The Forces of Nature

Blessings, Curses and Instruments of God

I. Of This World – “Storm Stories” of Weather Channel, the human side

            A. Fire:
                        1.  Blessing: One of mankind’s greatest discoveries was
                             how to build a fire.

                                    a.  Jack London, “To Build a Fire”

                                    b.  Heat, bodies and cooking

                                    c.  Light

                                    d.  Protection from animals

                        2.  Work to build a fire

                        Scouts, building and cooking over fires, fire safety,
                        gathering dry wood, using twigs and leaves to start it. 
                        EX 35:1 Do not build a fire on the Sabbath

                        3.  Curse: The fires all over the west the past 2 years
                             destroyed thousands of acres of land.

            B.  Water

                        1.  Importance of:

                                    a. Without water, we cannot survive, neither plants
                                        nor animals.                                                
                                    b.  Our bodies are 80% water.

                                    c. Wars over water

                                    d. CAP, Israel

                                    e. Desalination

                                    f.  Water purification plants

                                    g. Water pollution, water poisoning                     

                        2.  Blessing:

                                    a. Hygiene and health

                                    b.  Recreation

                                    c.  Cooking –change in water = change in food
                                         taste

                                    d.  Source of food, lakes, rivers, seas

                                    e. Source of medicine, kelp, etc.

                        3.  Destructive water

                                    a. Floods – Johnstown, PA

                                    b. Mudslides

                                    c  Sunamis, Tidal Waves – The Great Wave, Pearl
                                        Buck

                                    d. Contaminated Water, Love Canal, leather
                                        tanning.            

                                    e. Wood rot, mildew , FL

                                    f.  Annoyance - PR 27:15 A quarrelsome wife is
                                        like a constant dripping on a rainy day.  Ever
                                        kept awake at night by a running toilet or
                                        dripping faucet?

            C.  Wind

                        1.  Blessing

                                    a. Create power, windmills – driving home from
                                        Los Angeles

                                    b.  Relief from heat – from hand held to whole
                                         house fans

                                    c. Transportation, sailing, hang gliding, hot air
                                        balloons

                                    d. Recreation, kites, sailing, hang gliding, hot air
                                        balloons

                        2.  Destructive Wind

                                    a.  Tornadoes

                                    b.  Hurricanes - Hurricane Andrew

II.  God’s Instruments

            A. “Storm Stories” on The Weather Channel- Watch God’s
                  power

            B.  Fire

                        1. God commands an offering by fire, 38 times in the
                           Torah

                        2. Signifies His presence:

                                    a. Moses: Ex:3:2 There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, "I will go over and see this strange sight--why the bush does not burn up.":4 When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, "Moses! Moses!"

    And Moses said, "Here I am."

                                    b. Within the Sanctuary  LEV 6: 12 The fire on the altar must be kept burning; it must not go out. Every morning the priest is to add firewood and arrange the burnt offering on the fire and burn the fat of the fellowship offerings on it. 13 The fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously; it must not go out.

                                    c.  In camp NU 11:1 Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the LORD, and when he heard them his anger was aroused. Then fire from the LORD burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp. 2 When the people cried out to Moses, he prayed to the LORD and the fire died down. 3 So that place was called Taberah, because fire from the LORD had burned among them.

                                    DT 4:9 Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them. 10 Remember the day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, when he said to me, "Assemble the people before me to hear my words so that they may learn to revere me as long as they live in the land and may teach them to their children." 11 You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain while it blazed with fire to the very heavens, with black clouds and deep darkness. 12 Then the LORD spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words but saw no form; there was only a voice. 13 He declared to you his covenant, the Ten Commandments, which he commanded you to follow and then wrote them on two stone tablets. 14 And the LORD directed me at that time to teach you the decrees and laws you are to follow in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess.          

                            d.  Within the Promised Land: 1KI 18:20 So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. 21 Elijah went before the people and said, "How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him."

    But the people said nothing.

             1KI 18:22 Then Elijah said to them, "I am the only one of the Lord's prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets. 23 Get two bulls for us. Let them choose one for themselves, and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. 24 Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the LORD. The god who answers by fire--he is God."

    Then all the people said, "What you say is good."

             1KI 18:25 Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, "Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire." 26 So they took the bull given them and prepared it.

    Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. "O Baal, answer us!" they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made.

