Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all ocean depths, lightning and hail, snow and clouds, stormy winds that do his bidding (Psalm 148:7,8 NIV).
Observe the words: “stormy winds that do his bidding.” We often think on God’s merciful dealings toward us. But we do not see God in “stormy winds.” This is quite natural because storms are violent; they destroy and devastate. It is quite difficult to see God in it. But here even the stormy winds who obey God’s commands are called to praise Him.
One thing we can be sure from this is that even stormy winds obey God’s commands though we cannot find any pattern or reason in the chaos that a stormy wind leaves behind. Often God does not also ask us to try to find out His purpose in sending a storm into our lives.
We also harbor harsh thoughts about God when He deals with us through storms. It is quite human to think so. It is easy for preachers to preach to thank God in such situations. But it is very difficult to practice doing so. But even this God understands.
But the point that God likes to make is that storms obey His commands. They don’t act independently. It would be right to say that they cannot act on their own. Without God’s knowledge and express command no storm breaks out. We may identify some natural causes or man-made causes for the storms. Yet God wants us to know that storms do His bidding.
When storms come and go, our first response could possibly be anger against God for sending storms into our lives. But you can still choose to let go of that anger by praising God for the storm.
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More Manna:
Thus the Work on the House of God in Jerusalem Came to a Standstill