In … Joel chapter 1 … not only has God sent “locusts” to devour the Land of Israel, but also has He withheld the rain! Thus, sort of a double judgment has fallen upon the people! (Yet 90% of the preaching from Joel 1 concerns the insects, seldom the dry skies!)
I base my “draught” conclusion on these verses: “The vine is DRIED UP, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, ARE WITHERED: because joy is withered away from the sons of men. Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the meat offering and the drink offering is withholden from the house of your God. Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lord your God, and cry unto the Lord, Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come. Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, yea, joy and gladness from the house of our God? The seed is rotten under their clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn IS WITHERED. How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate. O Lord, to thee will I cry: for the FIRE (BLISTERING HEAT, DRAUGHT) hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame HATGH BURNED all the trees of the field. The beasts of the field cry also unto thee: for THE RIVERS OF WATERS ARE DRIED UP, and the FIRE HATH DEVOURED THE PASTURES of the wilderness.” Joel 1:12-20, with a few enlightening verbs capitalized.
Therefore, based on a host of Biblical material (but today contextually and primarily Joel chapter 1), I conclude that God not only controls His animal world (as in “locusts”), but His weather world (as in “no rain”) too.
Yes, God can decide not to bless His creation with ample moisture!
In fact, back in Leviticus chapter 26, the Lord forewarns Israel of such a calamity … if she disobeys the Word, the Law of Almighty God! Here’s the exact verse: “And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto Me (the Lord), then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. And I will break the pride of your power; and I will MAKE YOUR HEAVEN AS IRON, and YOUR EARTH AS BRASS: and your strength shall be spent in vain: for your land shall not yield her increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruits.” These being verses 18-20 of Leviticus 26, where an “iron” Heaven and a “brass” earth equate to extreme draught, rainless skies and parched farmland! (Earlier in Leviticus 26 God had already promised His people plenty of “rain” should they diligently obey His Word! “Then I will GIVE you RAIN in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.” Leviticus 26:4)
I realize that today so-called “science” has usurped the “throne of God” in many ways. We now attribute to various weather systems what used to be called “acts of God.”
But I still assert … that behind every “high” and “low” pressure front that advances across our land … is the Mighty Hand of a Creator God!
Why, in Numbers 1:3 the “clouds” are said to be “the dust of God’s feet!”
And Psalm 135:7 informs us: “He causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings for the rain; he bringeth the wind out of his treasuries.”
And do recall that Elijah prayed … “and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.” James 5:17, Elijah’s God thus being the Giver of rain!
And I believe … in 2016 even … that God sill in control of the weather!
The He is yet literally the Chief Meteorologist!
And that sin in the human heart can reap consequences in the world of nature!
“Thus saith the Lord!”
Draught … in Joel chapter 1.
— Dr. Mike Bagwell