             1KI 18:27 At noon Elijah began to taunt them. "Shout louder!" he said. "Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened." 28 So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. 29 Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.

            1KI 18:30 Then Elijah said to all the people, "Come here to me." They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the LORD, which was in ruins. 31 Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the LORD had come, saying, "Your name shall be Israel." 32 With the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seahs of seed. 33 He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, "Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood."

            1KI 18:34 "Do it again," he said, and they did it again.

    "Do it a third time," he ordered, and they did it the third time. 35 The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench.

            1KI 18:36 At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: "O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. 37 Answer me, O LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again."

            1KI 18:38 Then the fire of the LORD fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.

            1KI 18:39 When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, "The LORD--he is God! The LORD--he is God!"

                        3. Punishment:    LEV 20:14 " `If a man marries both a woman and her mother, it is wicked. Both he and they must be burned in the fire, so that no wickedness will be among you.

               NU 26:8 The son of Pallu was Eliab, 9 and the sons of Eliab were Nemuel, Dathan and Abiram. The same Dathan and Abiram were the community officials who rebelled against Moses and Aaron and were among Korah's followers when they rebelled against the LORD. 10 The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them along with Korah, whose followers died when the fire devoured the 250 men. And they served as a warning sign.

            C. Water

                        1. Baptism

                        2. Flood of Noah

                        3.  Nile River saving Moses

                        4.  Red Sea, saving Hebrews, drowning Egyptians

                        5.  Jordan River, parted for Hebrews to cross, Joshua
                             3:1-17.

                        6. Ritual Cleaning  from blood, from touching a dead
                            person, Lev. 12).

                        7. Healing Naaman, 1KI ch. 5.

            D.  Wind

                        1. To clean house

JOB 21:17 "Yet how often is the lamp of the wicked snuffed out? How often does calamity come upon them,

the fate God allots in his anger?:18 How often are they like straw before the wind, like chaff swept away by a gale?

  PS 1:2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.:3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. 1:4 Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away.

  PS 68:2 As smoke is blown away by the wind, may you blow them away; as wax melts before the fire, may the wicked perish before God.

  PS 83:13 Make them like tumbleweed, O my God, like chaff before the wind.

  PS 103:15 As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; 16 the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.

                        2. As symbolic of  Uselessness

    ECC 1:12 I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 I devoted myself to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven. What a heavy burden God has laid on men! 14 I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

    ECC 1:16 I thought to myself, "Look, I have grown and increased in wisdom more than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before me; I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge." 17 Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and also of madness and folly, but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind.

  ECC 2:11 Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.

ECC 2:16 For the wise man, like the fool, will not be long remembered; in days to come both will be forgotten.

Like the fool, the wise man too must die!

 ECC 2:17 So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. 18 I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. 19 And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the work into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless. 20 So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. 21 For a man may do his work with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then he must leave all he owns to someone who has not worked for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune. 22 What does a man get for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labors under the sun? 23 All his days his work is pain and grief; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is meaningless.

    ECC 2:24 A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, 25 for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? 26 To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God.

  ECC 4:4 And I saw that all labor and all achievement spring from man's envy of his neighbor. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. 4:5 The fool folds his hands and ruins himself. 4:6 Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind.

    ECC 4:13 Better a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer knows how to take warning. 14 The youth may have come from prison to the kingship, or he may have been born in poverty within his kingdom. 15 I saw that all who lived and walked under the sun followed the youth, the king's successor. 16 There was no end to all the people who were before them. But those who came later were not pleased with the successor. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

            3. To show us our powerlessness

PR 27:15 A quarrelsome wife is like a constant dripping on a rainy day; 16 restraining her is like restraining the wind or grasping oil with the hand.

JOB 30:22 You snatch me up and drive me before the wind; you toss me about in the storm.

 EPH 4:14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.

JAS 1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6 But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.      

PS 135:6 The LORD does whatever pleases him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths. 7 He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth; he sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses.

  PR 30:4 Who has gone up to heaven and come down? Who has gathered up the wind in the hollow of his hands? Who has wrapped up the waters in his cloak? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and the name of his son? Tell me if you know!

            4.  To characterize believers

 JN 3:5 Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, `You must be born again.' 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."

III. Everything should remind us of Him, of our dependence on Him.

            A.  He is the creator of all

            B.  He has the power to control the elements

            C.  All we have He gave us, directly, or gave us the ability to do or
                  have