The rain and the word

"For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven..." — Isaiah 55:10-11

I opened the Bible this morning to the place where the ribbon was, which is Isaiah, and I read the part about the rain.

For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it to bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

I have read this verse many times and it has never landed the same way twice, which is how scripture works if you let it, which is that the verse does not change but you do and so the meeting between you and the verse is different every time you sit down at the table.

This morning it landed in the garden. The rain cometh down and watereth the earth and maketh it to bring forth. That is what happened last Saturday when the storm came through and the garden drank it and the beans doubled and the creek ran full again. The rain did not come down and then go back. It stayed. It did its work.

And I thought about last Sunday when I sat at this table and read my Bible and did not remember what I read and thought that was all right because the reading was the practice. And here is Isaiah saying the same thing from the other side: the word goes out and does not return void. It does what it was sent to do whether I remember it or not.

The rain does not need the earth to remember it. The earth just needs to receive it. I received the word this morning and tomorrow I will not remember Isaiah 55 any better than I remembered whatever I read last Sunday and that is fine because the word is not for my memory. The word is for my soil. And the soil knows what to do with rain even when I am not watching.

Ruby keeps a collection of prayers at her kitchen table. You can find them here.