Rhythm of the Rain

About 40 years ago, an American musical group named the Cascades recorded a song entitled "Rhythm of the Rain" (their only hit single). As a college student of that era, I frequented a rathskeller in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, where the Cascades often played. Each night, the group would announce their only gold record and play for the pizza eating crowd.

Rain has been a song theme for many generations. The tranquil beauty of falling rain during a gentle, summer storm, is in a way, God's own poetry. The Psalmist must have realized the nature of rain. There are at least seven references to rain in Psalms. In Psalm 135 the Psalmist describes in detail the formation of a storm.

Rain has rhythm, meter, it leads the listener along a path, deserts them, then lures them back with distant crescendo. It plays with all of the emotions. At times it is violent, other times peaceful. No master of printed verse was ever so great. Rain has no prejudice. It falls upon the rich and poor, the good and bad.

Adults hide from the rain, buy ridiculous coverings and run from place to place with heads down and ears tucked under collars. Often we adults sit around and complain about too much or too little rain. We make silly statements like "I hope it doesn't rain until I finish my golf round," then complain because the course has not been watered.

Rain changes our moods and habits. It causes us to change plans, yet few of us simply sit and enjoy the rain.

Has there ever been a child who was not perfectly happy splashing in the rain?

"Listen to the rhythm of the falling rain...."

Psalm 135:7 (RSV) He it is who makes the clouds rise/ at the end of the earth,/ who makes lightnings for the rain/ and brings for the wind from His/ storehouses.