Thought for Today
Job 21:18 How often are they like straw before the wind, and like chaff that the storm carries away?
Psalm 108:28 Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he brought them out from their distress; 29 he made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed.
Acts 27:18 We were being pounded by the storm so violently that on the next day they began to throw the cargo overboard,
Revelation 6:13 and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree drops its winter fruit when shaken by a gale.
I could not find the word blizzard in the Bible. I can find a real blizzard outside our front door, our patio door and everywhere I look outside this morning. For folks in New England and along the northern Atlantic coast, the Blizzard of ’26 is the 800-pound gorilla in the room today.
Local television media is replete with pictures and stories of this massive storm. Right now their trucks and snowplow drivers are almost the only people on the highways. Obviously, the initial focus is on clearing those interstates, highways and major roads. The snow started at our home in the Merrick Valley last night shortly after 10:00pm. It was still snowing, much heavier, when I woke up about 5:00am. It is still snowing, and now the wind is blowing much harder.
The first snowplow to reach our street arrived about 8:30am. The driver did an admirable job of removing enough snow to let the asphalt peek through . . . for a few minutes. Within 10 minutes of his leaving, the street was once again completely covered. The meteorologists are reporting visibility in our area at about ¼ mile (440 yards). I can barely see the trees across the field behind our home, a distance of less than 200 yards.
Is this the worst storm I have ever seen? I find it hard to compare a New England winter blizzard with a Texas Gulf Coast hurricane. I have endured (and thankfully survived) both. In truth, given a choice, I would prefer clear skies, warm temperatures and gently wafting breezes. I suspect most would agree, especially our friends living closer to the New England coastline. We are at least far enough inland not to have to contend with flooded roads and coastal erosion.
Studying thermodynamics in college, I learned about relative humidity, dew points, pressure gradients and many other phenomena that determine our weather. I have lived my entire life less than 100 miles from a seacoast. I have skied mountains and I have been in the deserts of Saudia Arabia.
I often remark that everywhere I have lived and/or visited, I have been able to find and enjoy the beauty of God’s Creation. In the desert, on the mountain tops, in the valley, over hill and dale, God has gifted us with beauty and wonders. But, this morning, and on other occasions, I have wondered whether God could have found a way to give us those clear skies, warm temperatures and gently wafting breezes instead of the blizzards and gales, the hurricanes and storms.
Yesterday in worship, as we pondered on the story of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness, I spoke of temptations and trials. Did God provide us the vicissitudes of extreme weather as a test? Are the fires, earthquakes, blizzards and gales some sort of a test to see whether we are true to our Creator God?
We do know that some of our ancestors assigned different deities to these natural phenomena. Sometimes they offered sacrifices to those deities in an attempt to ameliorate or avoid those violent and extreme phenomena. But, the Bible does tell us of the experience of the prophet Elijah following his triumph over the prophets of Baal. Elijah fled into the wilderness to avoid the wrath of Jezebel. He sheltered in a cave. Then God spoke to Elijah, "1 Kings 19:11 Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.’ Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; 12 and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence.”
Our God created Creation. If we look and if we listen, we encounter God in the winds, the earthquakes, in the fires, in the blizzards . . . everywhere in God’s Creation.
Stay safe, watch and listen for God, trust God,
Pastor Ray