'Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving, sing with the lyre the praises of our God, who covers the sky with clouds, prepares the rain for the earth and makes grass grow on the mountains.'
(Psalms 147:7-8 NKJV)
From earth to heaven to return to earth. This is the synthesis of the water cycle that I have chosen to talk to you about what we could define as "the cycle of prayer". A moral and spiritual famine is gradually widening, restricting the spaces of spirituality and genuine faith. As a result, hearts slowly become dry, and more and more arid, without the will to live and the power to generate life. As a believer I cannot help but raise my eyes to heaven and take refuge in prayer, confident of the prophet's words: “I will make them and the places all around My hill a blessing; and I will cause showers to come down in their season; there shall be showers of blessing” (Ezekiel 34:26). When it starts to rain, we run for cover, also fearing more and more damage due to the distorted world climate. Yet the rain plays a very important role in the life cycle by irrigating the earth, so as to produce fruit and feed the springs, which give us to drink.
In nature, the water of the seas and rivers is heated by the sun and transformed into steam. Once in the sky, the water vapor cools and undergoes a new transformation that leads to the formation of clouds. The drops of water, aggregating, form heavy clouds and begin to fall to the ground in the form of water or snow. When it returns to the earth, the water is deposited in rivers, lakes, seas and oceans, but it wets the earth. The writer wrote to the Hebrews: "For the earth, which drinks the rain that often falls on it and produces herbs useful for those who cultivate it, receives blessing from God" (6:7). Just as water evaporates from earth to heaven under the heat of the sun's rays, so our prayer flows from our being under the warmth of God's presence and the light of his Word. When he appears, we cannot help but praise, exalt and glorify him. At the same time, the gaze turns upward, and the needy heart raises supplications and intercessions to receive divine intervention. Under the impulse of the Spirit, prayers reach Heaven, where they are gathered (Revelation 5:8). The vapor transforms into water by condensation, i.e. at a certain height it cools and returns to the liquid state, forming clouds. Thus the risk of rain can be equated with the approach of the divine response, which arrives just as water from heaven returns to earth. Sooner or later the clouds, whose weight has increased considerably, will drop the drops of water in the form of rain, hail or snow.
If it's late, wait. At the appropriate time the answer will come, just as the clouds rose over the land bringing, in the time of Elijah, rain (1 Kings 18:44-45) which vitalizes the soil and chases away famine. The arrival of rain is like a resurgence of life, a godsend. The drought had produced famine in the country, gripping the people of Israel, in the specter of death. Only Elijah's prayer and faithfulness opened heaven. This is why we often talk about showers of blessings. When the water returns to the earth, it not only fills the natural basins, but is absorbed at great depths, depending on the permeability of the soil or rock. Thus divine intervention descends into our most intimate and hidden parts, bringing relief, healing and liberation. "The Lord will open to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow" (Deuteronomy 28:12). Probably it will not be real drops of water, but words like these you are reading to water your heart, because “For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it" (Isaiah 55:10-11).
Weekly Bible Reading
Plan #40
September 27, Isaiah 3-4; Galatians 6
September 28, Isaiah 5-6; Ephesians 1
September 29, Isaiah 7-8; Ephesians 2
September 30, Isaiah 9-10; Ephesians 3
October 01, Isaiah 11-13; Ephesians 4
October 02, Isaiah 14-16; Ephesians 5:1-16
October 03, Isaiah 17-19; Ephesians 5:17-33
Photo by Pawel Kornacki, www.freeimages.com
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