Weather Watching

I work in what is called a climate-controlled building—a euphemism for a structure in which the windows will not open. Theoretically I am protected from all the varieties of weather and can enjoy weatherless work, day in and day out. Frankly it is boring and sometimes downright oppressive. I find it invigorating just to walk outside my technologically designed cocoon and let the rain splash on my face or tramp in the snow. It is not good enough to turn on the radio and hear what the weather is supposed to be; I want to experience it—and for good theological reasons. It is part of my spiritual journey. But first, what is weather?

Weather refers to aspects of the atmosphere close to the earth. The consistent weather pattern of a region is called the climate. Weather is a complex phenomenon involving the interplay of temperature, air pressure, wind, moisture, precipitation and the rotation of the earth. The term weather systems indicates that the actual weather we experience is not the result of a single cause but many interdependent factors. Increasingly we are understanding weather as a global system in which changes in ocean currents in one distant part of the earth can affect daily weather here at home—sometimes called the butterfly effect. Forecasting how these many factors will affect the weather is a recently conceived science, originating in 1860 when data was first gathered in central locations by the newly invented telegraph. With advanced radar technology weather forecasting will achieve a higher level of accuracy, especially in the prediction of floods, tornadoes, snowstorms and ice storms. It is seldom noted, however, that without weather there would be no life on earth at all. Weather is a gift of God. No matter how sophisticated the scientific analysis of weather becomes, weather will remain a mysterious thing. There are theological reasons for this.

Weather as Mystery

God not only makes weather; God is a weather person. God delights to make weather. Every day is a different day with different weather, a unique creation of God. God simply enjoys weather. The primary text for this truth is Job 38:22-37. In this extended speech God answers Job’s gut-wrenching questions about the meaning of life and death with a weather forecast or, more accurately, a revelation of what is behind the forecast: “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow? . . . Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens? . . . Do you send the lightning bolts on their way?” (Job 38:22, 29, 35). All of this was intended to get Job to worship—the very thing weather is supposed to do. One crucial thing God tells Job about the weather as they discuss it from God’s viewpoint is that it is not merely for humankind’s benefit. God makes rain to fall “to water a land where no man lives, a desert with no one in it” (Job 38:26). How could we dare think it was all for us?

In modern life the mystery is almost lost. We scrutinize the effect of the thinning ozone layer on weather here on earth and even attempt to make weather by seeding clouds with frozen carbon dioxide. Generally we have an anthropocentric approach to weather—weather made by humankind for humankind. Increasingly we are becoming aware of the effect of human behavior on weather through automobile pollution (creating smog), urbanization (creating islands of heat) and industrial pollution (creating acid rain). On the one hand, weather is now a dismal revelation of humankind’s stewardship of the earth. On the other hand, weather always has been, and still can be, a mystery associated with the revelation of God’s presence (2 Samuel 12:17-18). “Peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake” (Rev. 8:5) accompany all the great realities associated with the Second Coming of Christ, just as thunder and lightning, accompanied by thick clouds, expressed the mystery of God’s first revealed covenant to Israel on Mount Sinai (Exodus 19:16). Clouds indeed have a special place in holy revelation, generally connoting the presence of transcendent reality: “At that time men will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory” (Mark 13:26). The greatest cloud of all, the rainbow, is a promise of God incarnated in light and moisture.

Mystery, however, is not what is usually associated with weather. Indeed, it is our fundamental conversation starter with both complete strangers and dearest friends: “It’s hot (or cold) today.” “Do you think it will rain (or warm up)?” “Have you heard the forecast (or temperature)?” Even in climates where there is virtually no change between summer and winter, bereft of seasons, where night temperatures are only slightly lower than day temperatures, people still revel in, or are disturbed about, the most minute weather changes. But small talk is not to be despised. Small talk is at least talk. It is a beginning at communication (see Speaking). If there were no weather, we might not talk to the gasoline station attendant or the postal carrier or the neighbor next door mowing her lawn. This fundamental everyday reality does perform this heavenly ministry of giving us something new every day to consider with our fellow human beings.

Jesus used people’s interest in “reading” the weather when he was asked to provide a sign from heaven: “When evening comes, you say, `It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,’ and in the morning, `Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times” (Matthew 16:2-3). Today, of course, most people are far removed from reading the weather themselves and rely on professionals who use technology to forecast two and three days in advance—though even the professionals confess that this is as much an art as a science. We are still not able to predict accurately where a storm will hit, how high a flood will rise or where lightning will strike. Nevertheless we should thank God for the service rendered by the professional forecasters, especially the ministry they give in preventing airline and marine tragedies and enabling people to prepare for the onslaught of a destructive storm. But we should also continue to read the weather for ourselves, perhaps with even greater interest and reverence because with the help of technology we can get a satellite-eye view of it all.

Weather as Metaphor

Throughout Scripture weather is used figuratively as a way of expressing a truth that is better considered indirectly through metaphor and image. How does one speak of God and God’s purposes?

Jesus communicated that God loves every human being unconditionally and without partiality. As he said, God “causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain [here as a blessing of God] on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matthew 5:45). How do you communicate to a theologian the surprise factor that is implicit in any real contact of a human being with God? “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit” (John 3:8). Spirit people are windlike. How can Jesus speak of the universal impact of his coming again at the end of time? “For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man” (Matthew 24:27). Therefore, says Jesus, do not let anyone fool you about his coming in secret (Matthew 24:26). When the seventy disciples returned from their short-term mission reporting that even demons were subject to them in Jesus’ name, Jesus said, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven” (Luke 10:18).

