I Run In God's Goodness...

We went to run again (last blog about running... I promise) this week and, as is common in southern summers, a storm came up suddenly.  I wanted to run outside, Pamela my lovely wife, wanted to run in the gym.  On a treadmill.  Boo! But I'm pretty persuasive (as her even marrying me will attest to) so she agreed to run outdoors with me at the "Y".  My gift isn't as good as it once was because as the storm came up and the rain began it became more persuasive than I and pushed her indoors. However, along with being persuasive, I'm also stubborn, so I ran outside in the rain anyway.

The rain was barely coming down on my walk out to the track, but as I began my run, making the first of eleven laps, as we southerners say, "The bottom fell out."  It was invigorating to run in the rain, and I often focus on thinking certain trains of thought to drown out the time and pain it takes me to run several miles. My train of thought on this day was, oddly, rain.  I began to think about how we typically act when it rains.  We run for cover or stay indoors because goodness knows we need enough sense to get in out of the rain. 

A scripture then came to mind, one that I often hear quoted out of context, "God causes it to rain on the just and the unjust."  This text is often quoted when something bad happens to someone. "Well you know what the Bible says, it rains on the just and the unjust!"  Or, "Hey neighbor! I just found your beloved pet in the street, dead from being hit by a car.  But you know what the Bible says, 'It rains on the just and the unjust!'. And I know you're a good church going Christian so I thought I'd just throw that little nugget of scriptural goodness out there to make this bad situation seem somehow better.  Have a good day neighbor!" Or something like that...

Anyway, the text is meant as a good thing.  God blesses everyone whether they are good or un-good (I know, not a real word).  He causes the rain to still come down upon the cursed Earth causing crops to flourish, the ground to be cleaned and cisterns to be filled.  Rain is God's goodness on us all.  So on this particular run, I ran in God's goodness.

As I focused on this train of thought, my mind went to so many places in this metaphor.  I began to think of the rain as the presence of God. (I know, weird and new-age-y...) The first thing I noticed was the rain blinded me.  It was raining so hard that I couldn't see well.  I thought of how blinding God's true presence is insomuch as to keep Israel from seeing Moses' face for many days by being in God's presence.  It is so Other than what we are.  I thought of how the priests couldn't stand to minister in God's presence.  This was sort of a blindness to them because His presence hindered them from their job, which was a good thing. 

Rain was all in my eyes, running down my face, covering me completely. It came pouring in at a hard slant from the west and I was running directly into it.  It's driving wind was an obstruction to my efforts.  It struck me then that so is God's presence.  His presence is an obstruction to my own efforts.  Everything that I try to do in my own efforts, if I am to be like Him, He becomes obstructive to.  He won't allow us to just "get along" in life outside of His plan, I mean, unless we want to live in total rebellion.  I also thought of the obstruction as a testing of sorts.  How, in life, God orchestrates tests to try our hearts and to strengthen our characters.  The force of wind and rain in my face, and given the fact that this portion of the track is up hill, it made me want to stop running for the opposition.  It was no longer easy.  But as I urged onward and rounded the turn of the track, the wind became a force to drive me forward.  It was as though my broad back became a sail and the wind and rain pushed me forward causing me to run a bit faster than before.  The presence of God does this too.  It propels us forward.  What was once a trial often becomes our experience making us stronger and wiser.  We are no longer weak.

I thought then of how the rain saturated everything around me.  Where can I go to escape the presence of the LORD? The ground was soaked, the trees were soaked, the concrete was soaked, the intangible air seemed soaked including myself.  Then I thought, "There it is! I'm saturated in the presence of God."  And my heart turned to prayer during this run, "Lord saturate my life with your presence."  But then I had the thought that this is the wrong metaphor.  This was an Old Testament metaphor for the Holy Spirit where His presence would come down on man and aid him.  The New Testament metaphor is different, better... He'll not just be near (on) us, but He will be in us as a well springing up.  He swims in us, not the other way around.  Which prophet was it that was told to wade out deeper?  But now the Spirit that prophet was in is surging inside us as an altering force, changing and moving us.

As I neared the end of the run, I began to be driven by the desire to finish the race in the rain.  It looked as though it was about to subside and stop altogether.  I wanted to finish my race in the rain.  And there it was again.  I want to finish the race of my life in the rain of His presence.  I want to push on through life's difficulties and trials not by stopping when it's difficult, but by trudging onward when it's tough and be driven by Him.  The force sent to weather me will soon be the force sent to will me forward... to finish the course. I was then reminded that unlike the rain, He abides and doesn't cease.

Every time I experience God's creation like this, I'm reminded and convicted, that this - the elements - are enough to point me to Him; that all of nature testifies of His goodness.

I could have ran inside beside my lovely wife on a treadmill safe from the rain. And that wouldn't have been a bad thing.  She would have made the indoor scenery beautiful. But would I have had this conversation?  She just puts her earbuds in and listens to music anyway.  Outside, out in the rain... I ran in God's goodness.