Two months of virtually no rain starts to feel like a very long time indeed, especially for us Brits who are used to summer wash-outs! Our cities are sweltering while in the countryside, fields are brown, livestock are thirsty and farmers are despairing. Even though thunderstorms are forecast for today, it nevertheless seems timely to stop and consider what Scripture teaches us about times of drought.

1. The Lord, and the Lord alone, is Sovereign over the weather and Provider of all our needs. The whole Creation obeys His voice – the rain-clouds and the sun as much as the wind and waves: “To God belong wisdom and power; counsel and understanding are his…If he holds back the waters, there is drought; if he lets them loose, they devastate the land” (Job 12:13-15).

2. God is calling people to Himself, in love. He allows droughts and famines in order that people might turn back to Him – and this will be even more the case as Messiah’s return draws near (e.g. Matt 24:7; Rev 6:5-6). It is not a rain dance He wants, but for people to recognise their need of Him – both for physical water and for living water for their souls (John 4:1-26; Joel 2:12-13).

3. Droughts reveal the condition of our hearts, making us uncomfortable and testing how we respond (see also Deut 8:15-16). They are intended to humble us and make us fear God, who has the power to destroy both body and soul in the fires of hell – but who would prefer to take loving care of people, if they would let Him (e.g. Hos 13:4-6).

4. Droughts are a picture of our own spiritual barrenness. Solomon, in his wisdom, recognised that such events are intended by God to make each person “aware of the afflictions of his own heart” (1 Kings 8:35-40). The Lord is our only source of life, wholeness and blessing; indeed, several times in Scripture the Word of the Lord is compared to water (e.g. Isa 55:10-11), with its lack being like a famine or great thirst (Amos 8:11-12).

“O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.” (Psalm 63:1)

5. In times of drought, the Lord takes care of those who are truly His own, warning them ahead of time and making provision for them (e.g. Gen 41-42:2; Ruth 1; 1 Kings 17; Acts 11:27-30). This is also the case spiritually, for the Lord promises to satisfy every thirsty soul that comes to Him (e.g. Isa 55:1-2; Matt 5:6), even in the midst of a spiritually parched land.

“The poor and needy search for water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. But I the Lord will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.” (Isa 41:17)

With such wonderful promises in mind, let us worship the Lord afresh, even if the crops fail and the ground produces no food (Hab 3:17-18). For:

“blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” (Jeremiah 17:7-8)

Author: Frances Rabbitts