Bill Rice Ranch - First Light Devotionals 

Psalm 65:2  "O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come."

 

Who Brought the Rain?

 

Recently, the head cowboy on the Ranch asked us to pray for rain that we desperately needed.  The small pockets of grass that remained after a hot and dry summer had nearly withered away, and that is not good when you have dozens of hungry mouths to feed!  Well, wouldn't you know it?  Not only did we get some rain, we got constant rain for several days!  I smiled and thanked the Lord for the rain as I watched our cowboy look after the horses in a downpour!

 

The temptation is to look at this event and see a weather forecaster or an application on your phone.  It would have been easy to anticipate the rain since our local stations had been predicting it for several days.  Was my first thought to thank God for answering our prayer, or did I explain away God's working on our behalf as some force of nature?  In the day in which we live, it can be hard to attribute what happens to God's power.  God is the One who hears prayer and to Whom all flesh comes.

 

If you are like me, you check the weather every morning.  You can access the forecast on your phone, online, on television, and in the newspaper.  None of those things are wrong, but they can draw your attention away from the fact that God answers prayer.  We needed rain; a cowboy asked God for it; and God gave it!

 

It is easy to live a life disassociated from the power of God.  God didn't just create the universe and then step back.  No sir!  He is actively involved.  Psalm 65:9 says, "Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it: thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God, which is full of water: thou preparest them corn, when thou hast so provided for it."  God doesn't just send the rain; He brings the rain!  We see a hurricane system and Doppler radar; the psalmist saw a powerful God who cares and answers prayer.

 

We ought do what Psalm 29 encourages us to do: "Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness."  When you see the events of life-even rain showers-as coming from the hand of God, you will have no other choice but to give God the glory due his name.  Don't fail to see God's power, and don't fail to come to Him for what you need. 

 

 

 

Prayer Requests:

1. Service tonight in Paducah, KY

2. Sign Language School this week in Asheville, NC

  

 

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