After The Rain

For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth. The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. -- Genesis 7:17-18 NIV

Over the past week or so, we have seen an almost unprecedented amount of rain here in Oklahoma. All Things Fellowship marched with a float in the Bethany Fourth of July parade last week and almost all of it was done in the pouring rain.

Sometimes rain can be fun, like it was in the parade. At other times, the rain brings floods and a disruption of our daily lives. But today I want to focus on the rains that can invade our hearts and our souls. Those rains are never fun, are they? We can be stressed by them, maybe even to the point that we feel like we're being punished for our sins.

It's in these times where we feel isolated and stressed, like we're going to break under the strain, that we need to call on God to be our ark. Just like Noah and his family, God is capable of sustaining us when the floods come. And you know what? Like after a spring rain, things are fresh and new after the spiritual rains have subsided.

Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. The fear and dread of you will fall upon all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air, upon every creature that moves along the ground, and upon all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hands. Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything. Genesis 9:1-3 NIV

And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: 13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Genesis 9:12-13 NIV

God sent floods over the whole Earth, but after the water had receded He established a new beginning for Noah. The rainbow is a reminder to us that after the rains is the time for a fresh start and a renewed devotion to God. When there is rain in your life, rely on God to keep you afloat and be renewed in your love for and obedience to Him when the waters recede!