Sovereignty includes everything . . .

Genesis 8; Matthew 8; Ezra 8; Acts 8

I’ve occasionally prayed about the weather, but with caution. I know Who controls it and I want my prayers to fit with His plans. Today’s readings and other passages affirm that God uses weather for His purposes.

The one most people know is the 40 days and nights of rain as judgment on a world that had become thoroughly corrupt and full of violence (Genesis 6:11ff). After the rain produced a vast flood, God again showed His power over the weather:

But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided. The fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed, the rain from the heavens was restrained, (Genesis 8:1–2, italics mine.)

Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.” (Genesis 8:20–22)

I tend to focus on the bad news but today the promise caught my eye. God said that even though humanity is sinful, He promised that the patterns of weather would not cease as long as the earth remains.

Further evidence of God’s hand in the weather is even more specific. He told Jonah to go warn the people of Nineveh to repent or face judgment. Jonah didn’t want to so he took off in the opposite direction. God stopped him with a storm . . . 

But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the LORD. But the LORD hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up. (Jonah 1:3–4, italics mine.)

The pagan sailors were terrified, particularly when they realized why they were experiencing this disaster. Jonah told them to throw him overboard since he was the cause of it. Finally, after much persuasion, they agreed “and the sea ceased from its raging.” (Jonah 1:14)

Jesus gives another example:

And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?” (Matthew 8:23–27)

Just a word and the storm ceased. I’m thinking it was likely just His word that started it in the first place; He had a lesson to teach them.

He also teaches me a lesson. James wrote about the importance of keeping short accounts regarding getting my prayers answered. This is about healing and about praying for other things — like the weather!

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit. (James 5:16–18)

Personal application is obvious; keep short accounts, no matter what I’m praying about. Also, Elijah was a prophet who was obviously in close connection with God when he prayed as he did. I need to be the same. He hears those whose hearts are in tune with His heart. I also need to consider and pray for the turmoil in the lives of people who think that the world’s population controls the weather.