I read Zechariah 10:1 this morning, and I was struck by the plea to God’s people to ask the Lord for rain in season.
The plea says that without God’s goodness, there are no storm clouds, and without storm clouds, there is no rain, and without rain, there are no lush green pastures. I thought about that sequence and then I thought about it in reverse order…
Lush green pastures = rain = storm clouds = God’s creative goodness
Most of the time, we want to avoid the storms of life at any cost. We don’t like clouds very much, silver linings or not. We want “blue skies, nothing but blue skies.” And we miss the great truth that a life lived with no threat of storms means a life lived with no lush growth. It means drought. It means a life robbed of, well…life.
One of my heroes once said that there are three kinds of people in the world: those who are in the middle of a storm, those who have just come through a storm, and those for whom the storm is on the way. I know that storms are not pleasant (witness the destruction caused by the Florida hurricanes last summer). I know that storms disrupt lives and destroy property. I know that storms are often frightening.
But I need to know that God is the Master of the storm, and that His clouds bring refreshing rain to my parched life.
God, help me learn from the storm clouds. Refresh me and your people with your rain in its season. Bring new and lush growth in our lives.
