[A ‘Tuesday Challenge‘ originally prepared for the congregation of Horley Baptist Church during June 2026]
And when the south wind blows, you say, “It’s going to be hot,” and it is.
Luke 12 v55 [NIVUK]
In the northern hemisphere the longest daily period of daylight hours has passed and, although we may not notice it yet, the evenings are starting their slow transition to winter darkness.
Perhaps it is premature to think of the passing of summer, even if we do feel that it seems to have been over-cooked this year. The search for somewhere cool has become a priority, activities are avoided and appetites are reduced to cold drinks and ice cream.
Our skin is hot as an oven, feverish from hunger.
Lamentations 5 v10 [NIVUK]
Are you longing for Abraham’s terebinth trees or Jonah’s gourd, or even the drop of water from Lazarus’s finger?[1]
In the political sphere too it is becoming difficult to avoid the discomfort. Even those who hold the highest offices in the land have been feeling the heat:
He changes times and seasons; he deposes kings and raises up others.
Daniel 2 v21 [NIVUK]
For Daniel’s three colleagues, even being part of the governing administration did not protect them. In an outburst worthy of a world leader, Nebuchadnezzar determined to punish their insubordination.
He ordered the furnace to be heated seven times hotter than usual
Daniel 3 v19 [NIVUK]
Are we willing to speak up for God, even if it becomes uncomfortable?
King David was familiar with hot summers; he used the analogy to describe the feeling arising from unresolved sin:
For day and night your hand was heavy on me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.
Psalm 32 v4 [NIVUK]
For us too, unresolved sin can be a cause of great discomfort. When Solomon was compiling his words of wisdom he added this observation:
Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.
Proverbs 28 v13 [NIVUK]
Have you spoken with the source of that mercy today?
The annual cycle of the seasons reminds us of the promise that God made to Noah after his experience with extreme weather.
As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.
Genesis 8 v22 [NIVUK]
In 1923 Thomas Chisholm wrote some lines based on that verse. His words both remind us that all creation recognises his authority and also reassure us of God’s care for us:
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.
The Psalmist recognised that implicit in that promise there is even an assurance of some respite from the weather:
He made the moon to mark the seasons, and the sun knows when to go down.
Psalm 104 v19 [NIVUK]
The Lord God liked to walk in the garden in the cool of the evening.[2]
Are you ready to meet him there?
References:
[1] Genesis 18:1, Jonah 4:6, Luke 16:24
[2] Genesis 3:8
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Contributed by Steve Humphreys; © Steve Humphreys