Praying for Rain

Gov. Sonny Perdue (R-GA) has made news for his oddly-controversial call for people of belief to gather and pray for rain because the state is suffering under a drought.

Of course, since a public figure has mentioned God, some malcontent has decided that there’s something wrong with that.

Ed Buckner, an atheist who apparently thinks that he needs to tell believers about God, contributed:

“Does the God that Sonny Perdue believes in have to be informed about the drought?” Buckner asked. “Doesn’t he know? Or have the important people not appealed to him yet?”

Of course, I could go to Scripture to argue this point. Intercessory prayer has nothing to do with telling God what we need. It has to do with acknowledging that we know Who is in control. I’m not going to get too deep on this unless someone asks — believers should already know, and unbelievers don’t generally care. Think of it as making sure that a child says “please” when asking for a cookie, if you like.

To cap it all off, some rain came. Not enough, I hear, but it rained.

Of course, some will argue that it’s just coincidence. It had to rain sometime, after all.

Others believe that God answered the prayer. Why didn’t He send all that was needed? There are all kinds of possible explanations, none of which I will propose, since I am not a prophet and don’t want to be taken as one.

I think that the real story here is, perhaps, the intolerance of the atheists who feel the need to condemn those of us who do pray. In what way does it harm you that Gov. Perdue prays and asks others to pray? He’s not forcing you to.

… and don’t try the “stigma” argument.  Since a vast majority of Georgians didn’t show up on the steps to pray, it’s clearly not too much social pressure to withstand.

By the way … I have to be fair.

I am usually very critical of Sean Hannity and his radio show. However, yesterday he led off his third hour talking about this story, and his comments about prayer and culture, and respect for those who believe in prayer, were actually very good. I was driving at the time, so I couldn’t take down any notes, but I think it’s only fair that I point out that I appreciated what he had to say yesterday.