I Love a Rainy Night

I sat this afternoon, Friday, March 20^th, working on this blog and watching the rain pour down from the gloomy gray sky. The wind howled as a river began to flow down my street. I am a storm watcher; they fascinate me. Many times I have sat in wonder, particularly at night, mesmerized by the pounding rain, flashes of lightning and bursts of thunder. I really enjoy the thunder, long rolling thunder and knock-you-off-your-feet thunder. No thunder today, but what a show! That storm came and went quickly, they usually do. It will not be remembered as anything significant, if it is remembered at all. Right now it’s the other storm everyone is talking about, you know the one.

Over the past months, we’ve used our Friday and Sunday Bible studies to search the Scriptures and discuss theological questions including the existence, character and activities of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. As always, any such endeavor must be firmly rooted in the text of the Bible and completely guided by the Spirit. God reveals much about Himself in His Word, though He is far greater than human words could ever express. His Word is truth and all that we think we know about God must be continually compared to what He reveals about Himself on the precious pages of the Bible.

During this time of uncertainty in the coronavirus storm, I believe it would be helpful for us to step back to those basic truths about God once more as we try to navigate below the dark, threatening clouds. What the Holy Spirit makes clear in the New Testament, is that the Body of Christ needs to gather together; right now we are very much limited in that. Fortunately, in this day and age we have options for staying in touch that were not available ten or twenty years ago. Now, modern technology is obviously no substitute for being together. Neither is reading or watching a pastor on TV or the internet a substitute when what we need is conversation and prayer with each other. We all know the verse in Matthew 18 that says, “where two or three are gathered together in His name, Jesus is there in the midst of them.” We also know that Jesus told His disciples in John 16:7, “It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper (the Holy Spirit) will not come to you, but if I depart I will send Him to you.” God tells us throughout the New Testament to be together, one big reason for that is the unity of His presence within us, and among us. In those times of gathering, He particularly calms, strengthens and encourages us in the storms of life.

There are times in Scripture when God’s people were isolated from each other for various reasons. There were times that Joseph, Moses, Samuel, Elijah, Daniel, John and Paul found themselves separated from people they cared about and in some cases they were totally abandoned by people. In those times, more than ever, they found their strength and comfort in the Sovereign God. Thus, there are times when we cannot gather to the same location; I’m talking about times when we don’t gather because we are not able to do so, not when we decided we had something else to do instead. In those times, like now, when we are hindered, I believe God gives special grace, like He did to Joseph, Moses, Paul and the others. Take for instance Paul, who was in prison just before his death, not when he was under house arrest at the end of Acts, but later, when in prison and the Spirit used him to write 2 Timothy. That was a storm in Paul’s life. Paul was isolated in a dark prison cell with very limited ability to talk to anyone, let alone a brother or sister in Christ. From that cell came the words of encouragement to Pastor Timothy who was himself being persecuted in other ways; consider 2 Timothy 1:7, “God had not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” Powerful words from a dark, lonely, miserable prison.

As believers in Jesus Christ, God the Son, we are given the gift of the Holy Spirit’s constant presence. It is the Spirit who unites us together in Christ and strengthens our spirit; He is the Comforter (Acts 9:31). It is the Holy Spirit who gives us “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Gal 5:22-23) and produces those things in us so we may minister those same things to others as we do our part within the Body of Christ.

Let us then be diligent in our love for the Lord and each other. Let us not fall prey to idleness and separation. There remains much we can do, even on lock-down. On another occasion of Paul being imprisoned, he and Silas sang praises and prayed while on lock-down (Acts 16). Today I encourage you to read Acts 16 and 2 Corinthians 6:1 – 7:1. Do the work God calls you to do, not only when the sun shines and things are easy, but also when temptation, isolation, grief, and discouragement pour down like heavy rain on a dark night. We can do this on our knees in prayer as Paul did. We can encourage one another as the Spirit did through Paul in sending letters to each other. We can use the telephone and internet video calls to stay in touch. We can “let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord” (Colossians 3:16).

The good thing about dark, rainy nights is that in the midst of it, your faith is tested and you must grapple with the question in your mind, is God with me in this? He is. As a believer in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit dwells within you, and you remain part of the Body of Christ (the Church). Cling to Him and continue to do your part in the Body as He leads you. Then you will learn to love a rainy night.

May the Lord watch over you, protect you, and keep you close to Him.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Mark