Life is hard.
In my experience, there has been a whole lot of gloomy. The gloomy days sometimes threaten to overshadow the bright days. I often pray that the Lord would break my heart for what breaks His, so that I might be able to love like He loves. When He answers that prayer, my heart feels the heaviness of so much sadness and pain in the world. And let me tell you, the enemy holds his grip with a grudge. It’s ugly.
Sickness, chronic pain, homelessness, broken families… I know these things break the Lord’s heart. And in response to all this gloom, we pray for healing, wholeness, safety, restoration…
But just because we pray, doesn’t mean the gloomy goes away.
I believe God is very intentional in allowing the gloomy times in our lives. He is sovereign, and the power to do so is His. It is often those yucky, painful circumstances that God uses to bring the healing and restoration in the long run.
The characteristic of God that helps make the hard stuff bearable for me is His goodness. I can trust that the hard stuff isn’t wasted, because I know God will use it to bring about good for His glory and our wellbeing.
“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28 ESV
But at times, my head may know the truth of God’s goodness and purpose, but my heart hasn’t quite gotten on board yet. The process of aligning my head and my heart takes time.
And sometimes, it’s just going to be a gloomy day.
Those dark rain clouds usually warn us that the rain is coming. The sky gets eerie and gloomy grey, sometimes lasting the entire day or more before the rain brings relief.
Born and raised in sunny Southern California, the rain makes me so happy! That could be because we don’t get a lot of rain here, and when we do, it’s brief. The thing about the rain that feels like a relief to me is that when the rain comes, the gloomy goes away.
At first, the dark grey clouds spark my thrill in anticipation of rain. But if the rain doesn’t quickly follow, those same dark grey, ominous, dry rain clouds, that originally got my hopes up for sky showers, ultimately leave me feeling disappointed and in the dumps. The feeling I get right before the rain is so dreary and sad. Desire to do anything is drained and my energy is zapped.
Then in an instant, those first raindrops I see on the driveway or hear on the plants outside my window fill me with excitement and expectancy. My energy returns, and my hope for new things is restored.
Conflict and struggles will continue to come. But it’s not for nothing! God so graciously allows our pain to have purpose in the long run.
“He covers the heavens with clouds, provides rain for the earth, and makes the grass grow in mountain pastures. He gives food to the wild animals and feeds the young ravens when they cry.” Psalm 147:8-9 NLT
The clouds come first. Then the rain falls to make the grass grow.
These two verses begin with clouds covering the skies. Then God provides the rain for the earth and makes the grass grow. It’s this growth that feeds the wild animals of the mountain pastures and young ravens when they cry. But we can’t forget…God’s provisions and growth started with the clouds.
It took me a second to consider why the last part of these verses was relevant… The grass is watered by the rain making it grow, which feeds the animals that eat the grass. Makes sense. But birds don’t eat grass, so why was that part included? And is it significant that the young ravens are crying?
And then it hit me. Baby birds cry out when they’re hungry because they need help from their mama bird to feed them. And what do they eat? Worms…of course…worms! The rain not only grows the fields for the wild animals to feed on, but the rain brings out the worms that nourish the young ravens when they cry.
Even for reasons we might not think about, or don’t occur to us in the moment… like the worms for the hungry, young ravens… God has a purpose for the gloomy, dreary clouds.
I find it significant that the author tucked these two verses into the middle of a passage beginning and ending with, “Praise the Lord!” (Ps. 147, vs. 1 & 20) In a section of scripture that is filled with cheers of thanksgiving, shouts of exaltation, and grateful gladness, we get a quick reminder of the clouds that came before.
It provides a glimpse of the hope, a brief reminder that there is purpose in the pain. We can fix our focus on a reason to be grateful for the clouds… because the gloomy clouds bring the rain, and the rain brings growth, and the growth provides nourishment and strength. And even in the hard times, the hope of being stronger in the long run makes it a little easier to choose to be grateful for all the gloomy that comes before.
We can have hope that God will turn our gloomy to gladness.
