As I was watching and listening to my girls run around outside with joy in their voices as the rain fell on their faces, I thought about rain in the Bible.  In Deuteronomy when God is teaching the Israelites how to live in covenantal relationship with God and one another God reminds the people that it is God that is the source of rain.  The rain will nourish the land and provide for the crops, the animals, and the people (Deuteronomy 11:13-17).
God is often associated with the presence and absence of rain in the Bible.  We see the drought that God brought because of King Ahab and Jezebel’s turning the people away from God to Baal.  Elijah predicts the drought in 1 Kings 17 which includes the story of Elijah and the unending oil and flour with the Widow at Zarephath.  It isn’t until Ahab promises to return the people back to worshipping Yahweh that the drought ends.
Of course, we see the stories of the Flood in Genesis and Moses being floated down a river to save his life as an infant.  We then see Moses lead the people through the Red Sea (or Sea of Reeds) that allow the Israelites to become a free people.  Not all stories of rain, but it continues to show the importance of water in the life of the people of God.
In Joel 2:23 we see the prophet talk about the different rain seasons.  The Israelites actually had different names for the different rainy seasons.  Moreh is the name given to the early rain; Melqosh is the latter rains; and Geshem are the winter rains.  The Geshem winter rains were the heavy rains that fell on the land and really brought life back to that part of the world.  Since these Geshem rains were so important, and by the pure and simple fact that they literally fell from the ‘heavens’ they were seen as a blessing directly from God.
I think we get a sense of that here in the desert where water and rain aren’t always easy to find.  So, when I heard the girls outside singing the “Rain, Rain Go Away” song but changing the words to invite the rain to come and come again another day it reminded me of the importance of water for our daily living, the cleansing nature of it upon ourselves and our planet, and the importance of water in our baptismal life as Christians.
What will you do during the rain today?  I may have to bring a raincoat and find some shoes that don’t have a hole in them, but I’ll give thanks to God for sending the rain upon our earth.
Isaiah 45:7-8:
7     I form light and create darkness,
I make weal and create woe;
I the Lord do all these things.
8     Shower, O heavens, from above,
and let the skies rain down righteousness;
let the earth open, that salvation may spring up,
and let it cause righteousness to sprout up also;
I the Lord have created it.
Blessings,
Pastor Brian