Rain Covered Tears

Yesterday morning my reading time covered the story of Elijah and the time of no rain in Israel.   I love this story more than most because of the showdown on Mount Carmel that ended the drought.  God proved Himself as the only true God.  I love the words of Elijah, laced with sarcasm, for the prophets of Baal to yell louder because maybe their god is sleeping or on a journey.  Sometimes I wish we had more Mount Carmels in our day.

Then the rain finally comes.  Elijah had declared it by the Word of the Lord but he sent his servant to keep checking.  The rain had to come.  I tried to imagine what it would be like to hear and see that storm rolling in after so many parched days.  When the rains came, the power of the Lord came upon Elijah and he ran ahead of the king’s chariot all the way to the city.

I went about my normal routine, as the day’s weather forecast looked the same as the past many weeks – high of 103 – as it has been 100 or over for the last 46 days in my town with no rain.  The night before I’d told a relative living out of state that it was starting to wear me down, starting to feel a bit “over the edge”.  It’s not just the high day-time temperatures, and the high low temperatures of 85.. but that it has not rained in all that time.  For me, rain is one of the most comforting weather events.  The clouds feel like a cozy blanket and the world gets washed.  The air smells clean and feels full of energy.  To endure heat is one thing.  To miss the rain is a greater test of endurance for me.

Around 1:00 pm my son came home and asked if I’ve  been outside.  He said it had cooled off, and clouds were coming.  About this time I heard a clap of thunder.  I rushed out to my back porch, surveying the possibilities.  The clouds looked like teasers but at this point, I would take the shade and the breeze, and be happy.   Instead, we got a glorious thunderstorm with a very respectable downpour.  I stood out in it and let it soak me to the bone.  I know it’s crazy, but I actually found myself crying for joy.  I had no idea this was coming – no expectation of such a wonderful gift.  It felt like coming back to life.

The theme of the day continued as we sat down to watch a family movie in the evening.  The plot turned out to be about a town without water in the desert, and the hero of the story gets the water back from those who had stolen it.

Water… is life.  But God wants us to see more through the physical need for water that sustains life.  It points to Jesus, the spiritual water that we need even more desperately.  We pray for rain when the drought comes, and this we should do, acknowledging God is the Source and in control of all things.  But how tragic to not even be aware of a spiritual drought, and a famine of the Word of the Lord.  When will our broken cisterns run dry and when will we realize our deepest need?  Yes, He sends the rain and sustains our lives, for the just and the unjust.  But how He longs for hearts to yearn for Him, the Fountain of Living Waters.  When these rains come, there will be more tears of inexpressible joy.

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