An Uncloudy Sky
Once upon a time, I lived in a place where the skies were not cloudy all day, or all year, usually. And it was HOT. This was a legendary desert in the Middle East where whole armies have been known to disappear in a single day, overwhelmed by rolling dunes in a driving sandstorm. Maybe you’ve seen these storms on YouTube.
A friend of mine drove his car 500 miles across the desert in such a storm. By the time he arrived the paint was stripped to bare metal. The sand had frosted the headlights and the windshield. It cost more to fix than the car was worth … but I digress.
In our mild temperate climate, we sometimes have cloudy skies and rain for a few days at a time in the summer. It comes as a relief to me after days of relentless heat and humidity. I may have a drought dread resulting from years of wishing it would rain.
Now I feel nothing but pure joy when I wake up to a rainy day. Thunder at dawn is God’s alarm clock for me. I love to hear rain on the roof. I thank God when this happens.
God sends his rain on the just and the unjust, I know. It is intended to bless all of us. My attitude of grateful thanksgiving may seem strange to you if you don’t like the rain. I would say to you that water falling from the sky is an essential provision for life on earth. The water imagery in the Bible is inescapable. From the rainfall before Noah’s flood to the ending of Elijah’s drought, and through any number of psalms praising God for the rain, this heavenly water has been a demonstration of God’s care and concern for his children on the earth.
Pray for rain when it’s dry, and pray for a sunny day when it’s soggy, but either way, be thankful to God for those beautiful, promising clouds in the heavens!