Are You Experiencing Drought?

Scripture

Hebrews 6:7 Ground that drinks up the rain falling on it repeatedly, and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God.

Observation

Spiritual instruction was the rain that fell on the Hebrews. They themselves were the ground, but they needed to wrestle with what type of ground they would be! Jesus had spoken in parables about the different types of ground and this theme is continued here.

Spiritual instruction was available but would the people soak it in? If they did and if it was used to provide for moist soil that would produce a crop, then they would be blessed by the Lord.

Application

Today’s news has images of rain falling on California. For months we have been seeing pictures of the drought — with reservoirs shrinking and ground becoming more and more dry and hardened. This rain seems like a blessing — an answer to prayer, and yet, there are places where they say that it is a real problem. Because of the length of the drought the soil has become so hardened that it is unable to absorb the rain. Instead the rain is simply running off and causing flooding. What could have been very good is turning out to be bad — at least for some.

Once we have come to know Christ we must soak in spiritual instruction on a regular basis. Just like the regular and on-going rains of Ireland truly do make it the lusciously Emerald Isle, so we can become blessed followers of Jesus Christ. Sadly, if we stay away from on-going instruction we will suffer from a spiritual drought. The rain won’t fall and our soil will become hard and dry. When we finally do choose to receive some instruction it may simply run right off of us and create more problems than help because we can no longer soak it in.

We can do something about the spiritual drought in our lives. We have the ability to soak in the healthy rain — little by little. On the western side of Ireland it rains an average of 225 days a year. That’s the majority of the time and if we are going to be blessed by God then we need to soak in that instruction a little at a time, day in and day out. Experiencing drought and then going in for a dumping of rain simply won’t work and this ought to make us question what we are doing to grow spiritually. Are we attending church regularly? Are we reading the word regularly? Are we praying?

If you have been experiencing drought, don’t try and fix it all in one fell swoop. Little by little, gradually introduce the rain back into your life and allow it to be soaked up into the dry soil until it becomes green and luscious again — blessed by God.

Prayer

Lord, please help me to listen to and receive your instruction daily.  Amen.