Israel was an agricultural society. They had crops and cattle that needed rain. The people could decide where they were going to plant and when. They could organize their time and gather the right tools. They could do everything but make it rain. Only God brings rain.

It is almost inevitable that we run up against necessary tasks or resources that we have no power to ensure. Stress is produced when we see what we need alongside the absence of the same. God has a mode of living that almost always involves the need for something we can’t manifest in our own power. This divine system of existence is designed to keep us aware of our need for God to do what we cannot do.

God is not narcissistic, wanting to be the center of attention. No, He desires that every soul be saved. But He can’t control this. For Him to love us, He cannot force us to choose Him. If He forced us, it would not be love. The best He can do is to raise awareness in our minds that we need Him. This causes us to go to Him, where we learn that all that we need from Him is wrapped up in His person, so to receive what we need, we must be in communion with Him. When we also learn that He has a deep desire to supply all that we need according to His riches in glory, He hopes this will cause us to be overwhelmed by His desire to show kindness to us despite our sins so that our souls might be saved.

In 2 Chronicles, in keeping with this divine system, we learn that our communion with God plays a large role in God taking care of those things out of our control. Because He loves us and knows it is not good for us to develop a habit of taking advantage of others, He does not let us take advantage of Him. When we ask Him to supply what we cannot, though we are not actively pursuing communion with Him, He will not always oblige. But, in that moment, if we turn back to Him, He promises to open the Heavens and rain down all we need according to His supply.

Prayer: Lord, let me find rest by having confidence in You to supply all my needs. And let me not take You for granted but seek You earnestly. Amen.