February 24

Morning

I will make them and the places around My hill a blessing. I will send down showers in season—showers of blessing. — Ezek 34:26 BSB

Here is sovereign grace: “I will send down showers.” Isn't it divine mercy? Who else can command the rain to fall but God? It is God who sends the rain upon the earth and waters the green grass. Grace is God's gift, not man’s creation.

Grace is also essential. What would the ground do without rain? You can break the soil and sow seeds, but without rain, nothing will grow. Just as we need rain, we need God's blessing. All our efforts are in vain without God sending down the blessing.

This is abundant grace too: “I will send down showers.” He doesn't say He will send drops, but showers. So it is with grace. When God blesses, He usually blesses so abundantly that there isn't enough room to hold it. Abundant grace! We need abundant grace to keep us humble, make us prayerful, make us holy, keep us zealous, preserve us through life, and eventually bring us to heaven. We need a downpour of grace.

This is timely grace as well: “I will send down showers in season.” What season are you in today? Is it a season of drought? That's when you need showers. Is it a time of heaviness and dark clouds? That’s when you need showers. “As your days, so shall your strength be.”

And this is varied grace: “I will give you showers of blessing.” The word is plural. God will send all kinds of blessings. All of God’s blessings come together, like links in a golden chain. If He gives converting grace, He will also give comforting grace. He will send “showers of blessing.” Look up today, parched soul, and open yourself for a heavenly watering!

Evening

Then the angel of the LORD said, “How long, O LORD of Hosts, will You withhold mercy from Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, with which You have been angry these seventy years?” So the LORD spoke kind and comforting words to the angel who was speaking with me. — Zech 1:12-13 BSB

What a sweet answer to an anxious question! Tonight, let us rejoice in it. O Zion, good things are in store for you; your time of struggle will soon be over; your children will be born; your captivity will end. Be patient under God's discipline, and in the darkness, trust Him still, for His love for you burns brightly. God loves the church more deeply than we can imagine. He loves her with all His infinite heart. Therefore, be encouraged; prosperity is near for those whom God loves.

The prophet tells us what these comforting words are: “I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy.” The Lord loves His church so much that He cannot bear her to stray to others; and when she does, He cannot endure her suffering too much or too long. He won’t let her enemies afflict her too harshly. When God seems most absent, His heart is warm toward her. History shows that whenever God uses a rod to discipline His people, He always breaks it afterward, as if He hates what caused His children pain. “Like a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.”

God hasn’t forgotten us because He disciplines us. His discipline doesn’t mean lack of love. If this is true for the church as a whole, it is also true for each individual member. You may fear that the Lord has forgotten you, but it’s not so! He who counts the stars and calls them by name hasn’t forgotten you. He knows your situation as if you were the only one He ever created or loved. Come to Him and find peace.