The Blessing of RAIN

Scripture:

Job 5:8-10 "If I were in your shoes, I'd go straight to God, I'd throw myself on the mercy of God. (9) After all, he's famous for great and unexpected acts; there's no end to his surprises. (10) He gives rain, for instance, across the wide earth, sends water to irrigate the fields.

Observation:

Job’s three friends came to comfort him, but they ended up criticizing him! Each of them used the same argument in one way or another: (1) God blesses the righteous and afflicts the wicked; (2) God has afflicted Job; (3) therefore, Job must be wicked. Of course, their thinking seemed logical, but it was not spiritual. Mortal human beings are far too ignorant to understand fully the ways of God. For us to fit God into our own little “theological boxes” is to limit Him and make Him less than God.

We must keep in mind that these friends did not have the full revelation that we have in the NT, showing more fully that suffering is not always caused by sin, and that, through our faith in Christ, we can turn suffering into glory. It is a dangerous thing for believers to “explain the ways of God” to other believers if they do not understand God’s Word and God’s ways.

In his first speech, Eliphaz argues that Job is a sinner (Job_4:7-11). He bases his thinking on a special vision he once experienced (Job_4:12-21), so we might say that Eliphaz argues from personal experience — the hard “facts of life.” Bildad picks up the argument in Job_8:1-7 and very bluntly states that God does not do things unjustly. In Job_8:8-10, Bildad argues from tradition, and then quotes a series of “old sayings” to support his argument.

In the midst of Job's "friends" speaking to him, three verses jumped out at me as I read these verses this morning, Job 5:8-10, our verses for today. It speaks of God giving rain, and waters to irrigate the fields. Have you ever thought about what a blessing rain is?

Application:

Picture yourself as a farmer in the Near East, far from any lake or stream. A few wells keep the family and animals supplied with water. But if the crops are to grow and the family is to be fed from month to month, water has to come on the fields from another source. From where? Water will have to be carried in the sky from the Mediterranean Sea, over several hundred miles and then be poured out from the sky onto the fields. Think about that, the water has to be CARRIED. Have you ever wondered how much that would weigh? Well, if one inch of rain falls on one square mile of farmland during the night, that would be 27,878,400 cubic feet of water, which is 206,300,160 gallons, which is 1,650,501,280 pounds of water. That's heavy.

So how does it get up in the sky and stay up there if it's so heavy? Well, it gets up there by evaporation. That's a nice word. What's it mean? It means that the water sort of stops being water for a while so it can go up and not down.

Then, it has to get down and that is called condensation. What's that? The water starts becoming water again by gathering around little dust particles between .00001 and .0001 centimeters wide.

There’s only one problem, the Mediterranean Sea is salt water. That would kill the crops. So, the salt has to be taken out. So the sky picks up a billion pounds of water from the sea and takes out the salt and then carries it for three hundred miles and then RAINS the billion pounds of water on the farm. God couldn’t just DUMP it because it would overflow everything and everyone. The raindrops have to be big enough to fall for one mile or so without evaporating, and small enough to keep from crushing the wheat stalks.

How do all these microscopic specks of water that weigh a billion pounds get heavy enough to fall? Well, it's called coalescence. That means the specks of water start bumping into each other and join up and get bigger. And when they are big enough, they fall.

My friends, now you can see why Job's friend said that rain on the earth is UNSEARCHABLE. Now think about this for a moment. If RAIN is an unsearchable blessing of God, how many other blessings has He poured out upon us without us even realizing it. Whatever you may be battling today, please know that the same God that sends rain can send victory your way TODAY!

Why don’t you take just a moment wherever you are, and think about the blessings of God that you may have taken for granted. I have often taken rain for granted, and failed to see it as an unsearchable gift from God. Meditate on that for a moment.

Prayer:

"Lord, I am so thankful for Your unsearchable blessings. Rain is someting that I honestly take for granted. I know there are many other daily blessings that I never stop to think about, or "thank you" for. Today, I will be more aware of Your blessings. I love You and thank You. In Jesus' name, amen!"