Waiting for the Hurricane - Creation Moments

Genesis 1:31
“And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.”

When my family and I were moving from England to Pensacola, some of our friends were incredulous.

“Don’t you know they have five seasons in Florida?” I was asked. “There’s the four normal ones, then there’s the Hurricane Season.”

I must admit that the thought of a hurricane was somewhat scary to me. A hurricane forms around an area of low atmospheric pressure. The rotation around the calm center (or “eye”) becomes rapid, and the system is characterized by a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms. Warm water, a great differential in air pressure, and the rotation of the Earth can whip the gusts of wind above 74 mph, and even as high as 150 mph. Warm sea water creates the conditions for torrential rain. When the hurricane hits land, it often causes devastating damage with its storm surge, which can raise sea levels by up to 20 feet, torrential rain, and very strong winds.

Why do such storms happen? If God created this planet, why did He make it so that such frightening weather events would occur?

At the end of Genesis 1, we are reminded that “God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good.” Hurricanes are not very good, so we can assume that they did not start happening until after Adam’s sin. God’s perfect world did not include weather features that could kill, so hurricanes are one example of the way God’s curse affected everything.

Prayer: Lord, we acknowledge our sin before You, and thank You that You sent Your precious Son to redeem us from our sin. Amen.

Author: Paul F. Taylor

Ref: Encyclopaedia Britannica, < https://www.britannica.com/science/tropical-cyclone >, accessed 5/22/2020. Image: Hurricane Isabel (2003), seen from International Space Station. NASA, Public Domain.