Rain and Repentance

In Scripture, God uses ordinary events as metaphors; these pictures help us understand His truth.  After it rained today, I was reminded of one metaphor which compares rain to the Word of God:

 "For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, 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, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it."

The popularity of this verse comes mostly from a mis-application that binds God to save every person who every heard a verse read, since the Word never returns void.  However, the word of God in the immediate context is God’s promise to forgive His peoples’ sins and make an everlasting covenant with them in the person of the Messiah who, as the greater David, brings in the blessings promised to Israel’s great king.  Based on this promise, Isaiah begs God’s disobedient people to stop wasting their money on things that don’t satisfy, and instead to call on Yahweh who would have mercy on them.  And as surely as rain brings crops, so certainly will God bring salvation to His people when they repent and turn to Him. 

The purpose of God’s Word that will never fail is to bring repentance and salvation to God’s people.  As I look out the window at the rain, it reminds me that God’s purpose will be completed and His people will be saved.  In spite men opposing God’s work, God’s people will still repent and experience His mercy.  So what about God’s people who have responded to the purpose of God’s Word?  Now our responsibility is to continue to align ourselves under the Word and to proclaim that Word so that it may continue to accomplish its purpose.