Hail
When we consider “Hail,” it is really only just “Rain Drops,” but these are rain drops that have grown cold and hard, and they are now just frozen solid, hard and damaging to everything that they come in contact with. Now it appears that in a thunderstorm, when there is a strong upward motion of air, taking the water droplets higher and still higher, they then freeze, and as they fall, they gather moisture and grow in size, getting bigger and bigger as they fall. A Hailstone is normally measured from 5mm dia up to 150mm dia. Revelation 16:21 “And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, [every stone] about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.” Now these are “Monsters,” and weigh around 50kg each, which is actually the size of many smaller adults.
The function of a “Rain Drop,” is to water the earth, to be a blessing, to nourish the plants, trees and flowers, to re-fresh the rivers so that the fish and creatures have clean fresh water to live in, but “Hail,” well that is just pure “Destructive,” it does nothing else but to damage, to break, to kill and to destroy. Romans 2:5 “But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; who will render to every man according to his deeds:” Luke 9:56 “For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save [them]. And they went to another village.” We can adapt this verse to now read, Luke 9:56 Adapted “For the Son of man is not come to “Storm and to Hail,” for to damage and to destroy men’s lives, but to “Shower Blessings and the water of Life,” to save [them]. And they then went into another village, and rained there, breaking the drought in all their lives.” Luke 19:47 “And he taught daily in the temple. But the chief priests and the scribes and the chief of the people sought to destroy him,” John 10:10 “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have [it] more abundantly.”
Scripture has lots of references to damaging and destructive behavior and actions, and in our “Theme,” these people have just hardened their hearts, are now just frozen solid, and are now just damaging “Hailstones.” Jesus often used terms that we could easily see as “Rain,” that which refreshes the parched and drying souls, preached and healed, refreshing, showers of blessing, relieving and restoring, raining down on them cooling, refreshing and life giving abundant blessings. When you look at the attacks on Jesus and his work, those that confronted Jesus, were cold, hard and destructive, and oft times, they sought as to how to take his life, so much for “Thou shalt not kill.” These hard and abrasive “Hailstones,” were bent on damaging, and what waters of life they held, was just wrapped up within their frozen and hardened hearts, and the end results is only death and destruction. Rain drops are designed to give life and abundance and cleansing, “Hail,” is just pure destruction, damage and death to plants, trees, creatures, buildings and even to animals as well. So do we have the softening of the spirit of God to melt your heart, to make us a blessing as a “Raindrop,” or has the hardness of our hearts turned us into a “Hailstone,” of destruction to everything we come in contact with?
Welker Farms in Shelby Montana, (you can find them on YouTube), crop just on 1,000 Acres in wheat, barley, peas and such, and use three big old “Big Bud” enormous tractors, the little one is 435HP, the middle is 525HP and the big one is 600HP, and carry around 2000 litres of fuel in the fuel tank. But this year has been very dry, basically a drought, and prayers for rain, brought the rain clouds in, but also hail in some fields and rain to others, the “Latter Rain,” was great for the fields that gratefully received it, to bring crops to maturity, ready for harvest, but the “Hail Damage,” well that is a different story. Those fields that were heavily hit, were flattened, destroyed, and nothing can be done, nothing to harvest. Those fields of grain that were not fully destroyed, were badly damaged, losing 60-80% of the crop, but if the 40 foot wide combine header were set flat down, basically on the ground, then they could at least save what they could. So are you and I refreshing Rain to those who desperately cry out for it, or do we come as hard and destructive “Hail,” to kill and to destroy, to damage and to ruin? John 10:10 “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have [it] more abundantly.” So are we “Rain,” or are we “Hail?”
Ezekiel 34:23-28 “And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, [even] my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. And I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them; I the LORD have spoken [it]. And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods. And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing. And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I [am] the LORD, when I have broken the bands of their yoke, and delivered them out of the hand of those that served themselves of them. And they shall no more be a prey to the heathen, neither shall the beast of the land devour them; but they shall dwell safely, and none shall make [them] afraid.”
This is “Promised Land” symbolism, and for those who belong to God who are trapped in Egypt and Sin, (this world), it was a tangible promise, a reality that they could almost taste, for us here at the end of days, we are also in a land of sin and sorrow, “Eternity,” and ‘Heaven,” are almost touchable, a promise soon to become a reality, where sin and sorrow are no longer, “Hailstones,” are never there, we will not see them again. So let us be “Watered,” by the rain of God, and continually shower and dribble the blessings of Heaven to all those we come in contact with, our hardened hearts being softened by the warmth of the “The Love of God as found in Christ Jesus,” so we can ever be refreshing, life giving rain.
