An Invitation (5)

As the rain and the snow

        come down from heaven,

and do not return to it

        without watering the earth

and making it bud and flourish,

        so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,

so is my word that goes out from my mouth:

        It will not return to me empty,

but will accomplish what I desire

        and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

I remember once, back in my teen years, complaining loudly about yet another ridiculously chilly, dreary, drizzly Pacific Northwest day in June, when I thought it was well past time for warm, sunny, summer weather. My Mom, wise soul at 50 years of age, reminded me that we wouldn’t have our beautiful green landscapes and blooming flowers without regular doses of clouds and rain. While her words didn't allay my displeasure about the long drawn out northwest spring, they continued to resonate with me in the nearly 50 years since.

Isaiah reflected on that same cycle of rain falling, plants flourishing, and somehow returning back to the sky to rain again at a future time. It's how God’s word works in human history. Even though his ways and thoughts are far too complicated for my little mind, as he applies them to our lives they bring about his ultimate purpose.

Like the weather, opposing forces—draughts, late spring freezes—thwart the life giving properties of God’s word. But in the end, his ways and purposes will win the day. He will bring a final, concluding peace one day. How or when I can’t imagine, but he began the process in ancient times, Isaiah saw it working as Israel returned to the homeland, and he predicted that one day Messiah would come to introduce the peaceable kingdom. Though he came some 2000 years ago, still we are waiting in a world often dark and stormy. But if we open our eyes and look, we can discern little flowerets blooming, trees budding.

Be still and know that I am God –Psalm 46:10