Many years ago I had a lawn that had been seeded and, as the grass grew and was tended, looked very beautiful. It was a pleasure to sit outside and enjoy the view. During the long hot summer however, the ground became hard, the grass turned yellow and appeared to die. It was a sad reflection of its former self.
As I flew over Britain recently I could see that it was the same everywhere except by the edge of lakes and rivers where there were pockets of life. The water brought life with it. I guess I could have watered my lawn, but this would have only provided momentary relief in a long hot summer, until the sun would have baked it again. In any event, a hosepipe ban was due to come into effect and generally it was advised to conserve water. What was needed was a downpour of rain.
Across the northern hemisphere destructive and violent forest fires have raged, injuring and killing people, burning property and homes. How people need a downpour of rain to halt these destructive forces within our own societies where violence and crime are spiralling out of control.
When I look at the landscape of many countries, I see the same. The seed was planted centuries ago, people’s lives were invested and Christians shed their blood so that we today could flourish. In the decades long summer of humanism and liberalism, we have discarded many of those foundational beliefs and principles that caused our countries to be blessed. Church attendance has dropped, the knowledge of Jesus and His Word has diminished and often our beliefs are derided. It looks like those seeds have died. There are pockets of life where Christian endeavour is still alive, like the lakes or rivers in the natural, but there appears to be a hosepipe ban in force restricting us from espousing our Christian views with accusations of indoctrination, intolerance and bigotry.
Yet beneath the surface the seed is still alive, though dormant. We need the Holy Spirit to rain on our nations again. You can ban hose pipes, but you can’t ban the rain. It only took a little rain to start seeing my lawn spring back to life, and it will only take a little rain to bring to life the spiritual undergirding of the nations. The Word promises the latter rain, which will be greater than the former, so let us continue to pray that God will move and the Holy Spirit will be poured out on the nations in our day.