AND THEN THE RAINS
I’m in Atlanta, Georgia now. An interesting place – very religious, yet in a traditional church kind of way -- in some respects superficial in the relationship with the God who loves us, but more respectful of Him in daily life than I have seen for quite a while. And in other ways, there are many hearts here open to the dynamic word that God is speaking.
Atlanta has been under a drought, I understand, since 2005. But I won’t have firsthand knowledge of it, because it has been raining since I arrived, and in the past three days more water fell from the sky than we have experienced in a while. I am not a meteorologist but I am calling this drought OVER.
I also believe this drought season is a metaphor for spiritual dryness, and I’m calling forth an end to that too.
I had a dream a week ago, before these rains began. I dreamed that I was here in my new home and it was raining so hard I could hear it thundering off the roof, and I saw the water spilling over the gutters and running down the windows. I ran to the front door because I saw water pouring in between the door and the jamb, and as I ran toward it, the door blew open. I was startled, because there wasn’t a hurricane outside, just rain with enough wind to make its presence felt. I shut the door and it blew open again. I closed it. It blew in again. As it was blown open again for the third time, I finally decided to bolt the door. This time it held, but to my surprise water was still pouring in around the seams. I’d never seen anything like it. I woke up with this dream resonating in my mind. So much water. Blessings.
“What are you doing here, Elijah?”
I Kings 19:11.
What am I doing where I am? Can I ask you, what are you doing where you are?
Elijah got tired, he felt beaten up and threatened. He felt that no one understood him (not so), and that he was alone (not so). And guess what? God didn’t beat him up for that. God didn’t “smite” him or turn him over to a reprobate mind (if you are preaching like that I implore you to really verify with God that what you are saying is appropriate). Instead, God blessed His Son.
Right there in the desert, under a broom tree for shade, an angel was sent to feed the man of God. Out there, he had shade – a home – and hot food, not dry saltines or stale crumbs. And God gave the man water – a refreshing. Elijah lacked nothing, was fed and he rested. God took care of him out there for as long as it took. Then, when God saw Elijah was ready, he moved him back into position. Next stop was the Mountain of God! And there in the cleft of the Rock, He asked him gently, “What are you doing here? Are you ready now to move on? Will you remember your Covenant with me?
This is a really personal story for me. God directed Elijah to a cave in the Rock (Mt. Horeb, the Mountain of God). I Kings 19:9. This gentle act represented God’s deliberate act in bringing the man away to a place of intimacy so He could draw Elijah close to Him. It was time to reconnect. After Elijah’s weariness was relieved, his body was strengthened and his tears were spent, God hugged his son close and said, “Let’s talk. Why do you want to give up?”
Elijah: I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, torn down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left and they seek to take my life.
Me: Lord, all I’ve gotten is flak for doing what you tell me to do, and saying what You tell me to say. And when I’ve done it (prayed for, offered a Word of encouragement, given to, worked for or helped people) they either don’t realize it or don’t remember it, and sometimes they have been my worst abusers, and I feel neglected. They don’t remember the sacrifice they received, and they only care about themselves, not You or Your altars. You can take care of Your own Word, why should I care about it anymore if you let them do whatever they want to do? You can surely deal with all this mess, and I don’t want to be bothered any more. People think I’ve been offended, but I’m just disappointed, disgusted, and tired of caring when it’s been feeling to me like nobody else does.
I was tired of ministering to people and feeling like it was all wasted or going wrong.
So the other day I was in a Sunday service and as the Holy Spirit was ministering to the congregation, I turned around in the spot where I was standing at the back of the room, and there was a banner on the wall in front of me. It only had one word on it – COVENANT. I looked at it, felt the hit on my heart, but I still wasn’t ready to have a prolonged discussion with God about it. I just said to Him, “Lord, I want to keep my covenant with You, but you have to help me. I can’t do it.” Dealing with people up close was not appealing.
Today, I heard a pastor speak about Peter, the fisherman, who had been called by Christ the Savior to become a fisher of men, but who had gotten tired and decided to go back to fishing. Peter preferred to do what came most easily to him, that covenant stuff is hard! Then, the pastor also said God gave him a song this morning about mercy, and to tell the people that He (God) would be pouring out mercy in abundance. The pastor also talked about Peter’s reaction when he heard that Christ had been resurrected from the dead.
Peter: I’m going fishing! John 21:3.
My translation: This is all too much for me. How am I really going to preach to people that Jesus got up out of a grave? And do you know we’ll probably be killed for this? Later for this - I’m going to go do something I know about. I know about fishing.
But while Peter was doing what he felt secure about, Jesus waited on the shore, and called out to Peter to offer him mercy. It wasn’t the first time either. When Peter had chopped off the man’s ear before the crucifixion, Christ offered Peter, and the man – whose ear He healed – the same mercy. He loved them tenderly, and relieved the pain in one, and the guilt in the other, that made both men miserable. Today, God offered me mercy as well, and He invited me to get up and get back to what He had called me to do.
I don’t even know how I’m going to do this. But I do believe that was the reason for my dream. The rain that I saw represented the mercy of which the pastor spoke today. Sheets of it falling so hard, spilling over and squeezing in everywhere it could find even a tiny crack or opening. I read this article at www.bible.org and it says mercy is not just tender feelings from God. Mercy, as it is practiced by God, means that He is Himself touched by what is aching our hearts, and He acts to relieve whatever is making us miserable. God is acting to relieve what has made me miserable. Isn’t that great! He’s doing the same for you too. Yes, the rain means blessings in abundance, but one of those big blessings is mercy. I believe the pastor was right – this is a season of mercy.
1Ask ye of the LORD rain in the time of the latter (spring) rain; so the LORD shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field.
Zechariah 10: 1
Deanna
March 29, 2009