Cold Nights

When my daughter was very young, she used to get mad at the constellation of Orion because she blamed Orion for bringing the cold of winter nights. In a way, this actually makes sense. Orion is a bright and distinctive set of stars, easy for a small child to pick out of the night sky. Orion is only visible in the winter months. It appears early in the evening on the horizon, and moves upward in the sky as the night progresses. And stars are best viewed on the cold, cloudless nights. So on the coldest of nights, Orion was visible, and became associated with the cold.

This kind of occurrence, that Orion is always visible on a cold night, is too consistent to be a coincidence. But Orion does not cause a cold night to occur; and cold nights to not cause Orion to appear. These two things are not cause-and-effect, they are not coincidence; they are in correspondence to each other. A cold night has the corresponding effect of the appearance of Orion.

It is easy to see why people in the past believed in the signs and superstitions in the natural world. The Harvest Moon always appeared on the summer nights when a few more hours of light were needed in the fields. A certain star always appeared at the right time to plant. But these are corresponding events. They just happen to occur at the same time.

In God’s Word, there are no corresponding events. There are no coincidences. There is a reason that each event is included in the Bible. There is a reason that each decision has a specific result. And each person mentioned is there to teach us with their story. But we must read with the understanding of an adult, and not the narrow understanding of a child.

So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.