A Daily Quest That Leads To Eternal Rest

I suppose I should assume that since you are in church this morning, you have come here to seek the Lord. You have come to repent again of your sins and be assured of God’s abundant forgiveness. That is great. But what about that family member or friend who has not been seeking the Lord? How can you reach them? God has an answer for that. He went on to say through the prophet Isaiah: “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, 11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:10-11)

The way to reach the wayward is by sharing God’s Word with them. God promises that his word is like rain and snow. When moisture falls to the ground, what effect does it have? Grass turns green. Flowers grow. Crops are abundant. Likewise, God says that his Word will also always have an effect. That doesn’t mean that it will always convert someone to the faith. It often does, but it sometimes causes people to push away from the Lord even farther. We don’t have control over that. What we can do is faithfully and persistently share the Word with such individuals—like the farmer in Jesus’ parable of the sower who liberally, even “carelessly” scattered the seed on all kinds of ground.

For example, when a friend ends up in hospital, instead of just saying “I’m praying for you,” why not add: “I’m confident that Jesus is with you. He promises to never leave us or forsake us.” Get God’s Word out onto the airwaves and unleash the Holy Spirit that he may do his work of turning even the most hardened heart to the Lord.

It’s easy to take God’s Word for granted, but we shouldn’t. Although the President of the United States is not going to share with you the most intimate conversations he has with other world leaders, God freely tells us what’s on his mind and in his heart. And we don’t have to go up into heaven to get God’s Word it anymore than you have to fly a plane into the clouds to collect the rain. As rain falls down to us from the clouds, so God has sent his Word to where we are.

Unfortunately, Satan wants us to shelter ourselves from the Word. He wants us to be like those people who do not like getting wet in the rain because they think it will ruin their hair or shoes. Likewise, Satan wants us to believe that to expose ourselves to the Word of God is to lose freedom and give up any hope of having fun in this world. But just the opposite is true. If we don’t expose ourselves to the Word often, we will be like a plant that receives no water. Our faith, and our hope for an eternal future of happiness and joy will die.

God’s Word is important to us in another way. It not only brings us the rest we receive from knowing that our sins have been forgiven, it also equips us to live the way God wants us to live. In this section from Isaiah, God reminds us that the rain causes plants to grow so that we not only have enough food to eat, but we also have seeds leftover to plant the next year. So God’s Word also satisfies our need for forgiveness, but it also equips us to do that which God has called us to do.