Jeremiah 14:22 Do any of the worthless idols of the nations bring rain? Do the skies themselves send down showers? No, it is you, O Lord our God. Therefore our hope is in you, for you are the one who does all this.

Many people today would dismiss this as a primitive lack of understanding of science, and specifically meteorology. In a sense that is true, but such an attitude discounts the One who set it all up in the first place. Scientists today can describe weather patterns accurately enough, but try as they will they can’t really control them. In Jeremiah’s day the Baals were seen as “storm gods,” and rain is of course vital to any society, and particularly an agrarian one. Jeremiah is here acknowledging that only Yahweh can actually control the weather, and we would be wise to do the same. America has done cloud seeding, and militantly atheistic Communist China has put great effort into trying to control the weather, but whatever successes anyone might claim, only God is really in control. In the Bible record the most dramatic example is that of Elijah, who prayed and there was a 3½ year drought, and when he prayed again, it rained. (1 Kings 17:1, 18:36-46) Urban people today are largely cut off from nature and consider rain a nuisance, but even Las Vegas and Southern California have to get water from somewhere! People use science and technology as excuses to forget God, but the end result of that is always tragedy. Science and technology are gifts from God, but they are no substitute for Him.

I have always been something of a tech nerd, delighting both in current technology and in science fiction, but I am grateful beyond words to know the One who enables it all. I have prayed many times over the computers in this building! I recognize scientific principles and am grateful for them, but I also know that the Creator isn’t bound by them. I myself have prayed and a typhoon deviated from the forecast path. I don’t control God by any means, but He controls everything. I am to seek God’s will in everything, striving to be fully obedient to Him. I am to apply the laws of physics and the other sciences as appropriate, but know that God isn’t bound even by them.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for all You are doing in the world. Help me never despair over anything, but always remember that You are God and You are good, and that’s enough. Thank You. Praise God!