It came as scheduled. Temperatures had started to moderate in late August/early September, highs in the 70s. Then, back to the upper 80s for us here in Monument (generally cooler than Colorado Springs and Denver). Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday hot, then, amazingly predicted before the hot days even started, SNOW on Tuesday. A 60-degree drop in temperature. As I write, it’s 25 degrees, and we have about 5 inches of snow on the ground.

What are the lessons? First, let’s give thanks for the weather people. We had no way of knowing as late as Monday night that we would awaken Tuesday morning to cold and snow unless they had told us. Second, let’s use “prophecy” to prepare. I unhooked my garden hoses, made sure the snow blower was ready for action, and postponed a couple of meetings. 

The purpose of prophecy in the Bible is not to satisfy curiosity about tomorrow but to change behavior today. When Jonah told the people of Nineveh that they would be destroyed in 40 days, they didn’t get out their calendars, they repented (see Jonah 3). 

The same might be true of “news” and predictions about, say, how long COVID-19 restrictions will last. If I can use the news to prepare, great. If it’s just idle speculation and curiosity, what’s the point?

Third, let’s remember that things don’t always continue as they have been. The weather can turn on a dime. The pandemic reminds us of fact.

They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. (2 Peter 3.4 – 6, ESV)