“Weather” We Like It or Not

Do any of the worthless idols of the nations bring rain?  Do the skies themselves send down showers?  No, it is You, O Lord our God.  Therefore our hope is in You, for You are the One who does all this.  Jeremiah 14:22 

Today is 86 degrees and it feels cool outside.  We aren’t used to several days in a row of heat over 100 degrees here in Pennsylvania.  It’s the “hot” topic everywhere I go right now.  Mostly, I hear whining. 

Generally no one really outright maligns God’s name because of it but there is a lot of complaining about the loss of plants, how uncomfortable it is to walk or garden or do anything that needs to be done outside, and a general “it’s too hot to breathe” from one lady walking from her car into a Physical Therapy office.  If she had not had the appointment she said she would have been home in her air conditioning until the heat wave had passed.     

All of the negative response has gotten me to think about just what the Christian response should be to hot weather…or cold weather or tornados, hurricanes, or tidal waves.  Doesn’t the scripture teach us that none of these things are out of the scope of God’s plan for people and places? (Job 37:3, 10-13; Psalm 147:8, 16-18;  Jeremiah 10:13;  Amos 4:7)  Knowing that He is the sovereign hand behind all “acts of nature,” what should we be saying to others when these things come? 

Human behavior and reasoning can be a very tricky phenomenon.  When the sun is out and the skies are blue we praise God for the gorgeous day.  If the gorgeous day lands on the wedding day of a close friend or a day we had hoped to get a lot of work in our yards completed we are even more enthusiastic in our praises to God.  But, if God sends bad weather on our special days or plans we say things like “old Mother nature” is playing her tricks or we blame plain old bad luck or see it as some kind of omen.

 Omen, schmomen…  April 26, 1980 was a dreary day in the morning and a rainstorm all afternoon.  I was married in the middle of that and our outdoor reception was quickly moved indoors.  Many people told me that day that I would cry as many tears in my marriage as raindrops fell on my wedding day.  Now, those were some encouraging words for a new bride!  Just for the record 31 years later I am still a happy bride to a wonderful husband! 

So, are we victims of the weather?  Does God use the weather to punish or reward us?  If He’s punishing someone else with it might I get caught in that?  We are never victims as though the weather came randomly out of nowhere to ruin our days.  God is in control – moment by moment- whether it’s nice or awful – God has exercised his sovereign control over it. 

We know a couple of things for sure from the scripture.  The first is that God does sometimes use weather to get the attention of people or to turn them back to Him.  In Amos 4:7 God says, “I also withheld rain from you when the harvest was still three months away.  I sent rain on one town but withheld it from another.  One field had rain; another had none and dried up.”  He doesn’t spell out His purposes in this one verse but we can certainly see that the all-powerful, sovereign God of the universe who loves His people all the time, has control over whether or not we can grow crops because He can send or withhold rain. 

If we complain about that we are complaining against God.  Complaining against God is sin.  Though, as Christians, we know this is true we tend to overlook what we know to be true when we are the ones hit with the hard stuff….like 103 degree temperatures for a few days in a row. 

If we really think about it overall, for most of us, most of the time, the weather is favorable to us.  We do eat from crops grown close to us.  We do profit from the times God sends rain on a dry land.  Jesus pointed out God’s gracious provision in the weather when He reminded us that, “He causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”  (Matthew 5:45). 

Some more scientific types might argue that there are physical laws of the universe that control when the major storms and earthquakes, tornados or hurricanes, might hit us.  No argument from me.   But, what I know about those physical laws is that God put them in place and uses them to operate according to His sovereign will.  He causes the sun to shine.  He sends the rain. 

Christians, we need to turn our complaints into thanksgiving.  We need to check our attitudes and words against the scriptures and be thankful and content in all our circumstances.  At the very least we can be like my auto mechanic.  I took my car to his un-air-conditioned shop on the hottest day last week.  I commented that I was sorry for his men needing to work in this heat.  His response?  “Yeah well, it’s summer.” 

All winter we couldn’t wait for it to get here! We can expect heat in the summer and cold in the winter.  We can be thankful for all of it because our loving heavenly Father causes it and sends it and He only does what is good for us. 

So, I will thank and praise God for the hot temperatures and His provision of air conditioners when we need them!  Then, I will ask Him to send us some rain.