Paul also referred to weather for a higher purpose. Preaching in Lystra to people totally ignorant of the Bible, Paul spoke of the weather. This was no small talk: God “has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy” (Acts 14:17). Obviously people close to the land in an agricultural, preindustrial society would understand the analogy and might even be led to faith. Farmers and landscape gardeners today have this great privilege of being close to the elements. When I worked for five years as a carpenter, I was daily confronted with the challenges of searing heat and chilling drizzle, stimulating as it did thanksgiving for good clothes, warm and cold food and, above all, the shelter of home. But what about people staring at a computer screen all day in a climate-controlled environment, traveling to and from work without even emerging into the weather, moving by subway, walking in covered malls or driving in air-conditioned vehicles? Does weather convince them of God? Can we speak of the ministry of weather?

Weather as Ministry

Proverbs declares, “By wisdom the Lord laid the earth’s foundations . . . by his knowledge the deeps were divided, and the clouds let drop the dew” (Proverbs 3:19-20). More especially, the psalms are full of references to weather as a revelation of the goodness and glory of God: “You [God] drench its furrows and level its ridges; you soften it with showers and bless its crops” (Psalm 65:10). In doing this, God calls “forth songs of joy” (Psalm 65:8). Psalm 104 is really a catalog of all the kinds of weather that should cause us to praise God—which is all the kinds of weather there are—from the awesome sunset in which God “wraps himself in light as with a garment” (Psalm 104:2) to the pounding thunder. The key to all this is that “the heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands” (Psalm 19:1). Even the night eloquently and elegantly reveals the glory of God (Psalm 19:2).

Why should we glorify God because of the weather? Because weather is something beyond our control (even though we may—tragically—influence great weather patterns by our sinful use of resources). Why? Because weather is a blessing; it reveals God’s gracious care of creation, supplying all the world needs to thrive (even if it rains for the Sunday school picnic). Why? Because weather is constantly changing; God is a God who loves innovation, creating every snowflake uniquely and delighting in the diversity of his creation. It is like God to create weather—every day, every moment, something new. God is not a boring God, and life on earth is not either. Why? Because weather is in the end unpredictable, as is God who does “whatever pleases him” (Psalm 115:3) and cannot be contained in liturgies, doctrines or anything humanly made.

Weather as Problem

But how should we view bad weather? What are we to think of tornadoes, hurricanes, tidal waves created by the awesome movements of tectonic plates, heat waves, droughts and hailstorms that decimate crops and pummel people? Occasionally Scripture says God has used such devastating weather as a judgment (2 Samuel 12:17-18). Examples abound, including the bombing of the Amorites with huge hailstones when Joshua was busy occupying the Promised Land (Joshua 10:11) and a prophetic drought (Amos 4:7) signifying a people that is living out of harmony with God (Rev. 6:6). The worst famine, Amos prophesied, is the one that has now struck Western society: a famine of hearing the words of the Lord (Amos 8:11). But there is more than metaphor here. What are we to make of weather watching when it all seems bad? Is there “bad” weather or only weather that gives us bad experiences, which, were we to take a global perspective, is part of God’s working out a sovereign purpose on a grand scale? And if it is bad for us, is God nevertheless calling us in it, inviting us to see whether there is a message in the weather, inviting us to depend on God and prayerfully cry, “Give us this day our daily bread”?

One human disease—seasonal affective disorder—is associated with living in a climate inhospitable to that person. The treatment is to move to a better climate. God heals in many ways, according to a comprehensive list given by E. Stanley Jones: in direct answer to prayer, through medicine, through surgery, through suggestion and finally through the resurrection of the body. But one seldom-mentioned way included in the Jones list is this: through a change of climate (Jones, pp. 203-4). If some weather hurts, other weather heals.

Weather Wisdom

One thing not too clear to most believers is that we are not to be controlled by the weather. We are to be respectful, reverent, inquiring, investigative and prayerful, but not totally compliant. There is, of course, practical wisdom in closing down an outdoor meeting when the rain drizzles on, as Ezra did during the great national day of repentance (Ezra 10:13). One can hardly expect Jesus to work a miracle of calming a storm for the benefit of an evangelistic crusade (Mark 4:37). From time to time God does this, and we should not miss the faith-evoking truth of the disciples’ confession: “Even the wind and the waves obey him!” (Mark 4:41), a reality I have known myself in turbulent sea voyages. And, if I may say this reverently, our God does not mind being asked to change the weather. Indeed, God enjoys almost any excuse for a conversation. Unlike the most “sophisticated” of his creatures, God seems to appreciate small talk. Prayer about anything gets us doing what prayer is all about: communion with God. My wife’s earliest memory of God is a conversation about the weather. While she was raking the leaves in the backyard as a five-year-old, she said, “God, why do you make the wind blow the wrong way when you know I am raking the leaves?”

But in the end we are to live by faith, not by the weather: “Whoever watches the wind [that is, does nothing other than wait for the perfect day] will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap. As you do not know the path of the wind [an image Jesus used in John 3:8], or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things” (Eccles. 11:4-5). Living by faith, not by weather, means bundling up when it is cold and rainy and going for that daily walk, holding the marriage seminar in the thick of a blizzard, teaching school in the middle of a heat wave and not staying at home because there is a cloud on the horizon. In the end all weather is God’s weather, and God can be trusted with our lives, whatever the weather does to us.

» See also: Backpacking

» See also: Camping

» See also: Farming

» See also: Walking

References and Resources

E. S. Jones, Victorious Living (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1936).

—R. Paul Stevens