I thought it was just me. And then I met Dr. Sebby Volpe at a wonderful revival at the Hillcrest Baptist Church in Spencer, WV last night. It turns out, it bothers him too!
Mr. or Mrs. Weather Forecaster, Mother Nature is a Father. You may say, “ But Shari, that’s trivial, it’s just something they say by way of entertainment.” No, it’s another something they say that makes light of God’s omnipotence. The weather belongs to God.
*BIBLICAL EXAMPLES. Scripture contains many examples of God controlling the weather and using it to direct people and nations…
- Genesis 6:5-9:19 (Earth destroyed by flood, people and animals killed)
- Exodus 9:23-29 (hail and fire from heaven on Egypt)
- Joshua 10:11 (hail on the Amorites etc.)
- I Samuel 7:10 (thunder disperses the Philistines)
- Nahum 1:3 (judgment with whirlwind and drought)
- Leviticus 26:19-20 (rainless sky, parched earth)
- Deuteronomy 11:13-15 (rain as reward for obedience)
- Deuteronomy 28:24 (drought punishment)
- I Samuel 12:18 (thunder and rain to get people’s attention)
- II Samuel 21:1 (drought and famine)
- I Kings 8:35-36 (good weather reward)
- I Kings 16:30-18:45 (rain withheld and given)
- Hosea 13:15 (dry weather)
- Amos 4:7 (rain given and withheld from certain cities)
- Jonah 1:4,10-15 (man punished and redirected by sea storm)
- Zechariah 14:17 (rain withheld as judgment)
- Revelation 16:21 (hailstone punishment)
More recent:
- GEORGE WASHINGTON. In a famous painting, General George Washington is shown crossing the Delaware River on Christmas night 1776. With snow falling, his forces were able to surprise and defeat the enemy. This victory fanned the revolution’s fading embers. Weather continued to play an important role in America’s Revolutionary War.
- DUNKIRK. In June 1940, 400,000 British and French soldiers were trapped on the north coast of France at Dunkirk. The Nazi forces were only ten miles away and could have cornered Allied troops. However, at this time thick fog and clouds settled over the beaches. The English Channel also became unusually calm, and many small boats from England were able to ferry soldiers across to safety. The protective weather pattern lasted nine days while the men were evacuated. The Allied army was thus preserved to fight another day. Winston Churchill called the evacuation of Dunkirk a “miracle of deliverance.”
Source: http://christiananswers.net/q-eden/edn-c023.html
Now, for an even more recent example.
I was saved in 1996. And for the first time in my life I understood what the gospel meant; and because of that I couldn’t get enough of it. I was in church every time the doors were open, and often when they weren’t. At that time in my life (and I’m not much better now) I hated winter driving. I don’t think I can relay to you the depth of my hatred for it. I just didn’t do it. So on a Wednesday night (church night for those of you who don’t go) our weather forecast was calling for heavy snow. I was heartsick. And God knew I was heartsick. So I began to pray, and all day I prayed, “God just keep it away until after church, then let it fly, but please don’t let it snow in Calhoun County, West Virginia today, I need to go to church! At the time I was working for a print shop and I would run into the office every once in a while to check the radar. That evening the snow was all across the state, except… (insert smile here) in the donut-hole over Calhoun County, West Virginia. Our church released at 8 p.m. and I just made it home before the donut-hole collapsed.
Please don’t think that I’m saying I have any great power. But a new Christian girl, who loved God so much, and wanted to hear His word, served a God, Who for her stayed the weather. Believe it or no, it’s the truth. That’s the God I serve. I’ve experienced countless events be it weather, people or circumstance related where God moved in such a way that I knew it was as Winston Churchill said “a miracle of deliverance.” Maybe not to the magnitude of his, but every bit as real in my world.
So when I hear a weather forecaster say, “Mother Nature’s fury….” It makes me nauseous. Because I know for a fact, it is my Father’s mercy that keeps Him from blowing us off the map with our constant disrespect for the sovereignty of God.