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“God’s voice is glorious in the thunder. We can’t even imagine the greatness of his power.“He directs the snow to fall on the earth and tells the rain to pour down.” – Job 37:5-6.
Weather often determines where people decide where to live. If you want to live in the college town of Marquette, Michigan, located in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, you can expect as much as 200 inches of snow each year. If you choose to to live in New Orleans, Louisiana, expect a total of 62 inches of rain a year. And if you choose to live in sunny Florida, you have to deal with hurricanes and tornados as we found out in 2018.
In the Job 37 reference, God “directs the snow to fall on the earth.” We are reminded that God is in control of everything and that snow has one job…to fall. And then God “tells the rain to pour down.” Basically God is telling rain to do the thing that He created it to do. Fall.
Yes, rain and snow accomplish other things once it falls, but don’t lose the simplicity of the message. God is asking me to be the thing He’s already created me to be. And He’s asking you to be the thing He’s already created you to be.
God wants us to trust Him in rain or shine and to serve Him where He plants us. He is in control and has a purpose for our lives. The snow is only meant, created, commanded to fall. Rain is meant, created, commanded to pour down. You were only meant, created, commanded to be who you are. That all sounds similar to a question people asked Jesus: “We want to perform God’s works, too. What should we do?” And do you remember Jesus’s answer? “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent.” (John 6:28–29). Jesus is not looking for people who are trying to measure up; He is looking for people who will trust him.
In Psalm 131:1, David said that there were some things that are “…too awesome for me to grasp.” Trusting God means that we patiently wait for God to unfold His plan for our purpose. We don’t try to run ahead of Him, but serve where He has placed us; to be part of a local church because that is where we receive biblical teaching and pursue authentic community.
I hope the devotionals this week will encourage you to not neglect gathering together with other believers if you are not in the habit of doing so. We all have a need for connection and community with God and others who are walking out the Christian life. We cannot do it alone. Gathering together is just like charging your cell phone. We have to plug into the charger in order to make it through the day of use ahead. This is no different than charging our spiritual batteries. We can charge our “spiritual battery” by reading God’s Word, prayer and attending a local church where we recharge, get guidance, and counsel from others. Get plugged into a church
Discussion Questions:
- How can we know if we are doubting the person God created us to be?
- If not, what changes do we need to make?