Screenshot of Wednesday morning'snational headlines
I heard on the radio this morning that the East is under another deep freeze. They said that’s “bad news.” On the other hand, here in California temperatures will loft to 75 degrees, and that’s “bad news” too, they said. I think I’ve written about this before, but have you noticed that no matter what happens in America, it’s “bad news”?
Last week I was in Pennsylvania, talking with one of the locals. Upon hearing I was from California, she shook her head with a look of grave concern. “We’ve heard how bad the weather is out there, with the drought and high temperatures and all.” Actually, I rather enjoy balmy weather. Yes, we are praying for rain, because the drought here is getting pretty serious, but God will provide. “The News,” however, apparently doesn’t believe in God or his providence. Every change in the weather, or any change at all, is catastrophic for “the News,” and a cause for national alarm.
In fact, all weather is good. If you stop to think about it, we do like cold, snowy weather (as in I’m dreaming of a white Christmas) and we do like warm, dry weather (as in all those airline ads for vacations in the Bahamas). Whatever God sends is good, and whatever he permits….well, He knows what he is doing. But if you deny God and his providence, then just about all news is bad news. For the “News” folks, the weather is always chaotic, because God doesn’t exist, and nobody’s up there providing weather, and nobody cares what happens to us.
But God does exist, and He loves us, and even when He has to spank us, He does so with love. The weather sometimes spanks us. It has as long as we can remember, but the “News” folks are upset because they still can’t control the weather, and they don’t like getting spanked. I suggest we stop taking “the News” so seriously. The weather is mostly in God’s hands, and we shouldn’t let politicians use it as a stick with which to beat their opponents. The weather is God’s gift, even when it tests us—weather builds character, something which the “News” folks could do with a little more of.
Consider God’s words to Job in Chapter 38: “Then the Lord answered Job out of the storm and said: Who is this who darkens counsel with words of ignorance? Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, and seen the storehouses of the hail which I have reserved for times of distress? Who has laid out a channel for the downpour and a path for the thunderstorm, to bring rain to uninhabited land….” Despite those who imagine they can control the weather, it is still one of those things in God’s providence. Even if we could control the weather with technology, we can’t control men’s hearts, which determine the use of that technology. Only God can do that. Have you noticed that the folks that speak the most about climate change are the ones with the biggest carbon footprints?
So I suggest we rejoice in the weather, in whatever form it comes to us. If it’s cold, bundle up and give thanks to Him who sends the snow and the hail. If it’s warm, go to the beach with a good book. If it’s raining, sing in the rain, and if it is windy, fly a kite.
We do best to sing the song of the three children in the fiery furnace, from Daniel chapter 3:
Bless the Lord, all you works of the Lord!
Every shower and dew, all you winds, cold and chill, bless the Lord.
Dew and rain, frost and chill, ice and snow, lightings and clouds, bless the Lord.
Spirits and souls of the just, bless the Lord!
Last week I was in Pennsylvania, talking with one of the locals. Upon hearing I was from California, she shook her head with a look of grave concern. “We’ve heard how bad the weather is out there, with the drought and high temperatures and all.” Actually, I rather enjoy balmy weather. Yes, we are praying for rain, because the drought here is getting pretty serious, but God will provide. “The News,” however, apparently doesn’t believe in God or his providence. Every change in the weather, or any change at all, is catastrophic for “the News,” and a cause for national alarm.
In fact, all weather is good. If you stop to think about it, we do like cold, snowy weather (as in I’m dreaming of a white Christmas) and we do like warm, dry weather (as in all those airline ads for vacations in the Bahamas). Whatever God sends is good, and whatever he permits….well, He knows what he is doing. But if you deny God and his providence, then just about all news is bad news. For the “News” folks, the weather is always chaotic, because God doesn’t exist, and nobody’s up there providing weather, and nobody cares what happens to us.
But God does exist, and He loves us, and even when He has to spank us, He does so with love. The weather sometimes spanks us. It has as long as we can remember, but the “News” folks are upset because they still can’t control the weather, and they don’t like getting spanked. I suggest we stop taking “the News” so seriously. The weather is mostly in God’s hands, and we shouldn’t let politicians use it as a stick with which to beat their opponents. The weather is God’s gift, even when it tests us—weather builds character, something which the “News” folks could do with a little more of.
Consider God’s words to Job in Chapter 38: “Then the Lord answered Job out of the storm and said: Who is this who darkens counsel with words of ignorance? Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, and seen the storehouses of the hail which I have reserved for times of distress? Who has laid out a channel for the downpour and a path for the thunderstorm, to bring rain to uninhabited land….” Despite those who imagine they can control the weather, it is still one of those things in God’s providence. Even if we could control the weather with technology, we can’t control men’s hearts, which determine the use of that technology. Only God can do that. Have you noticed that the folks that speak the most about climate change are the ones with the biggest carbon footprints?
So I suggest we rejoice in the weather, in whatever form it comes to us. If it’s cold, bundle up and give thanks to Him who sends the snow and the hail. If it’s warm, go to the beach with a good book. If it’s raining, sing in the rain, and if it is windy, fly a kite.
We do best to sing the song of the three children in the fiery furnace, from Daniel chapter 3:
Bless the Lord, all you works of the Lord!
Every shower and dew, all you winds, cold and chill, bless the Lord.
Dew and rain, frost and chill, ice and snow, lightings and clouds, bless the Lord.
Spirits and souls of the just, bless the Lord!
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