Rain

Genesis 7:4
For in seven days I will send rain on the earth for 40 days and 40 nights, and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.

When the wickedness of mankind became exceedingly great and God was grieved by the corruption of His creation, He sent rain upon the earth for 40 days and 40 nights to purify the world of evil and violence.

Deuteronomy 32:2
May my teaching drop as the rain,
my speech distill as the dew,
like gentle rain upon the tender grass,
and like showers upon the herb.

Rain is powerful and far-reaching. Here, it is seen delivering growth and God’s Word. Note how rain smashes grass, but grass slowly restraightens itself toward the sun (Son?) stronger than before. Fed. Happy.

1 Kings 17:1
Now Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.”

King Ahab of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. He walked in his sin, took for himself many exotic wives from pagan nations, and worshiped idols such as Baal and the Asherah. God, through the prophet Elijah, expressed his disdain of idolatry by preventing rain from falling on the nation of Israel. God controls nature. When it rains, God shows that He still loves us. He has not forsaken us as we have Him. He loves His children. He is calling a people to Himself and has not turned His face away despite our stubbornness, pride, and rebellion.

Isaiah 45:8
Shower, O heavens, from above,
and let the clouds rain down righteousness;
let the earth open, that salvation and righteousness may bear fruit;
let the earth cause them both to sprout,
I the Lord have created it.

Again, God shows His continued favor for us by calling rain upon the earth. God’s desire for His creation to receive both salvation and righteousness can be found in every rain drop. His healing hand purifies us and causes us to grow.

Matthew 5:44-45
But I say to you, ‘Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

Rain can remind us of our Lord’s great, unbiased love for His creation. He does not see by simple worldly terms of good and evil, or just an unjust; but rather, He sees us with Holy eyes, with eyes filled with wisdom this world cannot comprehend. He sees the saint in the sinner.

James 5:17-18
Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for 3 years and 6 months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.

God is sovereign. When we have eyes to see Him, we can easily see His daily work in and around our lives!