I love to watch the History Channel. I love history but I also love to watch programs about ancient civilizations. With the telling of those histories, we see the ways in which many ancient civilizations worshiped, and many of them worshiped nature. They had gods of the sun and gods of the moon. They had gods of the sea. They had fire gods and forest gods. Today, the wiccan religion continues the practice of worshipping the natural world. It's easy to understand why—they worship what they see. The natural world has a compelling beauty, but that beautiful natural world is created and sustained by our loving Creator God. Today, let's consider nature's response to God as we listen to a short passage from the Psalms:

Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all deeps, fire and hail, snow and mist, stormy wind fulfilling His word! (Psalm 148:7-8)

One of the interesting discoveries when reading the Bible is that it contains many references to the earth and to elements of the weather erupting into praise. The rocks cry out! The oceans roar! The trees clap their hands! You and I see snow storms and rain and the pounding of the ocean's waves upon the shore and we think, "Oh well, that's just the weather." We might even get irritated when the weather interrupts our plans. Where I live it sometimes gets cold and snowy. Schools have been closed and many public services get cancelled or delayed because of the weather. Today's passage tells us that hail, snow, mist and stormy wind are busy praising God and fulfilling His word. It's certainly a different way to think about the weather that interrupts our plans, isn't it? Can you begin to think that way? There's an old saying that goes like this: "Everyone complains about the weather but nobody ever does anything about it."

Maybe instead of complaining, let’s do something about it! Let’s join God's creation in lifting up praise to Him. God is sovereign over everything—including the weather...and having such a praise-worthy sovereign God is such very Good News.