Let's Talk About the Weather
God doesn't just control weather, he creates it.
Human behavior suggests that if two strangers with nothing to talk about strike up a conversation it’ll be about the weather. That’s because weather is common denominator in everybody’s life. We all experience weather all the time. “Been kinda hot the last few days around here!”
“Yup.”
“They say it’s gonna cool off soon.”
“Uhuh.”
What we also all experience is the apparently arbitrary nature of weather. Lightning strikes at one particular position to cause irreparable damage but not another. Maybe you’ve watched it rain on the other side of the street but not on your side. Tornados sweep through a defined path that levels some houses and leaves others untouched. As much as meteorologist experts can predict weather, they can’t ultimately control it. Only Jesus can do that. He was known to have calmed a storm or two when he was on this earth. And who’s to say that he didn’t create that same storm just so that he could calm it? After all, God doesn’t just control weather, he creates it.
“He makes the clouds his chariot and rides on the wings of the wind … He makes springs pour water into the ravines … He waters the mountains from his upper chambers … How many are your works, O Lord” (Psalm 104:3,10,13,24).
What God really wants us to know, however, is that his efforts are in no way arbitrary. He doesn’t roll the dice when it comes to weather or any of his works. It’s all part of his purpose and plan. Weather is by his design. Take a closer look at Psalm 104 and you’ll find that sandwiched between the lines of praise for God’s handiwork (what he does) are statement related to his design for weather (why he does it). God’s weather gives water to cattle and makes grass grow for them to eat. God’s weather provides for crop cultivation to feed people. God’s weather creates wind for ships to catch in their sails. And it even makes it possible for people to be gladdened by a succulent glass of wine now and then.
God intervened once in Old Testament times to make the sun stand still so that his chosen nation could successfully defeat an oppressive enemy. God send the storm that chased his wayward prophet, Jonah, back onto safe ground. God rocked the planet with the tremors of an earthquake sending its shockwaves to the world when Jesus died as a signal that his sacrifice was for everyone.
Every sunset. Every raindrop. Every change in the dewpoint. Every cloud that silently floats overhead. God designs and delivers with a purpose in mind. That also applies to hurricanes like Katrina. Therefore, she is not bigger than he. She answers to him. She received her coordinates from him, her power from him, and her orders from him. Now she is gone but he is not. He is still here to enact the next phase of his purposeful plan that we call Katrina.
He calls it salvation. It’s for all of us as much as the weather. This special e-mail series in September will explore how exactly that can be.
PRAYER: Mighty God, you created the heavens and the earth, and you constantly orchestrate weather with a loving and holy purpose. To be honest, I don’t really understand this (or agree with it) when it rains on my picnic or when hurricanes slam into the homes and cities of my neighbors in the gulf coast. For now, I give you the praise and respect you deserve as Creator of all and chief engineer of all weather around the earth. I also thank you for the blessings of your created system of weather, the variety and beauty it brings to my days, the fruits and harvests it makes grow, and the spectacular wonder it produces in my mind and heart. Only you are awesome enough to fill that wonder. And only you are gracious and patient and understanding enough to listen when I ask that you teach me more your purpose and plan that includes this hurricane. Open my ears to hear, and my heart to believe. Amen.