WEATHER OR NOT...

From My Perspective - - -

Most of us have a daily concern regarding the Weather. Will it be Hot or Cold, will it be Rainy or Clear, will there be threatening storms or will it be calm – these are part of focus as we plan our daily routine. One thing that all have noted recently is the unusual weather patterns that have caused heat waves, droughts and wildfires so far this year (2012). Part of the good news in the weather pattern is that there have been a record low number of tornadoes. The Wall Street Journal reports that: “Since mid-April, about 300 tornadoes have hit the United States, the fewest in that span in nearly 60 years of record-keeping and about one-third the average tally for the period, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. While the hot, dry weather has killed dozens of people and ruined crops this summer, it also has prevented major tornado outbreaks…”

Yahoo News reports: “July was an extremely tornado-starved month, with only 24 twisters, according to preliminary data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). This shatters the record low of 42 tornadoes set in July 1960.” In a section captioned, “Tale Of Two Droughts”, they ask: “Why have there been so few twisters in the past 3.5 months? You can blame it on a high-pressure heat dome over much of the country that began forming in mid-April and has pushed the jet stream north into Canada…This heat-dome is also the reason for the record drought that has gripped much of the United States…This dome of high pressure has led to less precipitation and fewer thunderstorms, thus fewer tornadoes, which can only form in these storms…Tornadoes also favor strong winds that increase with height (also known as wind shear). With the jet stream pushed northward, there are fewer strong winds and less wind shear, and a lower likelihood for tornado-formation…”

Is weather ever understood as divine intervention as a means of (a) to accomplish a significant good for people, and/or (b) to gain the attention of a people embracing error or walking in ways displeasing to Almighty God and His will? Historically, there is an example from World War !! when 400,000 British and French Troops were trapped by the German Army on the north coast of France at Dunkirk in June 1940.  The Nazi forces were only ten miles away. At this time, a 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. This lasted for nine days and most of the troops were brought safely across the English Channel. Winston Churchill was said to have called the evacuation of Dunkirk a “miracle of deliverance.”

Biblically, there are illustrations indicating God’s intervention to accomplish His purposes. One of them was in the day of Noah when it rained and the earth was flooded. God acted in this way to cleanse the earth after He had observed “wickedness was great upon the earth, and the imagination of the thoughts of the hearts of men was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5). One of the other events pertained to Jonah, who thought he could run away from God and His plan for Jonah’s life. After Jonah had boarded a ship and it had set sail for Tarshish, a sudden storm broke out and that was threatening to the ship and all aboard it (Jonah 1:4-5). The seamen cast lots to determine why this calamity had come their way. The lot falls on Jonah and they say to him: “So they asked him… who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you? He answered, I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land. This terrified them and they asked, What have you done? (They knew he was running away from the Lord, because he had already told them so.) The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us? Pick me up and throw me into the sea and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you…Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. At this the men greatly feared the Lord...” (Jonah 1:8-16). God will use all means to gain one’s attention. What will He have to do to gain yours? Consider these things with me.