Is the weather personal? But before you answer that here are some more basic questions. Is your everyday world controlled by a personal God who has a purpose for all that you encounter? Or is life on earth just a matter of random chance? Or is your life governed by impersonal forces that take no account of the moral decisions that you make each day? If you decide for either random chance or an impersonal force then you must conclude that God is silent.
But, if you understand that both the creation and the daily events of life are under the control of a personal God, the events of each day take on an immediate sense of importance. In his book, He is There and He is not Silent, Francis Schaeffer makes a compelling case for a personal God:
“So now let us think what it means to begin with that which is personal. That is, that which is personal began everything else, the very opposite of beginning with the impersonal. In this case, man, being personal, does have meaning… We have the reality of the fact that personality does have meaning because it is not alienated from what has always been, and what is, and what always will be.”
God is a personal God. He is involved with his creation down to the most intimate detail. Thus the weather is personal because it flows from the command of the personal God. Disobedience of his laws draws his attention. God is not silent about what matters to him.
For example yesterday in the area where I live there was relatively small but powerful thunderstorm that produced damaging winds and heavy hail. In one place 7 inches of hail fell. God could have covered the entire county with that much or more hail, causing huge amounts of property destruction and loss of life. Yet he did not. How should you interpret this relatively small but powerful demonstration of his power? The Bible tells us that even hail is a response to the command of God. The hail is a warning and a reminder that God’s commands rule the earth. Because God is a personal God the hail is personal.
Such storms are a merciful reminder to take God and his commands seriously and personally. He shows his power in the hailstorm. We hear his magnificent voice in the thunder. He is there all around you. He will not be ignored.
God is not silent.
May we have ears to hear!
He sends his command to the earth;
his word runs swiftly.
He spreads the snow like wool
and scatters the frost like ashes.
He hurls down his hail like pebbles.
Who can withstand his icy blast?
He sends his word and melts them;
he stirs up his breezes, and the waters flow.
Psalm 147:15-18
