Who Does Stop the Rain

Genesis 8:1-3

But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and all the domestic animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided; the fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed, the rain from the heavens was restrained, and the waters gradually receded from the earth.

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Long as I remember the rain been coming down,

Clouds of mystery pourin' confusion on the ground,

Good men through the ages tryin' to find the sun,

And I wonder, still I wonder, who'll stop the rain.

"Who'll Stop the Rain" written by John Fogerty, originally recorded by Creedence Clearwater Revival.

It's easy, way to easy to find someone who is in desperate straights and say that God provides. First of all, it's true. God does provide. God remembers. In this reading from Genesis, God remembered Noah and every living creature in the Ark. And when it was time for the trial to subside, God made a wind blow over the earth, the heavens closed, and the water receded over the face of the earth.

It's like that 60's hippie poem "Footsteps." It's true, when there is only one set of prints in the sand it's not because we're alone it's because the Lord is carrying us across the desert.

Still, it's lousy care. When someone walks up to you and asks "Who'll stop the rain?" we are not supposed to just say "Jesus" and get on with our lives.

Something that gets lost in our translations is that the Hebrew word of wind is the same as the word Spirit. This word is often used in the Old Testament to point to the Spirit of God. God sends the Spirit to do the holiest of work, even if it is just drying the waters from what will again be dry land.

The same Spirit blows on us. We are sent, we are called, we are ordained to do God's work. Sometimes we are called to build the ark, sometimes we are called to dry the tears. Sometimes we are called to try to find the sun, we are also called to try to find the Son.

We can't do God's work ourselves, that is up to God. Still, we have to be attuned to the work God sends us to do. We can't stop the rain, but we can help clean up after the flood.