God gives for the sake of joy! “Ask ye of the Lord rain,” advises the prophet Zechariah, ask and the Lord will give (Zech. 10:1).
We need Zechariah’s words because we seem unaware of the laws by which God works. His message is pressingly relevant: the harvest could already have been reaped.
Living without asking the Lord for rain is inappropriate. We, and the weather, are not accidents in time, for God runs the world and the clouds. And He cares. Ask God and He will answer and act, Zechariah contends. Societal chaos without is sometimes seen as but a reflection of spiritual weakness within the church. But sighing, crying saints have more to do than scratch heads, wring hands, and bang heads in futile frustration at an apparently unavoidable moral meltdown. Spiritual dearth is not inevitable. God can and wants to do something about it.
Zechariah speaks with authority to our needy condition. Our spiritual meteorology is as it is because we have not given permission to God to make the clouds, break the clouds, and flood the fields with life-giving rain. God, who sees our need, possesses the power to supply all our needs according to His glorious riches. He can dictate the weather and give us rain.
Then, why not simply send the rain? Because we would be happier if we asked. If you have not asked thus far, He says, “[A]sk, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full” (John 16:24). Ask for rain. Ask and He will give. God gives for the sake of joy!
—Lael Caesar serves as an Associate Editor of Adventist Review
