A Brief Theology of Weather

As Hurricane Gustav rolled again into Louisiana last week, and as Hurricane Hanna races its way to the East Coast, I thought it would be pertinent to discuss the nature of God and the weather.

I hear a lot in my Christian circles that we ought to pray against potentially disastrous weather and for the people that will experience the catastrophies. Some people in their prayers seemed resigned to its inevitability, and so they pray for as much safety and human responsibility and management as best is possible in the wake of the storm. Others, seemingly more courageous, pray that God would completely change the weather- that the storm would dissipate, change course, or just plain old go away.

What makes it hard is that human sinful nature can't answer the question of suffering here. Hundreds of thousands of people died in the Southeast Asian tsunami almost 4 years ago now. The tsunami is a lot harder to explain than September 11, because in that instance we can simply note the fact that people do evil things.

A typical response to the presence of suffering is, thus, that humans are corrupted by original sin, but that response is tougher to swallow in the face of an oncoming hurricane. I'd also note, on an existential level, that this theological answer is unsatisfying and unusable in a crisis-counseling situation. But given that bad weather still does and will happen, I thought it might be helpful to develop some kind of theology about the weather. However brief this may be, I should find it particularly helpful.

It all started when everything God created was very good (Gen. 1). This creation included our very earth, our animals and plants, and us humans. One would surmise that this also includes the weather as a part of our creation. But something went wrong. Adam and Eve disobeyed God's command, and that set world history on a different path. A common misconception is that humanity becomes cursed by God, but it is actually the evil serpent and "the ground" that becomes cursed (Gen. 3:17-19). A certain amount of speculation concerns the ground, but given that human production of earthly resources would become harder based on the fall(based upon the context), the ground probably includes rain and other weather patterns. These processes are now cursed.

Romans 8:19-23 picks up on this theme. Creation needs liberation, and not just humans. Creation is bound to decay, and it needs freedom. Creation is waiting for redemption, and not just humans. The weather is fraught with decay. Might this include the destructive nature of hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, etc.?

Lastly and most importantly, while the whole of creation is in need of creation, we need not forget who is ultimately in charge. On a boat in Palestine in the 1st century, a man named Jesus told the weather to do something and it obeyed him, "Quiet! Be still!" (Mark 4:35-41). Jesus is in fact sovereign over the weather. The Psalms also affirm the magnificent sovereignty of God over the weather in many glorious refrains.

In all, then, it seems that two consistent themes are that the creation is broken but God can and does fix it. It should give us incredible understanding when horrible disasters do happen, but it should also make our prayers all the more fervent.