What do you think about when it rains?

What do you think about when it rains?  (And we’ve had much opportunity to form an opinion about rain this month.)

When I was a child, I thought “It’s raining it’s pouring…rain, rain, go away, come again another day…”

When I was in seminary, working as a pool cleaner, I would wake up to the sound of rain against the window and a feeling of dread would invade my soul, as I thought of pools filling up with mud and leaves (making for a long work day).

Now I think of God’s grace and kindness on both believers and believers — an evidence of His common grace.  I am thankful that He is kind not only to me in my need for the provision of rainfall, but He also demonstrates kindness to those who do not belong to Him.

John Piper suggests that we should be thankful for rain because it is “a great and unsearchable thing that God has done.”

But Jeremiah offers yet another way to think about rain.  When it rains, we should fear God.

In the section surrounding 5:24, God warns of a coming judgment:  “I am bringing a nation against you from afar, O house of Israel, declares the Lord…” (5:15; cf. also vv. 16-18).  The reason for the coming judgment is their lack of worship and fear of God:

• “…you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land…” (5:19)
• “O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear.” (5:21)
• “Do you not fear Me?…Do you not tremble in My presence?” (5:22)
• “This people has a stubborn and rebellious heart…” (5:23)
• And finally, “They do not say in their heart, ‘Let us now fear the Lord our God, who gives rain in its season…Who keeps for us the appointed weeks of the harvest.'” (5:24)

In other words, they do not recognize that the rain that comes so they can have a harvest at the right season is the provision of God.  So far that sounds like Christ’s word in Matthew.

But God also relates the rain to a fear of Him — they don’t fear the One who gives rain.  When it rained, the Israelites were unmoved and empty of thoughts of God and His hand in the rain.  They were unimpressed with God.  Or said another way, when it rained, it was to be a reminder and a stimulant to fear God.  And they remained unmoved toward God.

Now this fear of God has two components — an awe at the wonder of His work (which is what John Piper rightly asserts is an appropriate response when it rains).  But a second component of the fear of God is a trembling fear before the One who is King and Judge over all men — able to discipline or destroy with a single word.  And contextually, this seems to be the force of God’s admonition to Israel — “when it rains, you should be reminded not only to worship Me, but that if you don’t worship Me, discipline and judgment may follow…”

And the God who disciplined Israel for its unbelief will also ultimately judge all men for their unbelief and failure to worship Him.  No man will escape this judgment — unless he trusts in Christ to be his propitiation.

So when it rains, we might think not only of the provision of God, but also that those who do not fear God for His gift of rain will one day experience the judgment of God for their lack of worship of Him.  In that sense, rain is a stimulant to gratitude, worship, and evangelism, as we seek those who do not worship Him to become people who worship and fear Him in righteousness.