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Tuesday, March 25, 2025

Who Controls The Weather? Let's Get Real

As the Amorites retreated down the road from Beth-horon, the LORD destroyed them with a terrible hailstorm from heaven that continued until they reached Azekah. The hail killed more of the enemy than the Israelites killed with the sword. [Joshua 10.11] 

Do we really believe God sent a hailstorm to help Israel or was it just a super lucky circumstance? 

We need to just get real here. Did God really control the weather back then for ancient Israel?

How we answer the question above also answers this question: Does God control the weather today?

We might progress (or, digress?) then to this question: Does God control the weather?

Frankly, if God does not control the weather, why would we even think He is any kind of big deal at all? I mean, if God does not have control of the weather, that means the weather (or whomever controls the weather) is greater than God and, really, is what (or whom) we should be worshiping instead of God!

Stay with me...

We create a dilemma for ourselves based on what we think about who controls the weather. If we don't believe God controls the weather, then we have foolishly settled for a lesser deity in worshiping God. If however, God controls the weather, then we must reconcile with God as controller of the weather the way Joshua 10.11 indicates (and all the other instances in the Bible where weather played a role) understanding that the weather speaks for God's pleasure or displeasure depending on which side we find ourselves.

If the weather speaks for God, then we can understand something of how we are doing in God's sight based on the weather. Is the weather a blessing or a curse? For Joshua and Israel in Joshua 10.11, the weather was a blessing. For the five Amorite kings who attacked Gibeon, the weather was a curse.

Do we dare measure God's pleasure or displeasure with us based on the weather? Keep staying with me, this gets worse...

On the day Joshua witnessed the hailstorm, he was so emboldened by what he saw that he did the following:

On the day the LORD gave the Israelites victory over the Amorites, Joshua prayed to the LORD in front of all the people of Israel. He said, “Let the sun stand still over Gibeon, and the moon over the valley of Aijalon.” So the sun stood still and the moon stayed in place until the nation of Israel had defeated its enemies. Is this event not recorded in The Book of Jashar? The sun stayed in the middle of the sky, and it did not set as on a normal day. There has never been a day like this one before or since, when the LORD answered such a prayer. Surely the LORD fought for Israel that day! [Joshua 10.12-14]

If it is argued that the hailstorm was a delightfully fortuitous circumstance for Israel and a tragic case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time for the Amorites, Joshua's prayer for the sun and moon to stop would have been a ridiculous "pushing his luck" move on Joshua's part. Really. I mean, REALLY!

Believers in God today, and more specifically, those who believe in Jesus Christ, have no reason to fear the weather or even the universe itself, ...unless of course, they are not pleasing God! 

In fact, God controls everything. IF we truly believe this statement, then we can confidently monitor how we are doing with God by the weather. But, what's more, we can beseech God to alter any number of "natural" circumstances. If Joshua's story does not teach this, then it is nothing but a fairly tale and of no use.

Someone besides Joshua had an encounter with the weather:

Jesus responded, “Why are you afraid? You have so little faith!” Then he got up and rebuked the wind and waves, and suddenly there was a great calm. [Matthew 8:26]

This article should inspire something in every reader. But be prepared to come to grips with which side it reveals we are on: are we on the blessing side of things (faith) or the cursed side of things (fear)? If we really want to get real, here is our chance.

Father, may my life and the circumstances surrounding it reveal Your pleasure as I strive to reject conventional scientific (worldly) thought and understanding about circumstances (weather included) and seek to please You with faith and without fear as Jesus demonstrated!

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