We should take care before we pray for rain

We drove home from Colorado last Sunday. Colorado was cool and we enjoyed the wonderful sensation of rain. As we came back through New Mexico around Raton, and then Springer, we noticed the dry brown grass that was on usual years green for pasture. When we headed toward the Caprock, we could see the smoke from a fire ahead. Then on Monday, we heard that 30,000 to 32,000 acres were burned near Melrose from a grass fire.

It is dry around here. Excessive wind has made our area even dryer. I was watering my flowers yesterday and all the while the hot wind blew the water from the hose back onto me. The United States Drought Monitor makes note that the area we live in is labeled “Exceptional Drought.” Clovis is right on the line of Exceptional Drought and Extreme Drought, the most severe drought conditions.

Yet, here is the dilemma. We can develop the savviest technology on earth. We can connect with people all over the world through social media. We can fly at the speed of sound. We can successfully insert artificial parts and joints to heal aching knees and shoulders. We can put a transplanted heart or a pig valve into a person and help that person live for years more. We can talk to someone on the other side of the globe because far away in space, a satellite signal is connecting us. We can build massive bridges that seem to hang seamlessly over deep waters.

The total situation of no rain makes me realize again that man is helpless against some matters in life. With all the savvy and know how that we have, we cannot bring rain. We are helpless to make it happen. Our rain gauges have been evidence of our condition for the past eight months.

People in Old Testament finally realized God was the source of their very existence. I was reading in Jeremiah 14 about the condition of the people and that they had had no rain.

This is the word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought:

“Judah mourns,

her cities languish;

they wail for the land,

and a cry goes up from Jerusalem.

The nobles send their servants for water;

they go to the cisterns

but find no water.

They return with their jars unfilled;

dismayed and despairing,

they cover their heads.

The ground is cracked

because there is no rain in the land;

the farmers are dismayed

and cover their heads.

Even the doe in the field

deserts her newborn fawn

because there is no grass.

Wild donkeys stand on the barren heights

and pant like jackals;

their eyes fail

for lack of food.”

In the next verse, the people confess their sins to God ... but it makes no difference in their circumstances. Were their prayers insincere? Had sin so ingrained their lives that God was just going to let things take their natural course?

The verse in Jeremiah 14: 10 gives us some insight on these questions:

This is what the Lord says about this people:

“They greatly love to wander;

they do not restrain their feet.

So the Lord does not accept them;

he will now remember their wickedness

and punish them for their sins.”

When will rain finally come for us? Is God, with this no rain situation, wanting us to search our hearts before we pray for rain? Does God want us to see the consequences of actions of a nation that not only dabbles but indulges in compromise against the principles of the kingdom of God?

I have no idea … but I know who does.

Judy Brandon is a Clovis resident. Contact her at:

[email protected]