INTO EVERYONE’S LIFE A LITTLE RAIN MUST FALL

It has been raining off and on this entire summer here in Virginia. The weather has been crazy, and the rain has been the kind that blows sideways. It can rain so hard that the gutters can’t hold it all so it overflows like a waterfall. And then it will stop for about an hour, and the sun will shine so brightly for a little while. Then comes the rain again.

I’ve been reading and studying about Noah and the flood. (Genesis Chapters 6-8) Everything I knew about this story pretty much came from my childhood and the stories that I learned in Bible School. I honestly never gave the story much thought, and I never dived into the whole story. 

I have been thinking a lot about TRUST. In fact, I turned to the back of the Bible in the Concordance, and I spent some time reading EVERY verse that contained the word trust in it. Wow! There are a lot of verses with this word listed. I was really only interested in the ones that talked about trusting in the Lord, but a lot of verses talked about putting your trust in man. Believe me, that is not a good thing.

The story of Noah and the flood is a great example of trust. The Lord gave Noah instructions to build an Ark, and he trusted the Lord, so he built the boat. There were no rain clouds looming; there was no long-range weather forecast calling for rain, there was only a sincere trust in the Lord. Can you imagine all of the comments and jokes made at Noah’s expense? And then the rain started to fall…….

Genesis 7:11-12

¹¹ In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. ¹² And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.

When I thought about this story, I thought about all the animals in the ark. I thought about the close quarters, the food, the bathroom facilities, etc. But, I never considered the friends and family that were left behind.

Noah’s grandfather was Methuselah who was the oldest man in the Bible. He lived to be 969 years old, and that means that he died in the year of the flood. Some people think he died in the flood, and some that say he died before the flood since they say that he was not killed with the unrighteous. Either way, he didn’t make the boat so that got me thinking about other people who also didn’t make the boat.

What about cousins, aunts and uncles, neighbors, and friends? We know the answer is no, none of them made the boat. I can’t imagine this. I would be incredibly happy that the Lord saved my immediate family from the horrible destruction, but I know that a part of me would be mourning the loss of people I loved, even if they were not righteous. Don’t you have people that you love that you don’t love their ways?

They were probably in shock from the whole event, in a state of mourning, couped up with a lot of stinky animals, and starting to wonder if the sun would ever shine again. Then, it finally stopped raining. Hallelujah!!! But of course, it still takes a long time between when the rain stops and when they can depart the Ark.

Into everyone’s life, a little rain must fall. But, just like with Noah and the Ark, the sun will come out again. The rain will stop, and it will take some time before you feel like you are on firm ground, but you too will be able to once again make a new and fresh start. Look for the rainbow and try to enjoy the rain when it comes.

To God Goes The Glory!

Have A Blessed Day!