Weather Changes and Winter Chills

   Where and when this article is being written, one might say, “The weather outside is frightful!” The temperature is zero with a beautiful white landscape of 8-10 inches of snow on the ground. I think of Elihu’s words:

 God . . . does great things that we cannot comprehend. For to the snow He says, “Fall on the Earth” . . . He seals up the hand of every man, that all men whom He made may know it. Then the beasts go into their lairs, and remain in their dens. From its chamber comes the whirlwind, and cold from the scattering winds. By the breath of God ice is given, and the broad waters are frozen fast. . . . Hear this, O Job: stop and consider the wondrous works of God. (Job 37:5-10, 14)

    I recall during one of the challenging winters of the mid to late 1970s I happened to come upon a taped recording of a marvelous sermon. The late and venerable B. C. Goodpasture of Nashville, TN, had delivered the sermon during a meeting hosted by the Camden Avenue Church of Christ, Parkersburg, WV, in the early years of the decade of the 70s. As he began his sermon, preached on a Saturday evening, appreciation was expressed to the audience which was present in spite of the inclement weather. Observing how the Bible seems to pay tribute to those who perform great and good deeds during times of difficult weather, Goodpasture cited an Old Testament text which mentions one of King David’s valiant men. The man was Benaiah whom the text describes as having been “a doer of great deeds . . . [who] went down and struck down a lion in a pit on a day when snow had fallen” (2 Samuel 23:20, ESV).

   It is worthy to note that B. C. Goodpasture was the individual to whom Thomas B. Warren dedicated his signature volume, Have Atheists Proved There Is No God?, first published in 1972, which was near the time the aforementioned gospel meeting occurred. The dedicatory statement says, “To B. C. Goodpasture, valiant soldier of the cross.” The book was described by Warren as “basically the last chapter of the doctoral dissertation which I wrote at Vanderbilt University.” The late Frank Pack, long time professor at Pepperdine University, called Warren’s book “one of the best logical refutations I have ever read, and draws together some of the best insights of modern theistic thinking. . . . One rarely finds a work in which the process of examination and refutation of a position and establishment of an opposing position are so clearly and beautifully set forth” (86-87).

WEATHER CHANGES
   In the above volume Dr. Warren addresses the question: “What would be the characteristics of a world which is designed to be man’s ideal ‘vale of soul-making’?” In part, he answers, “It must not be concluded that such a world be merely a hedonic paradise in which man could experience pleasure but not pain (or, for that matter, adversity of any kind)” (45).

   One of the constituent elements Warren discusses in the defense of the world as an ideal vale of soul-making implies the contribution that weather (even extreme at times) makes to the accomplishment of this end. The world is “both law abiding and teleological . . . designed for this specific purpose and upon which man could depend for regularity of response” (45). “While the [E]arth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease” (Genesis 8:22). Through the physical elements, creation declares “(to him who will allow himself to see it) the glory of God. This declaration is at least part of the ‘tug’ in the direction toward God” (48). “Yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons . . .” (Acts 14:17).

   There are variations in weather. In a speech delivered in 1876 before the New England Society, Mark Twain said, “There is a sumptuous variety about New England weather. . . . In Spring, I have counted one hundred and thirty-six different kinds of weather inside of twenty-four hours” (qtd. in Bartlett 742). Sometimes weather variations are extreme. Three millennia ago the Psalmist wrote, “He turns rivers into wilderness, and the water-springs into dry ground; A fruitful land into barrenness . . .” (Psalm 107:33-34). Such was written long before any scientist, politician, or theologian was using the buzz words of climate change or global warming. Observe that the Psalmist affirmed that the Source of the extreme change in the weather of which he spoke was God, not man. The Book of Job (37:13) declares God can cause great changes in weather to come for (1) His correction, (2) His land, or (3) His love or mercy (cf. Psalm 107:34; 104:1-18; 107:36-42). Of course, there can be human abuse of Earth and its natural resources. When such occurs, man will reap as he sows. This is the case in reference to our relationship with any other divine law (cf. Genesis 1:28; 2:15; Galatians 6:7-9).

WINTER CHILLS
   Winter sometimes brings hardship. In the part of the country where these words are being written, we talk about a hard freeze winter. We are having one of those this year (2022). This writer has experienced winters like this in every decade of his life. In the aforementioned book, authored by Warren, there is a chapter concerning natural calamities. Weather related events such as severe snowstorms, ice storms, blizzards, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, etc., bring adversity and hardship. Warren wrote:

 [N]atural calamities . . . are of such nature as to provide man with reminders of two important facts. . . . The realization that one’s life on earth is both certain (as to the fact that it will end) and uncertain (as to the exact time that end will occur) should lead men to give most serious thought to the question of God and the proper response to him. The destructive power and the uncertainty of such events should serve as a reminder to man that this world is not his permanent home. . . . [T]he uncertainty as to what persons (infants, righteous men, wicked men) will be struck by such calamities can be a vital constituent element in the total situation which is man’s environment for “soul-making,” his temporary environment, not his permanent home. (58-59)

    A quarter of a century ago I read a thought-provoking article by John Gipson, one of the best biblical essayists of our time. He wrote that we sometimes hit a hard freeze winter in life. Look at the apostle Paul for example. He was not always basking in the warm, summer sun. In his fascinating book, Outdoor Moments with God, Phillip Keller writes of how our spirits can experience the “deep freeze of despair” (26). Paul experienced it. He wrote, “For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. . . . [W]e were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed we felt that we had received the sentence of death” (2 Corinthians 1:8-9).

   Although Paul does not provide the details of his experience, he does provide why such occurred. He says it “was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. . . . On Him we have set our hope that He will deliver us again” (2 Corinthians 1:9-10; cf. Romans 8:31-39).

   Keller profoundly summarizes the basic need of the soul when challenged by the “winter chills” of life:

There simply are those spans of time in our walk with God that for one reason or another “winter weather” does descend upon the soul. It may be some adversity that locks us in its cruel grasp. Perhaps some illness or some persistent pain imprisons us for long periods. There can be deep disappointments that chill the spirit and constrict the soul. . . . What we need in this “winter of the soul” is a gentle thaw. . . . We need the melting, mellow, transforming sense of His presence enfolding us. (35)
The winter of the soul will be past. The freshets of spring will flow in the spirit again. There will be a new song in earth and sky. (23)

    The Psalmist says it best: “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. . . . Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure. . . . He gives snow like wool; he scatters 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. . . . Praise the LORD!”  (Psalm 147:3, 5, 16-18, 20b, ESV).

Works Cited:

Bartlett, John. Familiar Quotations. 1882. 13th and Centennial ed. Boston: Little, Brown, 1955.

Keller, W. Phillip. Outdoor Moments with God. Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1994.

Pack, Frank. “Have Atheists Proved There Is No God?—A Review.” Gospel Advocate. 65.6 (1973): 86-87.

Warren, Thomas B. Have Atheists Proved There Is No God? Nashville: Gospel Advocate, 1972.