HE IS THE ONE WHO MAKES IT RAIN by Robert Soto

April 13, 2010

HE IS THE ONE WHO MAKES IT RAIN by Robert Soto

Zechariah 10:1 "Ask the LORD for rain in the springtime; it is the LORD who makes the storm clouds. He gives showers of rain to men, and plants of the field to everyone."

I woke up yesterday ready to hit the working trail. I was going to work on the corral for about four hours and then come home and trim one of two trees. I got up with enough time to exercise and get things ready for the day's work. But as I started to open my eyes, I heard something that sounded like rain. I looked out the window and there it was - a rainstorm. It was raining all around. It was not a heavy rain, but enough rain to keep me indoors and prevent me from doing the work I had set out to do when I woke up. I decided I'd wait an hour before changing my plans, but after an hour it was obvious that it was not going to stop but just keep raining throughout the day.

Sometimes life is that way. We plan and pray and prepare and then something like rain keeps us from accomplishing what we feel we need to do. Zechariah said, "Ask the LORD for rain in the springtime; it is the LORD who makes the storm clouds. He gives showers of rain to men, and plants of the field to everyone." He starts off with "Ask the Lord for rain..." The problem was that I did not ask the Lord for rain. I asked Him for a good sunny day. Rain was the last thing on my mind and in my plans for the day. But the second part of the verse says, "...it is the LORD who makes the storm clouds. He gives showers of rain to men, and plants of the field to everyone." What does that mean to us? Well, I might not have prayed for rain or have even prayed that there would be no rain; yet in the end it still rained. It rained because God the Creator felt we needed the rain. After all, we cannot do anything to make it rain but pray. I did not pray for rain. So why did it rain? Because in spite of my selfish desires to do what I wanted to do, God the Creator felt we needed the rain more than I needed to work on the buffalo corral or on trimming the tree. So in the end, it is God the Creator who knows what is best for us and what is not. So we pray and plan and prepare, but ultimately, it is God not us who decides.

Robert Soto, Lipan Apache and pastor of:

McAllen Grace Brethren Church
The Native American New Life Center
Chief of Chiefs Christian Church