I live in the breadbasket of the United States surrounded by a vast sea of fields.   The land is so flat that with a little elevation you can see for miles. 

As you can imagine much attention is paid to the weather as the weather has the power to determine a good or bad crop.  During periods of dry weather, the ground becomes hungry for rain. I have seen the ground get so dry that it becomes hardened and it does not take moisture very well.  As a matter of fact, the rain runs right off into the ditches.

Ground this hard has not been worked by the farmer to make it ready to receive the rain, to allow the ground to accept and soak up the rain.

Jesus spoke of a such a hardened spiritual condition when he said, “Why do you reason because you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive nor understand? Is your heart still hardened?” Mark 8:17

Jesus was used to encountering those with hardened hearts such as the Romans, scribes, and Pharisees.  However here in Mark chapter 8, Jesus was talking to his disciples, the closest of his followers. Despite everything that Jesus had done His teaching were still not sinking into their hardened hearts. Their hearts had become so dry and hardened that, like the fields I mentioned above, the teachings of Christ just ‘ran off’ into the ditches instead of sinking in. 

When the ground is ready to receive the rain and it comes at the right time to keep the crop from perishing, farmers call it a “million-dollar rain.”  The ground soaks up the life-giving moisture and the crops respond in-kind.

Jesus desires a heart that has been prepared to receive the rain.  He desires healthy hearts that soak up the Water of His Word.  These hearts have been furrowed by faith and tilled by trust.  Trust the Lord today.  The writer of Hebrews says, “When the ground soaks up the falling rain and bears a good crop for the farmer, it has God’s blessing” Hebrews 6:7.

Is your heart prepared to soak up the million-dollar rain of God’s word?  By trusting the Word of God it has the power to break up hardened hearts and provide life giving water through the Word.