Water water everywhere

This happened when we had only been in Uganda for a few weeks: we were staying in the Jacksons' house, and just down from us, our neighbours had four students staying in their converted garage - complete with lino on the floor, a table and beds, a charcoal burner to cook on. But they told us that the roof leaked when the heavy rain fell.  It was just as well that the practice was stopped not long after. Anyway, the campus is on the side of a hill which stands up above all the surrounding area, so that when the rains come, first the heavy clouds assemble, billowing and swelling over the top of the hill, and when they start to spread out over the top, the rain suddenly pours, - in bucketfuls. On this day, as the clouds began to gather and swell and the thunder began, we saw these four girls run out of their accommodation and take up stances in the road, faces pointing up towards the clouds, fists raised against them: "You shall NOT rain! In the name of Jesus, we command you, you shall not rain!" Unfortunately though the thunder growled and rumbled on, and soon the fat globs of water began to fall and splash around their feet, and then, slightly muted, "OK, you may rain, but you may not spoil our things!"

I have been saying the exact same prayer in my head over the last couple of days, even though feeling that praying against the weather is seemingly pointless. It is going to come. But England has been inundated with water again these last two weeks. There is flooding in the north, south, east and west. Hundreds of people were flooded out of their homes over Christmas. And we know from our experience in 2007, when our house in Gloucester flooded badly, that it can be up to six months before you can move back into the house, depending on builders, insurance and, the weather. So it is no small thing. 

Flooded fields just outside Gloucester today

Our area has just escaped so far although the big river Severn, in whose valley Gloucester lies, has burst its banks at several points. But the fields all around where our little house is, in Longford, are all covered with water now. A few more heavy downpours, and it seems likely that the roads will flood again. No, Lord, please! (We ourselves are living in a rented house in a safer part of town, but it is our tenant - and also our floors and walls - in the little house we let out that I am talking about.)

I have often wondered about God and the weather. I know we all ask those questions when there is a major weather-related disaster, such as the Tsunami, or the earthquake in Haiti - but also, what about just, a country getting a lot of rain? Or, a lot of sunshine, like Uganda? The weather affects everything - the economy, food production, as well as also people's mentalities, plans, and even their happiness levels. Is God involved in the weather? He must be. Yet it seems so random. And can we pray about it? I remember hearing people say, "You mustn't pray for fine weather for your wedding day/bbq/swimming party - think of the poor farmers who badly need the rain!" Annoying, but true I suppose! "Nice weather for ducks" about sums it up - the weather we want may not be what our fellow-creatures want.

What about this:

"He sends his command out to the earth; his word runs swiftly. He gives snow like wool, he scatters hoar frost like ashes. He hurls down his crystals of ice like crumbs; who can stand before his cold? He sends out his word, and melts them; he makes his wind blow and the waters flow."  Ps 147: 15-18.

As God is in charge of this world, the weather is in his remit as well, of course, as this psalm shows. But it seems clear that God normally lets the world run along in its natural course, which includes the weather as well, for good and for bad - this is the only explanation for illness, for birds being eaten by cats in the garden, for people losing their jobs, and all those things that happen that we wish didn't happen. What I hold onto is that God can and does intervene at times, but honestly, it would be ridiculous to think of him providing the exact right weather for all our requirements from one day to the next - how could he run the world like that? He also expects us to use our brains to find ways of living in the world as it is.

But anyway, I shall still pray that Gloucester doesn't get flooded, because I really don't want it to! But I have to accept that if it does, God will help us and everyone else get through it, that this is part of living in a messed-up world, that this life isn't all we have.