Who'll stop the rain? An intervening God maybe

So, we've been planning to move our 24-foot RV (long story on why and how we bought this that we won't go into right now) from outside our church in Eunice to our house in Lacombe we've been buying for the past eight years. Just park it there till the times we wan to use it. Told the renter of our house we were doing this. We were doing this on the 29th of May. We set this up weeks in advance.

It hadn't rained in weeks, so getting it out of there wouldn't be a problem.

Then the 10-day forecast came out, and it appeared we would be having our first rains in quite some time on Wednesday and Thursday. So, we talked about hooking up truck and trailer on Wednesday so we could leave bright and early Thursday and even if it were raining, we wouldn't get wet.

Tuesday morning as I worked on bulletins and such in my mostly windowless offices, my wife Mary texted me saying, "I didn't know this would happen." I replied something brilliant like, uh, "What?"
She told me to look outside. It was pouring rain. On Tuesday.

As I went back into my office, wondering how our luck could be quite so bad since it hadn't rained in weeks, the ground was perfectly suited for moving the trailer out, and then this, this, this monsoon...and when I went back to the office Pandora radio was playing Creedence Clearwater's "Who'll stop the rain?"

I promise. John Fogerty was singing about who would stop the rain.

When the rain let up, we went and hooked up trailer and truck. They sit there right now as a horrendous downpour that began Tuesday evening continues. I'm not sure we can get either truck or trailer out of there. We might not be able to do anything at all.

Heck, WE might go under.

For no reason whatsoever, I felt like reading a Psalm since I indeed have power and Internet for a while. The 67th reads this way: "Shout for joy to God, all the earth! Sing the glory of his name; make his praise glorious. Say to God, "How awesome are your deeds. So great is your power that your enemies cringe before you."

He is awesome. He does wondrous things. He is magnificent.

But did God send the rain? Did God want us to have my perfect little well-thought out plan ruined by rolling thunder, sheets of lightning and inches of rain? Did God play a Creedence song on my radio? Does he like Beatles or Stones? You know, important questions.

Well, kinda. Probably not. Heck yeah, as I know he is a Creedence fan because you have to be if you are all-knowing. Thus, the Beatles.

The question then is how much does God partake in the everyday?

Marcus Borg (and yea, I'm aware I'm quoting him when I very rarely agree with him) "The reality of unanswered prayers is a huge problem. Think of all the people who prayed for deliverance from the Holocaust, all the people who prayed for peace and safety in the midst of war, all the people who prayed for healing -- and whose prayers were not answered. And thus many modern mainline Christians have problems with this kind of prayer."

Yet Paul tells us to pray in all circumstances.

So, why would God help me find my sunglasses and/or keys but not spare millions from Auschwitz or the gulags or Pol Pot?

The obvious answer is to believe that God does not take part in human affairs, at least not in this way. Maybe God works only through the laws of science. Or perhaps the divine action is limited to transforming human hearts, as Christian evangelist Leonard Ravenhill said, "Prayer doesn't changed things. Prayer changes people and they change things." One could hardly be blamed for adopting beliefs like these.

Pehraps the best place to start is with one obvious but profound fact: We can't know why God intervenes in some places and not in others. Ever. Just can't. He won't tell us. We can't even know if God had intervened. Or ultimately what intervention means or even meant. Our only reasonable option is to let go of the quest to find out.

Still, God playing that song while my careful planning was being shattered by what is heaven-sent rain to the area farmers goes a long way to moving me to believe he intervenes where he so chooses. In other words, my prayers were effectively cancelled or ignored while he helped others, much like in a football game when both sides pray for victory God could only possibly answer one set of prayers.

Still, I wonder if he lies Casting Crowns and/or Third Day? Perhaps CC's I'll worship you in the storm? Just saying.