s asked me to join Him in, to come and see, that have yet to come to pass. In His grace and goodness, He has invited me to join Him, and I am getting to see Him working. I know He’s working, partly because I know that He is faithful to do what He says He will do, and partly because He is faithful to sometimes reveal pieces of it to me, in His time, as He sees fit. Some of these things I have been praying over for the better part of 2 years, some for 10, some for 30+. However, whether He chooses to show me or not, I know that He is working, so I refuse to give up the fight, to lay down my weapons (prayer & the Word of God). I know that He is working because His promise is that if I ask for anything according to His will, believing, He will give it. And since His Word is Truth then I know that if I pray His Word over the people and situations He leads me to pray for by His Holy Spirit then I am praying according to His will and He will move.

In James, He shows us how the farmer patiently waits through the early and the latter rains. Seeds must be planted but then they need water to sprout. They also need water to continue growing until they are fully grown and ready to harvest. That takes time.

Some vegetation grows quickly, but some may take 30+ years. Think of a flower verses a tree. Like the farmer, we are called to watch it and tend it, expectantly, patiently waiting for both the early rains, which cause it to sprout, breaking ground and rising to first see the sunlight, and the latter rains, which mature it and ripen it for harvest.

Farming is not easy work. That’s why James tells us to be patient and establish our hearts. That means setting our hearts on Him and His will, trusting Him to do what only He can do. The rain and the harvest have to come from Him. To do that we must set our minds on things above, where He is sitting at the right hand of God, on the things of Him (Colossians 3:2) so that we can keep trusting.

He finishes this passage by telling us that the coming of the Lord is at hand. That is His assurance that He is working!! Because He is faithful and true we know we can trust Him to complete the work He has started (Philippians 1:6). What can be more exciting than being invited by the King and Creator into His work and getting to watch Him carry out His plan?! Our work is praying, trusting and obeying. His work is tearing down the strongholds!

So, keep praying. Keep trusting, patiently. You may have been waiting for Him to water the seeds but it takes time for the harvest to mature. The latter rains are needed and will come, in His time. And His timing is perfect.

Dance in the rain. Jump in the puddles. Trust Him with a child-like faith that will move mountains, even the biggest ones that are slower to move.

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