For some weeks now we have been experiencing wonderful summer weather….hot sunny days that holiday makers have been rejoicing in. Not so, farmers and gardeners! Where possible watering and irrigation have been turned on, and it is some small comfort to see the plants revive and survive!

    But in some countries, this dry weather has resulted in massive bush fires with loss of crops, animals and in some cases even human life. We sometimes wonder why these extreme weather patterns occur, and people put it down to global warming and such like, but we know they have been happening since time began.

   We read in the Bible of famines and droughts occurring at different times, and often it is put down to a nation’s disobedience to God’s rules. It seems that people will only turn to God when they are in dire straits, and often then they still refuse to acknowledge that He has any part in the weather patterns! We read of the time that there was a severe drought with no rain for three years, and the nation of Israel attributed this to the idol they were worshipping at the time, Baal. They gathered together with their king and priests of the idol, and called out “Oh Baal, save us!” but there was no reply. The heavens still remained as brass. They began to dance around, cutting themselves and crying out, but still nothing happened.

   God’s prophet Elijah, began to mock them saying their god must have gone on a journey. At last, they were worn out, and Elijah took barrels of water and poured it over the animal sacrifice and  altar that he had built to the God of Heaven. He began to pray and for a while nothing happened. Then the sky grew dark, with lightning flickering around, and he told the king he had better get going to the city before the rain stopped him.

   He called out to the crowd watching and asked who they thought was the real God now? The people finally acknowledged that the God of Heaven was the one true God as the rain came pelting down.

   Let’s hope we don’t remain as stubborn as the people in that day, and keep attributing our weather patterns to the god of Global Warming!!