The promise in the rain.

It has been raining here for close to 2 weeks with little ceasing for sunshine. It is cold outside and the leaves are soggy and full of mud. The ground is wet, the basement is wet and the house smells of the damp air. The gutters are full of muck and grime. The rain just keeps coming.

Does your heart feel heavy today?

Does it seem as though everything around you is full of damp mud and dirty water? Does your soul reek of damp exhaustion or utter frustration? Are the gutters of your heart overflowing with muck and grime--un forgivness, selfishness?

Does the rain (pain) just keep coming?

If you are in a place of frustration, hurt, anger, or pain today let me remind you of what the Word of God says in Genesis.

The story of Noah comes to us in a literal form. As Christians, we believe that the flood truly did happen. We believe that the animals of the earth and the people and harvest really did perish during the 40 days of rain and the 150 days of the water sweeping over the earth even after the rain had ceased.

However, during a time of quiet and prayer this morning I realized that the story of the flood can also penetrate into our lives in a spiritual way. I mean let's be honest for a moment, shall we? Sometimes when it rains it pours figuratively speaking. Sometimes when we are in a time of hardship, the pain of our circumstance sweeps over our life long after the actual event occurs--much like the water swept over the earth for days after the rain actually stopped falling. Un forgiveness lingers in our hearts for months and sometimes years after someone hurts us. Anger or pride can hang on to the gutters of our hearts far longer than they should due to a little mud and grime that we've refused to give to the Lord.

God promises in Genesis 8:21

"...Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.

As long as the earth endures,

seed time and harvest,

cold and heat,

summer and winter,

day and night,

will never cease."

Read it again.

Let it sink into your spirit. The Lord is speaking to us in much more than a literal way in this passage! He is, even from as early as the flood, opening Himself up to save the souls of men. He is promising that He is going to make a way for every man to enter the Kingdom. He will never destroy them and let them perish.

"As long as the earth endures there will be seed time and harvest."

Or in our spirits, there will be a time of helping others--

and a time to be helped.

"There will be cold and heat."

Or in our spirits, there will be a time when we are completely on fire for God and feeling connected to His heart--

and there will be a time where we are cold; turned away. Shut off.

"There will be summer and winter."

Or in our spirits, a time of sunny happiness, joy and excitement; fulfilment and contentment-

and inevitably a time of darkness, pain, sorrow. A time where we are spiritually bitter from the cold and gloomy from within.

"A time of day and night."

Or in our spirits, a time of light! A time of energy and a time to get things done. A time when we are awake and alert to the spirit and the voice of our God. A time when we have time to be quiet or time to busy.--

and there will definitely be times when we are not listening. Times when we are asleep in our spirits and we do not hear the voice of God nor do we follow His will. A time when the lights go off and we are encompassed in our own desires. A time when things are secret.

God created us and knows all of these human things. He knows what our spirits are going to encounter and therefore He chose to speak to us long before we were even created...and that gives me hope! The Word says that these things of literal meaning or the things in our heart (as we're looking at it today) will never cease. We will constantly endure days that are rainy and hard. We will also have moments and months of wonderful, perfect circumstances. The Word goes on to say toward the end of the story of the flood that God will never flood the earth with water again. So even though certain situations in our lives may not have an end or the common and sometimes mundane changes of this earth will not cease, we do have a promise that the rain (pain) will end. It will never defeat or kill us again.

Even after weeks of non-stop raining and dreary days I understand in my spirit that it will end. Even when it doesn't feel like the rain is ever going to stop or the skies are ever going to open up to reveal a radiant breath of sunshine, I know it will end. I know the skies will open and the earth will awaken. Soon, we will be relieved of these long, rainy, dreary days. Soon our struggles will subside and the new day will begin. A day when we will no longer be overwhelmed by the rain and muck of it all.

I know this because the Word speaks it. And the Word of God is alive.

Stand on this promise of God today, friends. Let us find a renewed strength and courage in the face of the storm. Soon, it will end. Soon we will come out valiant and refreshed! Soon we will see the sign in the sky to mark God's covenant with us--

A rainbow of radiant color and shape.

Our God made a promise. Let's stand upon that together for today!

"Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: "I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you and with every living creature that was with you--the birds, the livestock and with all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you--every living creature on earth. I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be cut off by waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth."

Genesis 9:8-11