Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head

“I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these things.  You heavens above, rain down righteousness; let the clouds shower it down.  Let the earth open wide, let salvation spring up, let righteousness grow with it; I, the LORD, have created it” Isaiah 45:7-8.

This morning I read that rain clouds are a result of instability in the atmosphere. They can form alone, in clusters, or, when along a cold front, in a squall line. There is usually quite a bit of lightning through the heart of the cloud.  Bottom line, with all the instability and clashing lightning within the cloud, there comes a point when it accumulates the weighted capacity and the rain must fall.  No matter what kind of rain cloud, the pressure becomes too great and the moisture becomes too heavy.  What seemed like a violent occurrence within the cloud produces the life giving waters onto the earth.  Life springs through the soil as a thank you to the rain.

I cannot think of a more beautiful analogy than this one in considering adversity.  We float through this life collecting the moisture of circumstances…some joyful but some sorrowful.  The burdens build within our lives, casting heaviness in our souls.  Tragedy and suffering strikes like lightning within our hearts and the pressure becomes too great, and the burden becomes too heavy…the heart has reached its capacity, and the tears must fall.  The moisture was never intended to live in the cloud, but rather to pass through the cloud just as our challenges pass through our lives producing the gentle rains of righteousness. 

Our Scripture tells us that whether we are experiencing ‘prosperity or disaster’ the yield is intended for good...salvation, life and growth in our faith and fellowship with Christ.

‘…let the clouds shower it down.’