I am Yahweh and there is no other; there is no God but me. I will strengthen you, though you do not know Me, so that all may know from the rising of the sun to its setting that there is no one but Me. I am Yahweh, and there is no other. I form light and create darkness, I make success and create disaster; I Yahweh do all these things. “Heavens sprinkle from above and let the skies shower righteousness. Let the earth open up so that salvation will sprout and righteousness will spring up with it.    Isaiah 45:5-8 HCSB

There’s a country song titled I’m No Stranger to the Rain, recorded by Keith Whitley and released in 1989. That could be our theme song in Louisiana. We get plenty of rain. But I must say that God has given us some beautiful days lately, sunny, low humidity, and even a gentle breeze. It doesn’t get any better than that. It’s been great for getting plenty of yard work done while we are quarantined.

About 6 years ago, I was in the car with my, then two year old, niece. She was complaining about the rain. I explained to her that without rain the flowers wouldn’t grow. I told her that God made it rain so that flowers could grow and bloom. I wanted her to understand that God created the rain for a purpose just as he perfectly created the universe and everything in it for a purpose. He put us here for a purpose.

If you think about it people are often like sunshine and rain. Some people always seem to be raining. They tend to be like a constant drip but yet their glass is always empty. Some drip most of the time with periods of torrential downpour. Some can break into a clap of thunder and lightning at the drop of a hat. Some are like bright, sunny sunshine and can be warm and inviting. While others are like hot humid days from which there seems to be no relief. Some can appear to be warm and inviting, but if you stick around them too long, you will get burned.

But whether we get sunshine or rain, whether people build us up or let us down, or tear us down, God is there for us. God is all powerful and controls all things and God loves us (John 3:16). Just as our scripture passage says there is only one God that controls all things. There is only one God that can strengthen us. There is only one God that creates light and forms darkness. There is only one God that can make success and create disaster. Sometimes it takes disaster to bring us to God. I know it did for me. I had to be brought to my knees to understand God’s love for me and His power to guide my life. In Isaiah 45:2 it says that He will go before us and make our crooked ways straight. There is only one God that could do that for me. I had spent years trying to keep one foot in the church and one foot in the world, but it didn’t work. I had to dive in and give God all of me. And why wouldn’t we want to do that? When we do this we get God’s mercy and grace. We get His protection and we begin to understand the depth of His unconditional love.

The last part of our scripture passage today talks about God showering righteousness from the skies. My friend if you have ever planted anything and watered it yourself, you know that nothing does it as good as rain. Some people catch rainwater to water house plants or put house plants out to catch the rain.

When we witness to others it is often called planting seeds. You see you may witness to someone and they may reject what you have to say, but you can move on and pray that someone else will come along and water that seed and help it to grow.

Whatever God sends our way there is a reason for it. While we may not like the rain, it serves a purpose. But just as plants need rain, they also need sunlight. We as humans need Son light. We need the light of Christ shining in our lives. Without that we are in darkness.

We will go through periods of cool sunny days and we will go through periods of rain. We will experience hot humid days and thunderstorms. But one thing we must keep in mind is that God is in control. He’s got this. My prayer for us today is that we can learn to appreciate all that God does for us. I pray that we will learn to love Him with all our heart and give Him all we’ve got. When we do this He showers His righteousness on us so that salvation and righteousness can sprout up within us. Then we will be content in whatever circumstances God sends our way be it sunshine or rain.

Have a great day!