Why Is It So Dang Hot? Perhaps God is Trying to Tell Us Something
As I write, temperatures across the US and Europe are soaring.
Here in New York the unrelenting heat has driven everyone indoors as much as possible. Even the early morning hours offer little break. My run through Central Park this morning felt like I was running through the soup-like humidity of central Florida.
Why is it so dang hot?
While I was at the monastery I actually reflected on this question. We love to sing of the predictable goodness of God displayed through the changing of the seasons:
Summer and winter and springtime and harvest
Sun, moon, and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love.
But why the heat?
Here’s one thought that came to mind. And it starts with a question:
How does the heat of summer affect us humans?
Well, for one, judging by the pace of my run this morning, the heat sure seems to slow us down. We can’t move as quickly. We have a harder time keeping up with our usual rhythms.
The heat simply does not allow us to maintain our pace.
And maybe that’s one reason it’s so hot right now.
Maybe God is trying to slow you down. To knock you off your preferred pace.
To remind you that you are human, not a machine.
God did not make us to run at full speed all the time. And to encourage us to slow our stride, sometimes he gives us heat.
The other answer I came up with has to do with the sun in particular.
The intense heat of the sun has an effect on our appearance. Already my skin is darker even though I haven’t been to the beach … yet.
And that reminds me of the story of Moses’ transformed appearance after standing in the presence of God. So radiant was he that the people could not look at him.
Granted, that’s no tan.
Yet the reminder leads me to Paul’s discussion of Moses in 2 Corinthians 3.
As spectacular as Moses’ appearance was, Paul asserts, “We are not like Moses.”
His glorious transformation was temporary and his veil indicated spiritual blindness on the part of the people.
“But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.”
Since the Lord who is the Spirit has set us free, we are free to bask in “the glory of the Lord” and so be transformed—not in a temporary way like a summer tan or even the great lawgiver.
The Spirit transforms us into the very image of Jesus, who is himself the image of God.
So yes, it’s hot. Really hot.
Let’s allow the heat to slow us down, to break our rhythms, and to take the extra time God has given us to “contemplate the Lord’s glory.”
And by the Almighty Spirit we’ll emerge from the summer looking more like Jesus than when summer began.
What is the Spirit showing you about the glory of Christ?
Share your thoughts in the comments below.