It has come at last — the blessed, blessed rain! It has come from reservoirs of cloud to refresh a parched and heat-dried earth. And every leaf has held out its little cup to catch the life-preserving shower, and every flower has bathed its lips in grateful moisture. O’er all the land the steady, persistent falling of these showers of God has been welcomed as a benison of Almighty goodness. Now shall the glad promise of the harvests rest on ten thousand freshened fields―now shall the rivers and the streams rejoice, and every gladdened flower and shrub and tree in every vale and on every hill shall praise the Lord.
And all over the world, parched with the sirocco of sin, there is a need for “showers of blessing” from above. In every land the drought is felt. The hunger and thirst of the human soul is terrible in its reality.
David Brainerd felt it when his soul spoke in these grand words: ―
“I eared not where or how I lived, or what hardships I went through so that I could but gain souls to Christ. While I was asleep I dreamed of these things, and when I waked the first thing I thought of was this great work. I longed to be a flame of fire, continually glowing in the service of God, and building up Christ’s kingdom to my latest, my dying moment.”
And J. A. Packer, writing of Russia, said: “There is no country in the world offering richer dividends for Christian service than Russia. The fields are white to harvest. The people are ravenously hungry for the Gospel.”
May God grant that the doors may soon be open again for the Gospel to enter from without, but we must pray that the blessed showers may continue to fall within.