Today I’m in St. Andrew’s, New Brunswick, visiting my parents. We’re all hoping for precipitation, which is in the forecast today. The whole Canadian Maritime area is in desperate need of clouds and the rain that they bring. There are daily threats of forest fires and evacuations in the area. Lawns are looking brown, crops are in danger of dying… the land is thirsty and flammable. Clouds hold the hope of rain and shade… two things very desirable in a hot dry summer.
As we face these wild climate issues we can perhaps understand why the ancient pagan people believed that rain was a gift from the gods. Life without rain is very difficult. Without rain crops die, flocks and herds suffer and fall, exhausted from thirst. Without water humans cannot live; they will fall like animals into the dust of the earth, so it’s not surprising that every ancient culture had a rain/storm deity. For the Canaanites that deity was Baal; for the Greeks it was Zeus; for the Babylonians it was Adad; for the Persians it was Tishtyra; for the Romans it was Jupiter; and for the Vikings it was Thor.
YHWH, however, is the God of all creation, from the tiny dust-mite to the grandest strike of thunder; it’s all under YHWH’s command.
Psalm 97:1-6
YHWH reigns, may the earth rejoice; may the many islands be joyful.
Clouds [anan עָנָ֣ן] and thick darkness surround Him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne.
Fire goes before Him and burns up His enemies all around. His lightning lit up the world; the earth saw it and trembled.
The mountains melted like wax at the presence of YHWH, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth. The heavens declare His righteousness, and all the peoples have seen His glory.
You can’t talk about sky stuff without mentioning clouds! This week I encourage you to revisit the posting on clouds from a few years ago. The Hebrew words for clouds are anan and av. You can view the original site by clicking below:
CLOUDS
In the following few months I’ll be posting a lot of sermons. The Pastor of my country church, Rev. Bill Dean, has just retired. I’ll be doing one sermon in August (next week), three in September, two in October, two in November and two in December. During those weeks I’ll share the message on this site. The other weeks I will present a Hebrew word. I hope that is agreeable to you all. Working full time, attending to this blog, filling in as a part-time lay preacher, finding a balance between widowhood and motherhood, and keeping up with the demands of being a doctoral student keeps me very busy… but (apart from widowhood) I’m loving every minute of it!
Next week: Sermon… Paul in Athens (Acts 17)
Hebrew Word Lessons 