July 12, 2026 Text: Isaiah 55:10-13
Dear Friends in Christ,
Many of you know by now that what is preached is picked a month in advance. I choose a text, hymns that go along with the text the last week of a month. This way both Mary Anne, our organist, and Karen, our secretary have a sheet of paper, so they know what is coming. As I chose this text it was ready made. Water. I’ve dealt with it at church this year, I dealt with it at home this year and since choosing the text we have seen many downpours. But God wanted me to laugh even more. So, he sent even more water into the church to be cleaned up last week. That is what I bellyached about last Sunday.
Let’s be honest, I may be the wrong Pastor to give this message, because I haven’t seen a lot of positives with water. Well, God has. Isaiah wrote it down. That is good enough for me and it should be for you. Holy Spirit, carry this message today . . .
“WATER: BAD . . . AND GOOD”
Our text is mostly positive about water. The only negatives are in verse 13 where it talks about “thorn” and “brier.” This is what you get when there is no water. But boy what happens when you get water – wow. The Lord has given us a word picture this last month. On one of my routes on the way home, I pass by many corn and soybean fields. At the beginning of June those plants were just breaking the surface. Inches of rain later, some of the corn I saw this week is over three feet tall. When Isaiah writes, “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout.” (v. 10). We believe it here in surrounded by farmland central Illinois.
We could continue our ag lesson, but let’s get a little more theological and spiritual. Water is needed for life. You don’t drink, you die. We need the water of God’s saving Word to survive spiritually. Without the Gospel we will die eternally. God waters the earth for our living. It also produces seed which then continues that growth. The effects of water are ongoing. “Seed to the sower and bread to the eater.” (v. 10b)
Verse 11, “So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” Just as surely as Jesus himself came down from heaven to water the earth with his own blood, so now does the preaching of Jesus serve to deliver the benefits of his blood to those who hear and believe. Just as surely as rain and snow come down from heaven and serve to water the earth does the Word of the cross and the empty tomb now serve to give life to the world. This is the promise given by the prophet Isaiah. It is given for us to know and to trust, so that we might be certain that the Word of God will always work.
No matter the setting or how bleak the situation, the death and resurrection of Jesus reveals that the Word will accomplish the Lord’s purposes and will succeed in bringing life to the world.
When Isaiah writes in verse 13, “Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall make a name for the Lord, and everlasting sign that shall not be cut off,” this takes us all the way back to Adam. God had told him that “thorns and thistles” (Gen. 3:18) will inhabit the land. This verse is a picture of paradise restored. Because of the Lord’s work, his salvation, those plants of Eden will spring up again. As the Lord’s people we are invited back to the lush garden. Creation was corrupted in Adam’s fall, you know water problems you don’t foresee, in Christ that water is used to restore things to their pristine beauty, a sign of God’s redemption.
Last Sunday I mentioned that the only thing water was good for at Good Shepherd was baptism. It is the chief miracle. We came to the fount in our original Adam corrupted sin but after a dash of water three times and the Word of God connected to it, we left in pristine beauty. God’s redemption was our redemption. We are now his child, and he will be with us all our days – the good water days and the bad water days.
We will continue to pray for rain when needed. Do you think He could provide it everywhere except on our building? Maybe that’s asking a little too much. Water as we have seen today has a lot more good than bad. The power of God’s Word is evident in all circumstances and for all time. Because of His love for us, God pours out His Word. Blame it on the rain, yeh, yeh.
Amen.