Job 37:10-13. A reminder of how God accomplishes his will - through his creation. Ice freezes the waters "by the breath of God," "He loads the thick cloud with moisture; the clouds scatter his lightning." He guides the clouds and storms "to accomplish all that he commands them on the face of the habitable world. Whether for correction, or for his land, or for love, he causes it to happen."

In our very secular world, "science" is often proclaimed as if it is the opposite or a foil to faith (often by people who are oblivious to what "science" actually is, and are just using it as a substitute for God, whether they know it or not). In fact, though, science is the means by which we come to understand the way our world and universe work. Science does not think or have an agenda - it is the explanation of reality, and reality is creation. Because it is a tool of human beings, we often get science wrong. Thus, the "science" as we understand it must always be open to correction. The scientific method rightly tells us to question always and, if even a deeply held scientific understanding is proven incorrect by new evidence, we must be willing to let it go.

God, though, is eternal, never changing - his rules are THE rules of the universe. When we figure something out through science, we are figuring out the way it was created. God's rules do not change with new evidence, so if we think we have found evidence that one of God's rules is wrong (like boys can be girls or vice versa (although, to be fair, no one is claiming to have found actual evidence of this - it is just a mass delusion some are telling themselves and trying to sell as "truth")), then it is, in fact, us who are wrong.

So looking at this reading I think "This is a figurative way of saying that God uses his creation to accomplish his will in this habitable world." What else is he going to use? Why would he have created it this way if he didn't intend to use it? People scoff at the faithful who try to see God's purposes or will in scientific phenomena such storms and weather, but that is narrow-minded. Just because there is a scientific explanation for something does not mean that God isn't allowing it or causing it for his purposes. Pharaoh may have offered Moses "scientifc" explanations for many of the plagues, but does that mean God did not cause them?

Think of it this way - would we create something, let's say a car, just to have it drive itself wherever it "wanted" to go (and we are talking about things without souls here - not human beings who have free will)? A car needs one of us, its creators, to direct it where to go (this is true even for self-driving cars, although they add a bit of the AI concern I mentioned previously (which reminds me of Jared getting stuck in a self driving car on Silicon Valley:)). We created cars for our purposes and use them so. If someone sees us arrive at their home in a car and says "You didn't get yourself here, your car brought you." They would be technically correct, but also completely wrong. They would be dismissing the very will that created the order of a timely and correct arrival from the chaos of cars randomly driving any and everywhere.

God is in charge of his creation - all of it. We have free will, so he does not force humanity to do anything, but he guides us back to him in every thing that happens, whether through his permissive will or his active will. He guides us with with love, using everything at his disposal, including the things we think of as governed by "science." "Whether for correction, or for the land, or for love, he causes it to happen."