#625

Can Prayer Really Tame Hurricanes?

Was There A Miracle?

Earlier this week I entertained the theory that the unusually high amount of rain that Hurricane Helene dropped on North Carolina, Tennessee, and other areas in the south wasn’t totally natural. If you didn’t catch my drift, I put on my tin foil hat and mused that the government was manipulating the storm to hit certain counties hard then others since the storm route was kept in one area rather than more across the country like most ones. The flooding was the main culprit with an estimated 40 trillion gallons of water dropping on the poor folks of the area. The death toll could reach north of 2,000 according to some estimates as search efforts are still under way. Rather than beat that horse more, I decided instead to focus on the current storm, Milton and go a different direction, a more Biblical way if you will. As I and probably others noticed, good ole Milt got hit by a storm surge of prayer and many see the hand of God on how it turned out. I’ll give you the evidence on that now.

A Case Of The Splits

So many abnormal things happened with Hurricane Milt, but the best thing is that it weakened from the predicted category 5 monster to a category 3 storm and then quickly to a category 1. Here is how a report from The Washington Post describes it:

The National Weather Service says the storm’s maximum sustained wind speed was 90 mph (145 kph) at about 1 a.m. Thursday as it passed east of Lakeland, Florida, on its way across the central peninsula…A Category 1 hurricane is considered to have very dangerous winds that topple shallow-rooted trees, snap tree limbs and damage the exterior of well-constructed frame homes. They can also cause extensive damage to power lines.

Hurricane Milton was a Category 3 storm when it made landfall Wednesday evening. That rating means devastating damage is expected to occur, including roofs torn from well-constructed homes, trees uprooted, and electricity and water systems unavailable for days to weeks.

High wind speeds are not the only dangers caused by hurricanes. Hurricane Milton spawned several devastating tornadoes that wreaked havoc on Florida communities Wednesday afternoon. Heavy rainfall and storm surges also caused dangerous flooding in some coastal areas.

Trust me when I tell you that finding stories that actually told you this was like finding a needle in a haystack since the adage “if it bleeds, it leads” dominated my searches. All I got was how bad it would be and how horrific it would be as a category 5. Now, to be fair, any storm is going to be dangerous, even a category 1 so I certainly am not going to quibble over that, however going from this apocalyptic category 5 storm so quickly to a 3 and then a 1 has to be noted. As much as we got conspiratorial about Hurricane Helene and rightly so, we need to also see that a lot of believers dug in and interceded against Hurricane Milton and as for me, we made a difference. People who are not believers in miracles and people who aren’t believers at all won’t get a lot of mileage out of this, but prayer did change things.

It’s Happened Before

On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side.” 36 Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was. And other little boats were also with Him. 37 And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. 38 But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”

39 Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. 40 But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” 41 And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!” (Mark 4:35-41, NKJV)

Those of us who know our Bibles will recognize this story, but we also need to realize that in this case Jesus rebuked the storm as opposed to calming it. And we also need to note that the Bible originally didn’t have chapters and verses so there was no break between Mark 4 and Mark 5. Jesus went from rebuking a storm to rebuking a man possessed with a legion of demons. That’s a lot of demons folks with some seeing it as up to 6,000. And it is also important to see that in rebuking these demons, Jesus wanted to know their name. Here is how an article from gotquestions.org describes why that is important:

Jesus’ demand for Legion’s name holds significance as it unveiled the demon’s true nature. While some posit that Jesus required the demons’ name to expel them, it is more likely that He aimed to reveal their hidden nature, asserting His authority over all of them. Names were crucial in the ancient world, even more so than today. Legion’s willingness to disclose his name underscores Jesus’ sovereignty over demons.

And lo and behold, we name our Hurricanes these days. But I digress. The point is that Jesus saw that demonic forces were wanting to kill Him and His disciples that fateful night and He rightly took on a whole lot of demons once He got to the other shore which may be a lesson to us all by itself. Jesus rebuked the storm and then made sure the demonic source for the storm wasn’t able to stick around to do more damage.

Lessons Learned

Apart from what I feel is an obvious lesson which is prayer changes things, the same gotquestions.org article makes a nice list of admonitions to glean from the two accounts in Mark 4 and Mark 5:

What lessons can we draw from the encounter between Jesus and Legion? First, Scripture affirms an unseen reality beyond ours. In today’s postmodern, materialist milieu, we may lose sight of and ignore the existence of spirits. Even within Christian circles, discussions about the supernatural can be uneasy. While we should not obsess over the supernatural realm, we needn’t live like atheists.
Then the article emphasizes how God is ultimately in charge:
Second, Christ’s authority surpasses all forces, as epitomized on the cross (Colossians 2:15). Even spirits in rebellion acknowledge His supremacy. God’s sovereignty is absolute, despite our inability to fully grasp how it works with the free will He gave His creation. Nevertheless, Scripture asserts both God’s control and our free will.

Lastly, these Scriptural accounts highlight that we are indeed in a battle and should see it as such and prepare like it:
Finally, we are enmeshed in spiritual warfare and should remain vigilant. Fortunately, we have enough weapons in our arsenal to withstand the threat (Ephesians 6:10–18).

It doesn’t matter if it is a person who is demonically influenced or controlled that wants to cause us harm or a massive storm that barrels in to steal, kill, and destroy, we have the weapons and the spiritual power to rebuke and cast out the opposition. Lessons noted and learned.