What do we do if we want to know what the weather is going to do? Naturally, we could just stick our heads out the door and we would have a pretty could guess, at least for the moment. But what if we wanted to know a bit further in advance?
There was the vintage Hansel and Gretel weather house. Made in Germany, the little house featured Hansel in a raincoat and umbrella and Gretel ready to play outside. My grandma had one of these and they really worked. Truth be told, they were just humidity detectors. A gut string twisted or relaxed, depending on the humidity in the air, pulling the appropriate character into the open. As a kid, though, I was fascinated by this mystical device.
We could turn on the news and watch the weather report. That sounds so old-school, doesn’t it? Hansel and Gretel often got it right more often than the meteorologist!
We could purchase our own weather detection stations and see if we can do any better than the meteorologist.
There are weather apps on our phones.
Or we can just trust the prognostications of a groundhog in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. Today is Groundhog Day, a celebration passed down directly from Germany. The Germans came by it through Celtic pagan origins, then “Christian.”
The Germans originally used a hedgehog. “If a hedgehog saw its shadow, there would be a “second winter” or six more weeks of bad weather, according to German lore.
“That was one of several traditions that German settlers in Pennsylvania brought to the U.S., says [Troy Harman, a history professor at Penn State University who also works as a ranger at Gettysburg National Military Park]… And because hedgehogs aren’t native to the U.S., they turned to groundhogs (which were plentiful in Pennsylvania) instead.
“And the first celebration that we know of was in the 1880s,” Harman says. “But the idea of watching animals and whether they see their shadow out of hibernation had been going on before that, it just hadn’t turned into a public festival until later in the 19th century.”1
Since I am writing this devotional several weeks before Groundhog Day, I can’t tell you
what the little critter predicted. I know what I hope it predicted, and that the prediction is correct – so long as it is predicting the soon end of winter.
Now, I don’t really believe that a groundhog pulled out of hibernation has anything to do with the weather. However, animals do know more about the seasons and weather than we do.
Jeremiah 8:7 Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the LORD.
Proverbs 6:6-8 Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: (7) Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, (8) Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.
Isaiah 1:3 The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.
The animals can’t watch the weather report or check a weather app. Instead, God put within them an understanding and instinct so that they would know what was coming and what to do.
Ultimately, we know that it is God who controls the weather, and the weather can change without notice, regardless of where you live. Today, we trust and praise the Keeper of the Climate. We must rejoice, regardless of the weather. I close with a lengthy observation made by Elihu in Job 37:1-13.
“At this also my heart trembleth, and is moved out of his place. (2) Hear attentively the noise of his voice, and the sound that goeth out of his mouth. (3) He directeth it under the whole heaven, and his lightning unto the ends of the earth. (4) After it a voice roareth: he thundereth with the voice of his excellency; and he will not stay them when his voice is heard. (5) God thundereth marvellously with his voice; great things doeth he, which we cannot comprehend. (6) For he saith to the snow, Be thou on the earth; 
likewise to the small rain, and to the great rain of his strength. (7) He sealeth up the hand of every man; that all men may know his work. (8) Then the beasts go into dens, and remain in their places. (9) Out of the south cometh the whirlwind: and cold out of the north. (10) By the breath of God frost is given: and the breadth of the waters is straitened. (11) Also by watering he wearieth the thick cloud: he scattereth his bright cloud: (12) And it is turned round about by his counsels: that they may do whatsoever he commandeth them upon the face of the world in the earth. (13) He causeth it to come, whether for correction, or for his land, or for mercy.”
1https://www.opb.org/article/2024/02/02/groundhog-day-history-punxsutawney-phil/
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