April Showers

Rain Falling on TulipsVeils of Rain Stream from Sunlit Clouds over Farmland

I have heard most of my adult life the saying, “It is those April showers that bring the May flowers.” If that is the truth, then we should have an abundance of beautiful May flowers because of the plentiful rain in April.  It is true that flowers surely need rain to mature and produce the beauty that is contained within each that once started as just a seed. Through a process of time and the necessary ingredients that make for growth and maturation, the final product is witnessed by God’s creation. Solomon talks about the beauty of an elapsed winter and the appearance of flowers: “My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;” (Song of Sol. 2:10-12). This is a picture of Christ speaking to His bride (the church) to rise up and come away from the barrenness of winter into the sunshine of with the bridegroom and enjoying his showers of mercy and grace.

There is a song that is entitled “Showers of Blessing”.  Part of the lyrics say that “Mercy drops round us are falling, but for the showers we plead.” We surely desire, not just drops of His mercy, but the showers of mercy because we all fall so far short, and we know that God is “rich in mercy.” The showers of His mercy should make us more desirous of growing in grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ and to produce fruit to the glory of God. Where do we discern and experience the spiritual rain that revives us when we are withered and ready to perish?  Just as it is the natural rain from the skies that revive withered and parched vegetation, so it is that the doctrine (teaching) of the Lord that comes through the gospel revives us as we come once again to know the assurance of His great love and mercy.  Moses said, “My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass:”  (Deut. 32:2). What better place to receive a reviving rain than in the assembly of the saints to worship the Lord in Spirit and in truth!

Maybe one of the reasons God’s people have not blossomed into beautiful flowers is because they have not been exposed to the rain of the gospel through a lack of attending God’s house. Elder Herman Clark used to say that the congregation he was looking at and preaching to was like a “beautiful bouquet of flowers.” How true that is as we see the fruit that has come about in His people who absorb God’s rain and cultivate what God has given. Jesus said, “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.” (John 15:8).

A fresh rain after a long dry spell gives off a certain smell or odor as the parched earth absorbs the life giving rain. Likewise, there is an odour of a sweet smelling savour in the nostrils of God as they walk in love bear fruit as a beautiful flower in the garden of the Lord (the church).  Paul writes, “And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.”  (Eph. 5:2). Sometimes the wind blows when those showers drop from rain heavy clouds. The Spirit is sometimes compared to the wind; we surely need the wind of the Spirit to accompany the rain that the sweet smell of the garden spices may resonate on the hearts of God’s beloved. Solomon again said, “Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits.”  (Song of Sol. 4:16).

God can open the heavens and give natural rain and showers and he can also shut up the heavens so that none is produced.  In a spiritual manner, He can also shut up heaven that no spiritual rain is given.  He does this because of sin and disobedience of His children.  Moses again writes, “When the heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; yet if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, when thou dost afflict them;   Then hear thou from heaven, and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, when thou hast taught them the good way, wherein they should walk; and send rain upon thy land, which thou hast given unto thy people for an inheritance. (II Chron 6:26-27). The answer to the heavens being opened again is for His people to confess His name and their sin and He would send rain upon the land.

The church is compared to a garden just like Solomon said, “A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.”  (Song of Sol. 4:12).  A garden that needs showers and the nutrients that come from such that the plants may grow and produce fruit.  Some flowers bloom slowly and some very rapidly and so it is with the degrees of fruit bearing of the people of God as witnessed in the parable of the sower. It should always be the goal to produce and hundred-fold rather than thirty-fold in the vineyard of the Lord.

Yes those April showers bring those May flowers, but it can also be that those Sunday showers may produce flowers on the other six days of the week.–April 29, 2013–Elder Larry Wise

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About wisepb

Pastor: Bethany Primitive Baptist Church
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