By Pastor Kyle Smith
Ellendale
Last year it seemed as though we didn’t have enough rain, and now this year it seems we’ve had plenty and could use a break. It’s easy for us to complain about the weather and how it so often seems as though it’s not the kind of weather we prefer, especially if your livelihood depends on the weather. But whether it was the lack of rain last year or the abundance of rain this year, one thing I can say without a doubt is how much more thought I’ve given to rain lately.
Last year there was so little rain that, during the harvest season, barges often had to have less soybeans on them or risk getting stuck going down the Mississippi. This year we have had so much rain that it was a challenge to get all the crops planted in time.
But this reveals just how important rain is and how much it affects us.
Many verses in the Bible refer to rain and agriculture in general, but some that have come to my mind more often than not are Isaiah 55:10-11, “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my Word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to be empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” Granted, it seems as though my favorite Bible verse changes every couple of years, but for now, these verses are my favorite, probably because they are simple and yet teach so much.
Yes, the ground needs to receive moisture to produce a crop, but even when the ground does receive moisture, we don’t notice a significant change in the crops overnight.
Instead, it takes time for the moisture to have its effect on the crops. It takes time for the seed to sprout. It takes time for the crop to grow and mature to the point of being ready to harvest for food. Scripture says this is how we are to view God’s Word.
We as Christians need God’s Word if we are expected to grow. Sometimes we fall into the habit of neglecting God’s Word, which I am also guilty of doing. Sometimes we neglect gathering together as the body of Christ to hear God’s Word preached, which is a hard habit to break. These are times of spiritual drought in our lives. When we neglect God’s Word, we can’t expect to grow in our faith in Christ because we aren’t being watered, we aren’t receiving moisture, and we aren’t receiving the very thing that makes our faith sprout - God’s Word.
At other times, even when we are spending time in God’s Word, when we are gathering together as the body of Christ to hear His Word preached, we don’t notice anything different in ourselves. Sometimes we receive God’s Word, but then we don’t see the growth. Sometimes we spend time in God’s Word and it seems as though our faith is still small, our faith still seems weak. It seems as though we haven’t grown. Does this mean we have wasted our time?
Certainly not! Just as we don’t see immediate growth in crops after a gentle rain, we don’t always see immediate growth in our faith after spending time in God’s Word, and that’s okay, that’s normal. But that doesn’t mean that God’s Word isn’t working in us, because it is, and we can know this to be the case because that’s a promise from God. So I encourage you to open your Bible and read it, and I encourage you to attend a church service on Sunday morning and let God water you through His Word and grow your faith in Christ our Savior.