Faith Matters: Pondering accounts of weather in the Bible

By BRETT REITENBACH

Pastor, Greenfield Baptist Church

Published: 01-13-2023 4:02 PM

From Dec. 23 to 27, parts of Buffalo, New York, received a stunning 50 inches of snow along with wind gusts of at least 70 mph. One didn’t have to travel too many miles away from there to see drastically smaller accumulations due to the localized impact of lake-effect snow. Closer to home, the lower elevations of the Pioneer Valley saw mostly rain during a storm that was also in December, while the hilltowns had a different outcome with quite a bit of snow. 

In no way do I consider myself a weather nerd or “weather nut,” but I do enjoy learning about the “whys” of weather and climate just as much as the “what” and find the complexity of global weather patterns and their effect on local areas to be very interesting. As much as I enjoy learning about the weather, I love the Bible even more and I get exited when I read about the weather in the Bible.

Weather is first mentioned in the Bible in Genesis 2, which says, “These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.”

The absence of rain came to an end in a big way in Genesis 7, which describes the worldwide flood in Noah’s time and included forty day and nights of rain. The fountains of the great deep were also broken up, which indicates that much of the floodwaters came from beneath the earth’s surface, and that cataclysmic event surely changed the earth’s topography among other things.

The book of Job is not about weather, but it contains scientifically accurate observations. One example is Job 36:26-28 which says, “Behold, God is great, and we know him not, neither can the number of his years be searched out. For he maketh small the drops of water: they pour down rain according to the vapour thereof: Which the clouds do drop and distil upon man abundantly.”

Another great example is Job 37:9, which says, “Out of the south cometh the whirlwind: and cold out of the north.” Proverbs 25:23 teaches a lesson about life by using the weather as a comparison when it says, “The north wind driveth away rain: so doth an angry countenance a backbiting tongue.” We’ve all experienced the warm, moist air from the south being pushed away by a cold, dry north wind; and in a similar way, a strong response of disapproval can stop a person from slandering someone else behind their back. The book of Ecclesiastes describes the constant motion of wind currents that we know as jet streams when it says, “The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits.”

Jesus Christ spoke of the weather when he rebuked the Pharisees and Sadducees for asking for a sign which was evidence of their unbelief in this case. They had all the information they needed to know who Jesus was and what that meant for them, but they still wanted to see more due to their insincere motives. Jesus asked rhetorically how they couldn’t discern the signs of the times considering that they could understand the signs in the sky about the weather that was coming based on the sky being red at night or red in the morning. The apostle Paul experienced severe weather recorded in Acts 27 while on a ship that was sailing on the Mediterranean Sea. This storm lasted for days and began a series of events that eventually resulted in a shipwreck.

The biggest reason I get excited when I read about weather in the Bible is that it causes me to increase my worship of the God who created the world and all the pieces of the complex worldwide weather system that could not have happened by chance. Because we live in an imperfect world that has been corrupted by sin, we often hear about and experience weather’s extremes instead of living in a perfect environment; but the God who originally created a perfect world still holds it all together.

Article continues after...

Yesterday's Most Read Articles

Perhaps the most important reference to weather in the Bible is in Isaiah 1:18, which says, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” Even though this was a promise to the nation of Judah in Bible times, the same truth still applies to any person who trusts in Jesus Christ as their Savior and asks His forgiveness for their sins. A life that was stained by sin is cleansed and becomes as white as the freshly fallen snow.

Greenfield Baptist Church is a caring church with a life-changing message. Founded in 2015, this independent Baptist church meets at 138 Main Street in Greenfield. Worship services are held on Sundays at 10:30 a.m. and 6:00 p.m., Sunday School is at 9:30 a.m., and Midweek Prayer Meeting is held on Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m. For more information about the church, please call 413-356-0150 or visit www.greenfieldbaptistchurch.net. Sermon videos can be viewed by searching for “Greenfield Baptist Church MA” on YouTube.

]]>