Today is the first day of spring, and like clockwork the violent weather of thunderstorms and tornadoes has begun primarily in the plain states with the usual devastating consequences for those in the paths of these weather systems. I happen to be watching the Weather Channel this evening, and there was video footage of a woman, whose roof was ripped off by a tornado last week, and whose remaining house was being imperiled by a snowstorm this week. Among the comments of another man similarly affected was the fact that “…mother nature sure can be violent”. Cut away then to the Weather Channel anchor whose comment, introducing the next story about a drastic change in the weather pattern in the southeast, was that “mother nature is at it again…”
I just have one question: who is mother nature? It is an extremely common phrase that is used by millions throughout the United States to allude to the ubiquitous and oftentimes overpowering presence of the weather over the daily affairs of people (an ironic sidebar is that when doing the spell check for this blog, I was instructed by Microsoft’s spell-check tool that the phrase ‘mother nature’ ought to be capitalized – which I happily ignored!) I submit that this phrase is yet again another way that this godless society demonstrates it’s disregard for God as the true controller of nature and everything else that affects people’s lives.
However, let’s see how much clarity God wanted us to have, that He alone is the author of all that is the weather in this world, as recorded throughout His Bible: When the LORD God made the earth and the heavens--and no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth and no plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no man to work the ground…(Genesis 2:4); "If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees of the field their fruit." (Leviticus 26:3); Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them. Then the LORD's anger will burn against you, and he will shut the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce, and you will soon perish from the good land the LORD is giving you. (Deuteronomy 11:16-17); "To God belong wisdom and power; counsel and understanding are his…if he holds back the waters, there is drought; if he lets them loose, they devastate the land. (Job 12:13&15); Moses then left Pharaoh and prayed to the LORD. And the LORD changed the wind to a very strong west wind, which caught up the locusts and carried them into the Red Sea… (Exodus 10:18-19); For this is what the LORD says: You will see neither wind nor rain, yet this valley will be filled with water, and you, your cattle and your other animals will drink. This is an easy thing in the eyes of the LORD… (2 Kings 3:17-18); When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth. He sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses. (Jeremiah 51:16)
I know there are many who will say that my harping on the fact that people routinely say “mother nature” is an example of me being just another religious nut. However, if necessary, I will be a religious nut to defend the fact that God should get every acknowledgement that is due Him for His sovereign control of everything that occurs in the natural realm of this world. In effect, the Bible states it this way: But God's angry displeasure erupts as acts of human mistrust and wrongdoing and lying accumulate, as people try to put a shroud over truth. But the basic reality of God is plain enough. Open your eyes and there it is! By taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can't see: eternal power, for instance, and the mystery of his divine being. So nobody has a good excuse. (Romans 1:18-20 The Message Bible)
(All scripture courtesy of the NIV Bible unless otherwise noted)
I just have one question: who is mother nature? It is an extremely common phrase that is used by millions throughout the United States to allude to the ubiquitous and oftentimes overpowering presence of the weather over the daily affairs of people (an ironic sidebar is that when doing the spell check for this blog, I was instructed by Microsoft’s spell-check tool that the phrase ‘mother nature’ ought to be capitalized – which I happily ignored!) I submit that this phrase is yet again another way that this godless society demonstrates it’s disregard for God as the true controller of nature and everything else that affects people’s lives.
However, let’s see how much clarity God wanted us to have, that He alone is the author of all that is the weather in this world, as recorded throughout His Bible: When the LORD God made the earth and the heavens--and no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth and no plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no man to work the ground…(Genesis 2:4); "If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees of the field their fruit." (Leviticus 26:3); Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them. Then the LORD's anger will burn against you, and he will shut the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce, and you will soon perish from the good land the LORD is giving you. (Deuteronomy 11:16-17); "To God belong wisdom and power; counsel and understanding are his…if he holds back the waters, there is drought; if he lets them loose, they devastate the land. (Job 12:13&15); Moses then left Pharaoh and prayed to the LORD. And the LORD changed the wind to a very strong west wind, which caught up the locusts and carried them into the Red Sea… (Exodus 10:18-19); For this is what the LORD says: You will see neither wind nor rain, yet this valley will be filled with water, and you, your cattle and your other animals will drink. This is an easy thing in the eyes of the LORD… (2 Kings 3:17-18); When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth. He sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses. (Jeremiah 51:16)
I know there are many who will say that my harping on the fact that people routinely say “mother nature” is an example of me being just another religious nut. However, if necessary, I will be a religious nut to defend the fact that God should get every acknowledgement that is due Him for His sovereign control of everything that occurs in the natural realm of this world. In effect, the Bible states it this way: But God's angry displeasure erupts as acts of human mistrust and wrongdoing and lying accumulate, as people try to put a shroud over truth. But the basic reality of God is plain enough. Open your eyes and there it is! By taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can't see: eternal power, for instance, and the mystery of his divine being. So nobody has a good excuse. (Romans 1:18-20 The Message Bible)
(All scripture courtesy of the NIV Bible unless otherwise noted)