We just had a wonderful rain shower! What a much needed relief!
It has been hot and dry for over two weeks. All the flowers, yards and crops have been looking pretty thirsty!
It happens every summer. There are long streaks of heat and long streaks of no rain. We know it is going to happen, yet when it does we long for the coolness and the rain. We tend to get a little cranky and sad as we look at the dryness all around us.
That is how it is in life. We have periods when everything is going well. The well springs are flowing and life is good. Then wham, dryness hits. The springs dry up and we feel drained, like we have nothing to give and then we feel like no one is giving to us. Everything we try to do is hard and frustrating and than a deep sadness sets in.
In 1 Samuel 1, Hannah felt like she was in a dry land. She had not had a child and was saddened and frustrated by this. In her barrenness she cried out to God for a child.
1 Samuel 1:10-11
Common English Bible (CEB)
10 Hannah was very upset and couldn’t stop crying as she prayed to the Lord. 11 Then she made this promise: “Lord of heavenly forces, just look at your servant’s pain and remember me! Don’t forget your servant! Give her a boy! Then I’ll give him to the Lord for his entire life. No razor will ever touch his head.”
David had tough times too. He was thirsty and longing for God help save him from his enemies....
Psalm 42:2
Common English Bible (CEB)
2 My whole being thirsts for God, for the living God.
When will I come and see God’s face?
Psalm 63:1
The Message (MSG)
God—you’re my God!
I can’t get enough of you!
I’ve worked up such hunger and thirst for God,
traveling across dry and weary deserts.
Hannah and David knew, as we should know, that our God is the one to turn to in our times of dryness. He promises to be there for us and to walk with us through everything we are going through.
He answered Hannah's prayer....
1 Samuel 1:20
The Message (MSG)
20 Before the year was out, Hannah had conceived and given birth to a son. She named him Samuel, explaining, “I asked God for him.”
And look how He changed David's sadness into rejoicing....
2 Samuel 22:2-4The Message (MSG)
2- God is bedrock under my feet,
the castle in which I live,
my rescuing knight.
My God—the high crag
where I run for dear life,
hiding behind the boulders,
safe in the granite hideout;
My mountaintop refuge,
he saves me from ruthless men.
4 I sing to God the Praise-Lofty,
and find myself safe and saved.
Just like our late afternoon showers have brought about a freshness and much needed moisture to our area, God will take care of us in our dry times. He always keeps his promises. Read what the Psalmist writes about this......
Psalm 146:3The Message (MSG)
3- Don’t put your life in the hands of experts
who know nothing of life, of salvation life.
Mere humans don’t have what it takes;
when they die, their projects die with them.
Instead, get help from the God of Jacob,
put your hope in God and know real blessing!
God made sky and soil,
sea and all the fish in it.
He always does what he says—
he defends the wronged,
he feeds the hungry.
God frees prisoners—
he gives sight to the blind,
he lifts up the fallen.
God loves good people, protects strangers,
takes the side of orphans and widows,
but makes short work of the wicked.
I hope you are all going through great times, of sweet gentle showers, of blessings in you life right now! But if you are in a dry arid time, please remember that you do not have to go through this alone. Reach out to our Creator and Savior. He will bring you peace. He will bring you to an oasis of coolness and shade. He wants to help you with any issue you are dealing with and will help see you through. He loves you with all His being and wants nothing more than to see you happy.
Doesn't that make you smile just thinking about it!
Blessings Sweet Friends!!
