“I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing” (Ezekiel 34:26)
What is your season this morning my friend? Is it a season of drought? Then that is the season for showers. “As your day is, so shall your strength be” (Deut 33:25) “I will give you showers of blessing” (Ezekiel 34:26) Notice here that the word is in the plural. All kinds of showers. All kinds of blessings. God wants to gift us with everything that we need for salvation. God has given us His Son that we might be saved. (John 3:16) And all of God’s showers and blessings go together. Like links in a golden chain. Like the rungs in our own “Jacob’s ladder.” (Gen 28:12)
Jesus is the living ladder that connects earth to heaven. God invites us to climb, not by our own strength, but by trusting Him step by step. Each rung of that ladder represents a promise from God. We cannot climb while clinging to worldly weights—comfort, possessions, or self-interest—because faith requires release as well as effort. When we place our personal advantage ahead of God, we slow our own spiritual growth. Earthly success cannot save us or lift us closer to heaven. God does not measure greatness by wealth or status, but by trust and obedience. {paraphrased from 1BC 1095.2}
As we grow in our walk with God, we learn that every upward step means leaving something behind and resting more fully on His promises. We climb safely only when our feet are firmly planted on each promise God has spoken. We do not rush upward; we step carefully, trusting that each promise will hold us. {1BC 1095.2}
Today my friends, it is God’s express will that “…grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him (John 17:3) who called us to his own glory and excellence,by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. (2 Pet 1:2-4)
In one of my favorite books that deals with end time events, I read the following:
“We should NOW acquaint ourselves with God by proving His promises.” (Great Controversy, pg 632)
God personally stands behind all of His promises. “Promises are estimated by the truth of the one who makes them. Many men make promises only to break them, to mock the heart that trusted in them. Those who lean upon such men lean upon broken reeds. But God is behind the promises He makes. He is ever mindful of His covenant, and His truth endureth to all generations.” {7BC 942.12}
The Bible says that when our Creator God gives converting grace. God will also give comforting grace. (Rom 12:1-2) Our heavenly Father will send “showers of blessings!” Creator will infuse the strength we need into our weakness. Our Father which art in Heaven will rain down His love mercy and grace into your life and soul, according to your present felt needs. Does your life seem like a parched plant today? Wilting under the heat of trials and grief? Have you considered having a personal, lived experience in the “things that accompany salvation?” (Heb 6:9) Expect the rain. Welcome the showers in your life whenever our Father sees fit to send them.
For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned. But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak. (Heb 6:7-9)
Look up to Jesus, O parched plant. Open up your leaves and flowers for the Heavenly watering. It is “with great joy that you will draw waters from the well of salvation.” (Isa 12:3) Our mighty Creator God can transform any thorn into a flower. Don’t you want your thorn turned into a beautiful flower?
You know friends, Job got the sunshine after the rain. But was all that stormy rain a waste? Could it be that those showers had something to do with the shining? Doesn’t the fruitful life seek both the showers and the sunshine? Only you can answer this question. Only the cross that you daily bear can answer the question.
Your grief, your sorrow, your tragedy and your loss have crowned your gross darkness because you have learned to seek and find the beautiful radiance of the stormy rains. May your dark clouds reflect the light in your clouds, as the showers of eternal blessings rain down on you from every direction.
In contrast to the present evil shepherds (leaders) of God’s people (Ezekiel 34:1-6), God will send a perfect shepherd, the Messiah (Ezekiel 37:25), who will take care of every need his people have and set up a Kingdom of perfect peace and justice. (Heb 13:20-21). Peace here means more than the absence of conflict. It is contentment, fulfillment, and security.
Let those who are oppressed under a sense of sin remember that as long as they are alive there is hope for them. (Eccl 9:4-6) The salvation of the human race has ever been the object of the councils of heaven. The covenant of mercy was made before the foundation of the world. It has existed from all eternity, and is called the everlasting covenant. So surely as there never was a time when God was not, so surely there never was a moment when it was not the delight of the eternal mind to manifest His grace to humanity. {7BC 934.25}
Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. (Heb 13:20-21)
There Is Light in Every Cloud. Expect It
As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I have sent it” (Isa 55:10-11)