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They say that Brits are always talking about the weather. I say that’s because it’s wonderful!
It all starts with Genesis 8 v 22. Here’s what God says to Noah just after promising never to send another flood:
“As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.”
I love that promise. And every time the weather changes, it’s a reminder that the Lord is faithfully keeping his word. Every season; every cloud; every temperature change—they all point us back to the Lord who sustains our world.
I wrote about this once in XTB, our Bible-reading notes for 7-11s. I well remember sitting in my parents’ house, looking out at a snow-covered garden—but knowing that the first children to read XTB would be doing so in the heat of summer. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if children grew up talking about the weather—not to complain, but to point their friends to God’s faithfulness?
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. (Psalm 19 v 1-4)
My bathroom isn’t exactly an exciting place to hang around in. But that’s the window that looks out on the setting sun. I must have taken hundreds of photos through that window over the years—though they never do justice to God’s ever-changing light display. Truly God’s handiwork declares his glory.
When God was planning our universe, he could have positioned the moon in a similar way to the sun—either we see it or we don’t. But no. Instead, he invented this elliptical orbit so that the moon looks different every night. Full. Half. New. Harvest. Nearer. Further. What awesome creativity.
I hope I never tire of looking outside, seeing what God has crafted for that specific moment, and praising him for it.
(And we haven’t even mentioned snowflakes or cloud formations. Wow! Thank you, Lord.)
We’ve seen how the weather helps us to look back, to God’s promise that the seasons will continue to turn; and to look up, to see God’s awesome creativity. It also allows us to look ahead:
The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven.
He replied, ‘When evening comes, you say, “It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,” and in the morning, “Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.” You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.’ (Matthew 16 v 1-4)
We learn at a young age to read the signs of the weather. Heavy dark clouds mean it will probably rain, while a clear sky and midday sun has us reaching for the suncream. In this passage in Matthew, Jesus is pointing out to the Pharisees that they’re good at reading weather signs, but completely miss the signs that point to him.
The “sign of Jonah” (v 4) harks back to Jonah spending three days and nights in the belly of the big fish, before it spat him out onto dry land (Jonah 1 v 17 and 2 v 10). While incarcerated in the fish, Jonah learned a vital lesson:
“Salvation comes from the LORD” (Jonah 2 v 9).
The ultimate “sign of Jonah” was when the Lord Jesus himself spent three days in the tomb, before God the Father powerfully brought his Son back to life (1 Corinthians 6 v 14). The death and resurrection of Jesus is how “salvation comes from the LORD”, and is a sign that we too, if we are trusting in Christ, can look forward to living with him for ever.
God has placed many signs in the sky that point us to him. Perhaps the most poignant is the rainbow, which takes us back to where we started in Genesis. There we read that the rainbow is a sign of God’s covenant never again to bring a flood in judgment on the earth (Genesis 9 v 12-17). Instead, his bow is now pointing upwards. That’s where his judgment was focused 2000 years ago—on God the Son.
What a wonderful truth to remember every time we see God’s bow in the sky.
Alison Mitchell is a Senior Editor at The Good Book Company, where she has worked on a range of products including Bible-reading notes for children and families, and the Christianity Explored range of resources. She is the best-selling author of The Christmas Promise and the award-winning Jesus and the Lions' Den.
