Rain, Bow

"I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign" (Gen. 9:13).

Sunday evening, March 25, several dozen Christians from various denominations gathered near an abortion clinic to pray.  It had been raining since afternoon.  I considered how the weather would probably keep people from coming.  Then, just minutes before the prayer service was to begin, the rain stopped, and then a spectacular rainbow!  I couldn't believe the timing!  We were permitted, even required, to take it as a sign, for that is what God said it would be.  And He blessed our time of prayer.

Afterward, a wise woman pointed out to me the simple but deep lesson: Without the rain, we could not have received the rainbow.  No rain, no rainbow.  What appeared to be a damper was the necessary prelude to joy.  Bear this in mind and heart as you wait out the rain in your life.  God will set His bow in the cloud at just the right time.  In some cases, such as the death of a child or spouse, that time will be in heaven.

I'm no expert, but I suspect God does most of His teaching in the rain, and then uses the rainbow to refresh us and encourage us to apply the lessons learned.

Have no doubt that your heavenly Father loves you!

Falling and Rising

"A righteous man falls seven times, and rises again" (Prov. 24:16).

A tradition holds that the Savior fell seven times on the way to Calvary.  For those familiar with the fourteen Stations of the Cross, seven of them, it can be noted, are falls.  (Stations III, VII, and IX are called "falls," while IV, V, VI, and VIII are described by events thought to have happened in connection with falls.)  Jesus is the righteous man who falls seven times.

Now ask, "How many times have I fallen into temptation and sin?"  Isn't it tragic that you are not even able to number them?

Confess your sins to the best of your memory.  Then remember the righteous man who fell underneath the weight of every last one of them, getting up again and carrying them up Calvary, and there dying for them.  "The righteous man for the unrighteous" (1 Pet. 3:18).

But the proverb is completely fulfilled when the righteous man who falls seven times on Good Friday rises again on Easter morning.  And He lives to defend you against every temptation.

Singing in the Darkness

"My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" (Matt. 27:46).

Many things have been said about this fourth word from the cross.  But one I have not heard much is that here, on the cross, our Lord chose to sing.  The words are from Psalm 22:1.  And what is a psalm?  It is a song!  St. Augustine said that "the one who sings, prays twice" - once with the words, and again with the tune.

We make a mistake when we try to read and explain psalms as we would other texts of Scripture.  To sing the psalms is to release their real meaning.  If you cannot sing, then at least tap your foot.  Remember in your heart that they are songs.

Jesus finds a psalm that expresses how He feels.  He feels forsaken.  But what does He do?  He sings!  While in prison, Paul and Silas sang hymns to God at midnight (Acts 16:25).

We have a tendency to worry, grow discouraged, or try to solve problems that cannot be.  Instead we should sing and release the power and peace of "psalms and hymns and spiritual songs" (Eph. 5:19).  Do this especially at night, at the end of a long day.  "At night His song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life" (Ps. 42:8).

Keep God's name holy by singing in the hour of darkness.

The One Prayer God Always Answers No

There is a prayer found in the Bible, and you can pray it, but the answer will always be No.  The Lord's Prayer ends with "Amen," meaning, "Yes, it shall be so."  But for this prayer you'll need to find a different word, because, "No, it shan't be so."  Jesus says about the Father, "Whatever you ask in My name, He will give it to you" (John 16:23) - with one major exception: the one prayer God always answers No, as in, No way, absolutely not, not in a million years!

Here is the prayer: "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord" (Luke 5:8).

The dear Lord Jesus Christ says No to this prayer.  A gentle, but firm, loving No.

Peter was one part right and one part wrong.  He was right to confess himself a sinful man.  That was true.  No argument there.  But how was he wrong?  Very!  He was wrong about Jesus who came for the very purpose of getting close to sinful people.

How does this apply?  You're a Christian, baptized, righteous in the eyes of God because of Christ.  But what about in your eyes?  You remember sins, you still see sins in your life, you still sin.  And you will think like Peter and try to send God away.  This often shows up in thinking, "I can't go to church.  I shouldn't go to Communion!"

But do you know what that's like?  It's like saying to the doctor, "I shouldn't come see you right now, because I'm sick.  And that medicine you want to give me, let's wait on that till I'm better."

Listen.  You go to God in the very moment you think you should go away.  Go to His Word, Sacraments, Church, and Cross.  Because the very reason you think God should go away from you is the very reason He doesn't and won't.  "I made you, I redeemed you, I make you holy.  I love you.  And so the answer is No, I will not depart."

No has never sounded so good, so completely the Gospel!

And it may be that this one No is like all the other Yeses put together.