What can be done about tropical storms and other seemingly irresistible forces? Warnings are given of the development of violent storms, and work is done for the safeguarding of life and property presumed to lie in their path. These precautionary measures do not attempt to check the winds, because at this point in human achievement it is generally believed that nothing can be done to eliminate the power behind this peril. But in the Bible there is proof that something can be done to overcome blind, material forces.
Elijah learned that God does not lend His omnipotence to material forces. In I Kings we read that God said to him (19: 11), "Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord." The account continues, "And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind." Later an earthquake and a fire appeared, but the Lord was not in them. Then we read, "And after the fire a still small voice."
There are many Biblical accounts which prove that a spiritual understanding of God averts catastrophes. Jesus knew the divine fact of God's power when his disciples' boat appeared about to be swamped by wind and waves. This instance of averting disaster from a storm came directly through the spiritual understanding of God's all-power, His beneficence, His presence.
