“That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” (Matthew 5:45). If rain represents the bad, frustrating, infuriating, tragic things that can happen to us in this life, many of us are tempted to believe that our obedience and faithfulness to God's commandments and covenants is like having an umbrella that can keep the rain from falling on us. But Jesus promised that God sends the rain on both the just and the unjust. Righteousness and obedience and selfless service will not stop the rain from falling. Being fully engaged in the gospel won't even stop some of that rain from getting on us. So if trusting in God doesn't stop bad things from happening to us, then that's the point? Why do we hold ourselves to a higher standard and sacrifice our time and our talents and our energy to serve and worship an all powerful deity that doesn't even have our back enough to shelter us from the unpleasant and painful things in life? We see other people out there living their best lives and not giving a moment’s thought to God or His commandments and it seems like sometimes they're getting less rain than we are. Again, what is the point of our obedience if we get wet either way? The answer comes from the same Sermon on the Mount. “Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.” (Matthew 7:24-25). The gospel is not a talisman that wards off evil or an umbrella that keeps off the rain. Some of the storms that each of us will face in this life are so violent and torrential that an umbrella isn't going to help anyway. We believe in Christ and follow Him because He is our Rock, and if we will build on Him, then the winds and the rains and the floods will not be able to knock us down. We may be soaked and drenched and up to our eyeballs in rainwater, but if we are wise enough to keep ourselves anchored to the bedrock principles of faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, and all of the commandments and covenants and saving ordinances, then we will be able to endure all of the rain and storms that God or the devil sends our way.
