“Now Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, ‘As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.'” 1 Kings 17:1
May 17, 2023
Is it going to rain today? Tomorrow? Weather forecasts are easy to come by. The prophet Elijah appears like a flash of lightning in a spiritually dark time in Israel. Ahab was the king over Israel, receiving his infamy by doing “evil in the sight of the Lord more than all who were before him.” He was committed to the storm god, Baal. As God’s mouthpiece, Elijah announced that there would be neither dew nor rain for 3 1/2 years, a slap in the face to the fertility god of the Canaanites. God had told Israel that part of His disciplinary judgment for disobedience to His law would be extreme drought (Deut. 28:24). This is a needed reminder that God is in charge of the weather and climate. Those high pressure and low pressure systems are moved by the invisible hand of God’s providence. God is also sovereign over climate change, which is one of the consequences of the curse on the natural world because of Adam and Eve’s sin, which by the way was a major climate change, as was the worldwide flood in Noah’s day. However, a change in the weather or climate is not always God’s judgment. He sends the rain as an expression of common grace for mankind and animals (Psa. 147:8,9; 104:14). God is in charge of the weather patterns on earth. As we return thanks for our meals, praise God for the rain which makes the crops to grow.
H