When we speak of RAIN what comes to your mind? Certain things will surely pops up to your brilliant brain. Rain nourishes the ground. But let's face it rain is something that not a lot of us desire. However Rain plays a key role in the cycle of returning water back to our earth. So it is obvious that we need rain in order for the world to continue functioning. Rain water's most well-known and most important effect is providing you with water to drink.
Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/179964-importance-of-rain-water/#ixzz1UKUEVH5L
Criticism, like rain, should be gentle enough to nourish a man's growth without destroying his roots.
Frank Howard Clark
However, rain is just like the Word of God - it nourishes our soul. We need it for us not to be weary and have a heavy soul. Every time that we read each word from God it help us, it revives our spirit. May it always be our nourishment everyday.
God’s Word is like rain — it will not return to Him empty
We are given a striking image in the Bible behind the mystery of how God’s Word works. Rain and snow comes down from the heavens and brings life. There is a purpose behind each raindrop and every snowflake. Rain is often used as a symbol of abundance in the Bible and gives us a unique description of how Gods uses His Word in this world.
The Bible says in Isaiah, “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish… so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”
Only God’s Word produces life in the hearts of sinners. When rain falls to the ground, there does not seem to be an intended target for every drop. In the same way, God’s Word showers upon the hearts of all people. Like a spring rain falling on a parched land where life would seem impossible, God’s Word falls onto a barren heart, restoring or giving life to a soul aching for thirst.
How a seed blossoms into faith or not, goes well beyond our comprehension. We simply trust the promise that His Word never fails to achieve its aim. With this confidence, we can continue to share God’s Word, whether we see its effect or not.
Storm clouds gather. From heaven they grow bloated withmercy and power. The rain brings the water. The water brings life to the dry and lifeless sands of the desert.
In a dry and thirsty land, without meaning or purpose, God sends His rain - hope.
The Word of God is like the rain…
….and the snow.
As a young pastor I often paused before preaching my Sunday sermon to pray briefly, asking the Holy Spirit to come and accompany the preached word of God in order to make it fruitful. In a similar way, after a public reading of the Scripture lesson the readers would often comment, “May God add his blessing to the reading of the word”. However, whenever I came across these words in Isaiah 55 and other passages of Scripture, I would wonder whether there was something amiss in our understanding of the efficacy of the word of God:
10 For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
and do not return there until they have watered the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
These verses suggest that the power of the Holy Spirit does not merely accompany the word of Scripture, but is inherent in it. Like the rain and the snow which water the earth and thereby actually accomplish something by virtue of what they are, so God’s word does “not return to me empty” but actually accomplishes what God purposes and succeeds in that for which it was sent. The Bible not only demands that we accept what it teaches, it creates the acceptance of its teaching; the word of God actually produces faith and obedience.
For me, this comes as a refreshing concept which I don’t hear spoken of much in our evangelical circles. While there has been a tremendous (and needed) emphasis on the vital role of the Holy Spirit among us, the efficacy of Scripture is not an emphasis. Perhaps it is just a “given”, an understood-though-not-expressed belief; but even then, at least an occasional effort to bring it out in the open is worthwhile.
The apostle Paul expressed the efficacy of Scripture when he wrote about his own confidence in the gospel message he preached: “it is the power of God for salvation” (Rom. 1.16). God is not interested in a person’s mere intellectual assent to his word, as though the human heart could be won over by logical arguments or reasoning. He uses his word to create the living assent of faith. And this is done not by God “adding” his blessing to the word, but because of the fact that God’s blessing is already promised through the word. We see this “rain and snow” effect in the record of the conversion of Lydia in Acts 16: “The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul. (v.14)”. Where the word is, the Holy Spirit is present and opens hearts. It is still true that the “the word of God is living and active” (Heb. 4:12); it is not some dead letter which can only be brought to life by the power of the preacher, or the time of worship, or even the Holy Spirit being asked to do something to it!
So when we come to God’s word, whether in private reading and study, or group Bible studies, or public worship, we can come to it with the assurance given by our Lord Jesus himself: “The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. (John 6:63)”.
Contributed by Reverend Donald J. Fisher
Have a happy Sunday everyone.. May the Word of God be always like rain that nourishes the ground.
