Floods? Droughts? What’s With the Weather?

Some areas have had way too much rain; some have had far too little. What does the Bible say about the blessing and curse the weather can be?

As I was driving westward in Ohio last Sunday, it seemed as if the heavens suddenly opened. The skies darkened, and it began to pour so hard that driving seemed dangerous. A few cars pulled off and stopped on the shoulder while others continued to drive, but with flashers blinking.

My windshield wipers made a vain attempt to clear the rain. Visibility became so poor I began to wonder if it was wise even to attempt to drive as far as the next off-ramp. I squinted, pushed my head forward toward the windshield, hoping to improve visibility, and reduced my speed.

The storm didn’t last long, maybe some 15 minutes or so. For much of the rest of my journey, the rain was light, though with a couple more dramatic downpours.

Weather upsets of biblical proportions

As I drove nervously, a scripture came to mind. “‘I also withheld rain from you, when there were still three months to the harvest. I made it rain on one city, I withheld rain from another city. One part was rained upon, and where it did not rain the part withered. So two or three cities wandered to another city to drink water, but they were not satisfied; yet you have not returned to Me,’ says the LORD” (Amos 4:7-8).

This has been a year of uneven weather patterns. Insufficient rain when it’s needed; too much when it’s not. Flooding along the Missouri River, simultaneous with exceptional drought through much of the states of Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. Check the U.S. Drought Monitor map depicting these conditions, available from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. It makes the point rather dramatically.

Yes, there have been worse years, but for the many who are directly affected, the weather has been big news this year.

Should we be paying attention?

The Scriptures tell us that it is our Creator who controls the weather patterns. The Bible shows that sometimes there are spiritual causes for the blessings and curses in our weather. Look at what God says: “If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments, and perform them, then I will give you rain in its season, the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit” (Leviticus 26:3-4, emphasis added).

“But if you do not obey Me, and do not observe all these commandments … I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze. And your strength shall be spent in vain; for your land shall not yield its produce, nor shall the trees of the land yield their fruit” (verses 14, 19-20).

Last summer, 2010, bumper crops were expected. Record-breaking quantities of grain were to come from the North American farming areas. Instead, a late-summer drought took hold and supplies were pinched. Instead of falling, grain prices escalated.

Is there a connection between the downward spiral of American morals—violence, pornography, profanity, dishonesty and so much more—and increasing weather-related disasters?

Rising food prices

Over the last few years, the trend has been striking: “From 2007 until 2011 corn futures prices averaged 453.26 dollars reaching an historical high of 795.50 dollars in May of 2011” (www.tradingeconomics.com/commodity/corn).

While some of this price rise is due to the increased use of corn for ethanol production, that’s not the whole story. Other grains have followed a similar trend: “Since mid-2010, corn futures prices have more than doubled to more than $7 per bushel and could exceed the $7.65 record set in 2008. Soybean prices are up 40 percent from one year ago, to just over $13 a bushel. Wheat futures have risen more than 50 percent since this past July, to $7.75 per bushel” (www.agweb.com/article/trio_of_factors_pushing_food_prices_up).

For most readers of this blog, statistics such as these strike home less than the increased cost of feeding the family. We see it at the supermarket. It concerns us. And it will get worse before it gets better.

Repentance and blessings in God’s Kingdom

The good news, however, is that a time is coming when changes will take place for the better. In the not-too-distant future, the rain will once again be regular, agricultural abundance will be the order of the day, and food supplies will be reliable.

This will come when Jesus Christ returns to set up the Kingdom of God. Then God will hear the cry of repentance of His people and He will answer. “Then He will give the rain for your seed with which you sow the ground, and bread of the increase of the earth; it will be fat and plentiful” (Isaiah 30:23).

May God speed that day!

For more about the promised Kingdom of God, see our booklet The Mystery of the Kingdom.

Ralph Levy is a minister of the Church of God, a Worldwide Association, living in Ohio.