Today's Scripture Reading (August 31, 2020): Zechariah 10
Twentieth-century
Russian-American novelist Vladimir Nabokov argued that we should "not be angry with the rain; it simply does not know how to
fall upwards." He is not entirely right with his assumption. Sometimes, in
the chaos of the clouds and the wind, rain does swirl and sometimes even falls upward.
Of course, we never see that happening. And the rain that falls upward does us no
good. It is only the rain that makes it to the ground helps us to live and grow
the things on which we depend. Only the moisture that falls to the ground helps
keep our forests alive and healthy and curtails the fires that seem to rage every
year all over the globe. If it weren't for the rain that falls to the ground,
life would not exist on the planet.
Ancient Israel
featured an agricultural society, and it was an agrarian society without an irrigation
system. And so, the nation depended on the rain. And the rain they depended on fell
in two seasons; the former rain fell in the fall of the year, and the latter
rain fell in the spring. Zechariah, here, speaks specifically of the latter
rain, or rain that fell on the springtime. Zechariah reminds his society that
they need the storm and that the rain falls at the command of God.
But he also
reminds them that God's rain falls on everyone. God does not just play to his
base. God does not act in heaven, deciding who to bless and who to curse depending
on who supports him. Yes, there are consequences to sin and blessing found in
living inside of God's plan. But God desires that all would succeed. And part
of the reason for this is that God understands that "everyone succeeding"
is a fundamental part of lasting peace. Wars, both formal and informal, are
often fought, at least on some level, over the control of resources. Rebellion
and riots are the results of an unequal distribution of the things needed for
us to live. And lasting peace only happens when there is an equalization of
wealth and resources.
Pastor David Guzik argues that "In
man's ideas of equality, often everyone ends up equally poor. God's idea of
equality means abundance for everyone." Slowly, we are waking up to the
truth of these words. The peaceful path forward in our culture is to make sure
that the rain or blessings fall on everyone, and that the gap between the rich
and poor shrinks. And that is the plan according to the mind of God. Our problem
is that achieving these things are not in the mind of man. Politicians seem to
put policies in place that maximize the wealth of those with money and have the
ability to support their campaigns monetarily, often arguing that their wealth
will trickle down to the rest of us. But, while they rarely admit it, they often
do so at the expense of those who live in the middle and lower portions of the
economy. The reality of trickle-down economics is that the rich get richer while
the poor get poorer.
In God's economy, there is enough for everyone.
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Zechariah
11
No comments:
Post a Comment