When my children were little they always loved the outdoors. They especially loved catching bugs and were always carrying around one of those plastic creature habitat boxes so they could show me whatever insect they had found.
Some of you may not like bugs, and I’m not a big fan of them either, especially earthworms. I don’t scream when I see them as I do with spiders, but they are still considered “yucky little creatures” to me.
I wouldn’t touch one unless I had to. However, God created them for a purpose, and one morning I gleaned a bit of “wisdom” from the earthworm. I want to share it with you.
One morning as I was on my way to work, the rain was pouring down. It was a dreary way to wake up and start a Monday morning. I turned on the radio and tried to lift my spirits with some Christian music and drown out thoughts of problems and anxiety. I wasn’t doing a very good job until I drove past a golf course and saw at least thirty birds having a feast on earthworms that were laying in the grass.
Now I have always been told that the reason why earthworms come to the surface of the ground when it rains is that they will drown if they don’t. While that seems like a reasonable explanation, scientists agree that it simply isn’t true!
Earthworms breathe through their skin and they require a lot of moisture. So, they benefit from the rain. They come to the surface because as the water is on the ground, it helps them to move a greater distance much faster than if they were stuck in dry soil. The only problem is that when the rains come, so do the birds.
Are you wondering where the “bit of wisdom” lies in all of this? It’s simply this: Rain is just something that the earthworm has to deal with, but they use it to their advantage despite the troubles it may bring. I don’t have to ask someone to know if they have experienced the “rains of life” because we all have.
You may know them as financial problems, relationship issues, physical sickness, spiritual battles, family stress, and more. Problems come and beat upon you until you think you will drown from the weight. But in reality, God can and is using those things to “bring you to higher ground and move you further than if you were stuck in dry soil.”
Sometimes we may need to experience the rain for the Lord to bless us and grow our faith. In Psalm 22, King David wrote about things that he had suffered and how he had cried out to God. He said, “But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people. (Psalm 22:6)
When he felt like he was drowning in the rains of trouble, it was then that God moved him to a deeper faith in Him. He later says in verse 24, that “…he has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.”
The following Psalm is the 23rd Psalm, which you may know very well, in which David tells of the goodness, protection, and love of the Shepherd.
If you are going through the “rains” of life, it may be time to go back to that scripture and be reminded that through the rains God can and WILL raise you up and move you closer to Him. Sometimes it’s better to go through the rain than be stuck in the dry ground!
