But wise heads are suggesting that 'we ain't seen nothing yet', as the effects of human-induced climate change bring more unsettled and severe weather in future.
As I wrote last week, we must be prepared to live as people who trust the Lord, 'whatever the weather'.
In ancient Israel, where of course the weather was usually hot and dry, with season rains coming in spring and autumn, the prophets were alert to interpreting the weather as the Lord's way of speaking to his people. In Elijah's time, there was a 3 year drought, as judgement on the wickedness of King Ahab, and his even worse wife, Jezebel.
In Hosea's time, however, the Lord promises a wonderful change in the lives of his people, when they learn to trust Him.
Early in his ministry, Hosea describes Israel's love for their Lord in graphic terms. First, the people declare their desire to put things right, with their own repentance. But the Lord sees through their shallow response.
Oh, that we might know the Lord! Let us press on to know him. He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn or the coming of rains in early spring.”
“O Israel and Judah, what should I do with you?” asks the Lord.
“For your love vanishes like the morning mist and disappears like dew in the sunlight.' (Hosea 6.3-4).
“For your love vanishes like the morning mist and disappears like dew in the sunlight.' (Hosea 6.3-4).
But later in his ministry, Hosea brings more hopeful promise from the Lord, again linking this to their experience of altered weather patterns. 'The Lord says,
“Then I will heal you of your faithlessness; my love will know no bounds, for my anger will be gone forever.5 I will be to Israel like a refreshing dew from heaven. Israel will blossom like the lily; it will send roots deep into the soil like the cedars in Lebanon.' (Hosea 14.4-5)
Today, whatever the weather, may we know the deep refreshing love of the Lord.
Best wishes, Richard
No comments:
Post a Comment