Things have been getting terribly dry around here, the grass getting browner and browner, crunching under foot. Goldenrod and asters are just about to come into full bloom with not enough moisture in the soil to supply the nectar that the honeybees need so badly. We’ve been watering some younger, less established trees in the orchard, but of course there is no way to water everything that needs it. Further east, some counties of West Virginia are in such a severe drought that an official state of emergency is eminent.

In Matthew 5:45 Jesus plainly says that it is our Heavenly Father who sends the rain. We truly are dependant on Him, and rain can be withheld as a judgment (James 5:17-18).

On Tuesday I began to realize how bad things were actually getting. I had checked the weather forecast and it had given no practical hope for rain in the next ten days. I was outside looking at wilted plants and realizing how all I could do was pray. Knowing that we entirely do not deserve any rain, I appealed to the Lord’s mercy and asked for rain. That night I woke up to the sound of a steady and heavy shower! It left puddles that remained on the concrete until the next day and I could tell it had streamed into the walkway. The fact that it came at night helped prevent it from evaporating back into the air. Although it did not solve our drought problem, we are grateful for the Lord’s mercy, as well as for the thick nightly dew, reminding us of his great faithfulness. It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed.

There are things we need even more than we need rain. There is a spiritual drought that comes as a consequence of trusting men rather than trusting God (Jeremiah 17:5-13). Have we not, as a nation, looked to men who promise to make things better for us – and forgotten the Lord? Pray that hearts will be turned to trust in the living God.

“O Lord, the hope of Israel, all that forsake Thee shall be ashamed… because they have forsaken the Lord, the Fountain of living waters.”