Some thoughts on the weather

Isn't it ironic? Yesterday, when I didn't have to get up, I couldn't sleep past 5. Today, when I needed to get up at 6, I probably could have slept until 7 or 8 at least. So God decided that our Memorial day would be cold and wet. We even got snow/hail at my house today. Does anyone else struggle at times like these? I get really upset that the weather isn't how I want it, but the weather is exactly how God wants it and, therefore, I should want it like that. As it turns out, while I was driving home from a friend's house after church I realized how beautiful and Oregonian it looked. It was overcast, slightly drizzly, and everything was an amazing color of green and the lake looked amazing. And I realized that it wouldn't have been nearly as beautiful (to my eyes) if it had been 80-90 degrees and sunny. So what if I didn't get to go out and have a much fun as I wanted? The weather is another display of the power of God. Job 26:8 says "He binds up the waters in His thick clouds, and the cloud is not split open under them." Piper also wrote a short meditation on Job 5:8-10, which reads "But as for me, I would seek God, and I would place my cause before God; who does great and unsearchable things, wonders without number. He gives rain on the earth, and sends water on the fields." I won't re-type the entire thing but it is in chapter 4 of his book "Taste and See." Basically, Job calls rain a "great and unsearchable thing". Rain is a display of God's power. It is in His power to keep it in the clouds and it is in His power to release it upon His creation, both in judgement and mercy. I just wish that I would remember these verses before I start complaining about the weather. It reminds me of the song we played for church today titled "Center" by Charlie Hall. The chorus starts "Oh Christ, be the center of our lives, be the place we fix our eyes." So often I am the center of my life and that's what the complaining springs from. "How could the weather be like this when I wanted it to be something different?" Rather I need to focus on Christ and make Him the center. When I do that my response will be something like "How awesome that God has chosen to display His power and glory through the weather that we are having right now!" May we all see Christ and His glory on display through the weather that He graciously gives us!