Loving the Word with the MudPreacher

Sure is hot and dry in the Midwest. When we take prayer requests, I hear “Pray for rain!” I know people who are selling their cows because the grass is gone and they can’t afford to start feeding them hay already. We are hearing about spikes in food prices, and a banker friend told me some farmers are close to losing their farms. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear more calls to “Pray for Rain” even from government officials.

Is God only in the Rain Making Business?

Why is it that when folks are spared from a tornado they always say how lucky they were? Or when they escape serious harm through a minor miracle they ‘bless their lucky stars?’ But whenever drought happens and people start to suffer financially we get serious and Pray to God for rain. Why? Is God only in the rain making business?

When the economy turns sour, and markets reel, we look to the Government. When we lose our job or become disabled we look to the Government. When drought comes and there is nothing to be done, we realize Government does not control the rain, so we go to the one who does God.

Seems the only time we come to God is when we really need something that only He controls. Do you think He appreciates this? NO! God does not! In fact He warns of the idiocy of this attitude in Proverbs.

Proverbs 1:24-31 Because I have called and you refused to listen, have stretched out my hand and no one has heeded, because you have ignored all my counsel and would have none of my reproof, I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when terror strikes you, when terror strikes you like a storm and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you. Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently but will not find me. Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the LORD, would have none of my counsel and despised all my reproof, therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way, and have their fill of their own devices.

God is No Errand Boy!

God isn’t our errand boy. He doesn’t sit around waiting for us to call when we are in trouble. He is the Creator of this Universe, the Creator of all mankind. He is constantly calling out to us through His Word and the testimony of His Son. God is worthy of our reverence and devotion, yet we ignore His counsel, and laugh at His reproof. We refuse to reverence Him as God.

God warns that sometimes, no matter how much we cry out, no matter how severe the calamity, no matter how hard we seek, He will not answer. Sometimes we will simply have to eat the fruit of our way. We may have to endure the fill of our own idiocy.

Instead of praying for rain, perhaps we should humble ourselves before God and admit we have ignored Him, we have ignored His Word. We have taken His Son for granted. What America needs is to confess our pride and self-reliance, and return to “in God We Trust.” Not just for rain, but for everything-our life, our government, our education and our finances. We need to be a Nation UNDER God once again.

If we fail to return to our need for God in every aspect of our lives, we may see more and more ‘calamities’ upon our land.

He did it to His own people when they failed to obey Him.

Amos 4:6-7 “I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of bread in all your places, yet you did not return to me,” declares the LORD. “I also withheld the rain from you when there were yet three months to the harvest; I would send rain on one city, and send no rain on another city; one field would have rain, and the field on which it did not rain would wither;

God does use drought to express His indignation at our behavior.

Ezekiel 22:24 “Son of man, say to her, You are a land that is not cleansed or rained upon in the day of indignation.

The mercies of our Lord are ever-present, but we must desire a proper relationship with Him. That relationship is through His Son, Jesus Christ. Pray for Jesus Christ to be in your life and Lord of your life. In Jesus Christ there is always showers of Blessing! (regardless of circumstances)

Ezekiel 34:26 And I will make them and the places all around my hill a blessing, and I will send down the showers in their season; they shall be showers of blessing.

We need to see this drought as a reminder from God that we need to seek Him for our lives, and not just for the relief of rainfall.