During a drought, some things can still grow a little. But maybe not every seed sprouts. And those which do might be stunted or wilted or could later die. Nevertheless, some growth happens; just not much.
I have explained in another article how I can find a drought encouraging. I am not speaking of a natural drought, but of a spiritual one. There is not much to find happy about a war nor a drought, so I am trying to look on the bright side. Someone else could just as easily point out all the negatives. I get it. I’ve pondered them. In light of all the easy-to-spot disappointments, either my grief will crush me, or I will choose to look at the positives. Now I will do the later.
When people do not want to listen to spiritual truth, you can talk ’til you are blue in the face. They won’t listen. I mean some will. But not most. It’s just like with plants in a drought…and there is nothing that can be done. In both kinds of droughts, neither the plants nor the people are bad or have done anything wrong. It’s the dynamic of the environment. In a drought, there is no water for crops. In a spiritual drought, I would carry the analogy to say that the Holy Spirit is absent.
That describes huge parts of the world we live in today.
In Romans 10, Paul says:
Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard. And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent.
It’s solid reasoning and it goes like this:
Sending leads to preaching.
→ Preaching leads to hearing.
→ Hearing leads to believing.
→ Believing leads to calling on the name of the Lord.
→ And that leads to people being saved.
Since Paul was all about bringing the good news of salvation, he knew from these steps that he would never succeed unless he could send people first. He had laid out a path and a plan.
But that was a different time and season on planet Earth. In the current spiritual drought, in many places, people are mostly not listening; and so, our chart looks a bit different.
Sending leads to preaching.
→ Preaching leads to hearing.
→ Hearing leads to believing.
→ Believing leads to calling on the name of the Lord.
→ And that leads to people being saved.
We can send all we like and preach up a storm, but mostly only with minor results. If people don’t listen, the whole plan breaks down. That’s the drought for you.
So, what’s good about a drought? Well, that one day it will end. And that then it will be quickly forgotten. We can look forward to that, most certainly. We can also rejoice in the small good things that happen despite our situation. That is, there are still a few plants that grow when water is scarce. And similarly, there are always a few people who listen and respond.
Some people will chastise me and say that this article is only an excuse for not sending and preaching. Yeah, that could be true. Maybe I am just discouraged. But I believe that when the Spirit really moves, (and the drought sovereignly ends), society will be different. At that time, many more will listen; and that will lead to believing, then calling on the name of the Lord and being saved.
In the meantime, how shall we then live?
I recall the somewhat infamous tracts called “The Four Spiritual Laws.” Apparently, there was a time when there was so much interest in Christianity that people would carry these in their pockets and purses. That way, they could just give them out whenever and wherever. But nowadays, there is much less need for such techniques. Rather during this drought, we depend more and more on the grace and sovereignty of God to intervene. Meaning, 1,000 years ago, in times of physical drought, there was not much that a farmer could do about a field that he had planted. His only real option was to throw himself on the mercy of God for the crops. Similarly, in times of spiritual drought, our expectations are different. We know that many people are not listening nor hearing, so we adjust our expectations.
In these dry seasons, maybe what people need is not so much to hear from us, but to see God directly for themselves. Of course, in the end that is what sharing the Gospel and evangelization is supposed to lead to anyway. But when the masses are not likely to listen, what else can we do but throw ourselves on the mercy of God for our fellow man?
Some plants will grow,
Some people will listen.
But we can hardly know which or who.
© 2019, Alignment Life
Alignment Life 