The Great Weatherman

 

 

Mark Twain was credited with saying it, but it was actually a quote from author Charles Dudly Warner: “Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.”

 

Even Job’s friend Elihu had something to say about the weather in Job 37:11-13, “Also with moisture He saturates the thick clouds; He scatters His bright clouds. 12 And they swirl about, being turned by His guidance, That they may do whatever He commands them On the face of the whole earth. 13 He causes it to come, Whether for correction, Or for His land, Or for mercy.

 

Maybe God puts this concern about weather in the hearts of men, so that we eventually have to talk about Him and His Sovereignty. God is in charge, even of today and tomorrow’s weather. He uses weather for His own purposes! Those three purposes are summed up beautifully here by Elihu! (1) “Whether (maybe we should say “weather) for correction,” (2) “for His land,” (to bless it) (3) “for mercy” (toward man and beast.)

 

In the matter of correction, one can see how God used drought to move His people where He needed them to be. For instance, Jacob and his sons never go to Egypt to be reunited with Joseph without the severe famine. Naomi never moves to Moab to bring back Ruth in order to eventually marry Boaz and become a direct descendant of Jesus, without the famine.

 

Further, God sometimes uses weather to correct His backslidden people! We read of such an instance in Jer 14:-12: “The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the droughts.  2 "Judah mourns, And her gates languish; They mourn for the land, And the cry of Jerusalem has gone up. 3 Their nobles have sent their lads for water; They went to the cisterns and found no water. They returned with their vessels empty; They were ashamed and confounded And covered their heads.

 4 Because the ground is parched, For there was no rain in the land, The plowmen were ashamed; They covered their heads. 5 Yes, the deer also gave birth in the field, But left because there was no grass. 6 And the wild donkeys stood in the desolate heights; They sniffed at the wind like jackals; Their eyes failed because there was no grass."  7 O LORD, though our iniquities testify against us, Do it for Your name's sake; For our backslidings are many, We have sinned against You. 8 O the Hope of Israel, his Savior in time of trouble, Why should You be like a stranger in the land, And like a traveler who turns aside to tarry for a night? 9 Why should You be like a man astonished, Like a mighty one who cannot save? Yet You, O LORD, are in our midst, And we are called by Your name; Do not leave us! 10 Thus says the LORD to this people: "Thus they have loved to wander; They have not restrained their feet. Therefore the LORD does not accept them; He will remember their iniquity now, And punish their sins." 11 Then the LORD said to me, "Do not pray for this people, for their good. 12 "When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them. But I will consume them by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence."

 

Yes, sometimes God uses weather for correction: Eventually, when it gets bad enough, some will at least pray as Elijah did after a three year drought. The Lord heard His prayer and in mercy brought showers to the parched land: 1Ki 18:44 Then it came to pass the seventh time, that he said, "There is a cloud, as small as a man's hand, rising out of the sea!" So he said, "Go up, say to Ahab, 'Prepare your chariot , and go down before the rain stops you.'" 45 Now it happened in the meantime that the sky became black with clouds and wind, and there was a heavy rain. So Ahab rode away and went to Jezreel.

Flooding, hail stones, hurricanes, blizzards, tornadoes….and fair skies, they all are part of our weather scene. Have you acknowledged God’s part in all of them? Have you used them as an opportunity to recognize His Sovereignty? Have you thanked Him for the good and appealed to Him to relieve the bad?

 The Great Weatherman! Give Him thanks and glory!