A Word Like Rain

I’ve always found it remarkable how exactly the same sermon can touch many people in so many different ways.

We all receive the Word at different junctures of our life’s story, and at different moments in time. But wherever it’s received, God’s Word has an effect.

God compares his Word to the precipitation that falls from the sky: “For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there…so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth” (Isa 55:10-11).

His word is like rain and snow, a gift from heaven. 

Snow, of course, is more than pretty white stuff. Snow is moisture. And when there’s a good amount of snow over the winter, it means the crops will have a head start in the spring when the snow melts.

The rain too, “comes down,” Isaiah says, and “waters the earth.” How good it is to see a soaking rain fall on the land: torrents of water in the ditches, deep cracks filled and bubbling over with God’s gift.

Because before long, the rain (and snow) produce good things. It makes the earth “bring forth and bud” (v. 10). After the rains, and in the warm sun, the trees are enlivened again. There are buds, then colourful blossoms, followed by the early formation of fruit. Trees bringing forth and budding, and fields “giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater” (v. 10). What a joy to see the crops coming in! Just green shoots at first, small and fragile in the soil, but the sure sign of life—and the sure effect of a good rain.

After talking about rain and snow coming down from heaven, the LORD draws a line of connection in verse 11: “So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth.” God speaks a personal message into our lives by his mouth.

It’s as tender as the words of a father to his little children. It’s as loving as the words of a husband to his wife. God speaks directly to us by his Word, for He opens his mouth to address our fears. He speaks to our guilt. He preaches a message of hope in Jesus. If we are willing to listen, God’s Word can have a wondrous effect.

Like rain and snow are received on the earth, so is God’s Word. His Word is received each time we open the Scriptures. God’s Word is received each time someone enters the pulpit and preaches the gospel. There are so many occasions when the Word is received: think of being at Bible study, poring over a passage; or around the table with your family, reading the Bible together; or in your personal devotions, thinking deeply about a text.

We are blessed with so many opportunities to hear the Word of God. If his Word is like rain and snow, then we are blessed with an absolute monsoon of God’s truth, a blizzard of the gospel—God pouring forth onto us his Word.

And his Word is effective, like the rain on dry ground—and even more so! How impressive is God’s strength through the eternal Word: inspired, without mistake, without change, a Word that reflects the very mind of the Lord. His Word has the ability to bring forth life. His Word can cut to the deepest place of our hearts.

His Word is nothing less than the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. 

In sending down his Word in rich measure, God puts out a call to us. He desires that we receive his Word! Take it in, drink it in, and let it sink in.

For rain doesn’t always fall on freshly tilled soil, places where it soaks in and helps to germinate the planted seed. Sometimes rain falls on hot pavement, and it evaporates at once. Sometimes rain collects in a useless puddle.

People can be that way too, in their response to the Word of God. We can be indifferent towards the gospel, uncaring about holy things. We come to church, we listen to the preaching, but the Word just collects in a useless puddle in our minds. It doesn’t bring about anything good. We have a Bible, but we seldom read it, or we read it with hardly any focus. God’s merciful rain hardly penetrates. But that’s not God’s will for any of us.

Be soil that is thirsty to drink in God’s good water.

The fact is, rain and snow falling to the earth always have an effect. It always does something, even if it just ends up in the storm sewer or evaporates. It goes somewhere. Again, it’s the same for God’s Word: “So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish what I please” (v. 10). When the Word goes out, it always does something, because it is divine. It brings about sure results.

Scripture says that the Word cuts both ways, so sometimes it reveals that a person doesn’t belong to the Lord. She hears the gospel, but she doesn’t repent. He hears Christ, but he never gets around to taking him seriously. That too, is an effect. This time not to glorify God’s mercy by saving a sinner, but to glorify his justice by condemning. Either way, there is a result, and it is the very one that God purposed.

That’s good for a preacher to know: God’s Word is always working, even if we don’t always see it. And it’s encouraging, because so often we do get to see his Word at work. His Word brings about good things among God’s people. It produces fruit. It inspires hope. It works faith in Christ. It nurtures holiness.

Most crops come up and are harvested within months. But spiritual growth takes a lifetime. We’re not done yet. God’s not done yet, and we know that his Word will not return to him empty.

So that’s what we have to keep going back to, holding onto: learning, and loving, and living out the Word of Christ. It will not return to him empty!