“That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil.” – Deuteronomy 11:14
In Albany, Georgia where I live, agriculture is the main source of income. I am not a framer myself but living and working around them long enough you pick up little bits of knowledge. One thing that is abundantly clear (really, you don’t need to be around it to understand) is nothing can replace timely rains. Rain in its due season is paramount for making a great crop, and a great crop is provision, prosperity, and security to the landowner.
Timely rains are rains that come at a crucial point in the progress of the crop. Every crop needs rain, this is obvious. However, to make a really great crop you need timely rains, or rains in season. The two most important times are right around planting and right before harvest. The rain at planting helps soften up the soil for cultivation and it provides much needed moisture to the seed to “wake it up” and get it germinating. Good moisture helps get good germination and If you have strong germination then you get a good root system and that sets you up for a great crop. By the time you reach harvest, the plant is well on its way to maturity and that latter rain is crucial because it gives the plant one last energy boost to reach full maturity before you harvest. Simply put, timely rains mean good crops, and good crops mean food and income. Adequate provision for you and your family. God will give you timely rains in your life if you put your trust in him. He will send showers of blessing on you, but you have to commit your all to him and keep his commandments. I am convinced this is true in the spiritual as well as the natural. In this life, we are sowing seeds of faith all the time. It can be preaching the gospel, starting a ministry, a faith move, or a re-commitment to a current position. It can be looking for a new job, buying a house, starting a family, or a hundred and one other decisions that come upon us. A decision is a seed of faith. The devil would tempt us to believe that God is in heaven to water “our seeds” (thereby giving us “our fruit” to do with what we choose). However, he will not bless what is not going to glorify him. If we keep rejecting him and his statues, he will not send any rain and we are left to the artificial instruments of the world to prosper our endeavors. This is exemplified in the life of King Saul. We may produce some fruit which will fool many if not most, but it will not be good fruit and it will show on judgment day. It takes faith to put a seed in the ground and depend on God for five months to prosper it. We can be tempted to rely on other means for our provision, prosperity, and security. The insurance business is big business for a reason. However, God told the Israelites, “trust me.” Don’t make leagues with the other nations, don’t adopt their ways, and don’t marry their daughters. In short, keep the separation and embrace my law. Even though the promise of rain was there, and God said he would send it; they still had to sow the seed and trust the commandments of the Lord to receive. The key to timely rains was trusting and obeying the Lord.
God gave them the law and told them to abide by it. If they did, he would provide for them. His provision in Canaan would be different than in the wilderness. He didn’t provide the manna from heaven, but he did provide timely rains. They had to do their part. There is no such thing as a spoon-fed Christianity. In truth, I don’t believe many people really want spoon-fed Christianity; because mediocre Christianity yields a mediocre harvest. What they want is the world and all its artificial constructs, and spoon-fed Christianity is simply another one of those constructs. Full and complete blessings of God are found in full and complete obedience to God. Provision, prosperity, and security is in trusting in God and trusting that he will send timely rains.
