My sister reported having very strong winds with heavy rain where she lived in California. She was obviously very afraid because she was going to have to drive my elderly father to an appointment in another city about an hour away. Gusts of wind blew the car around but gratefully they made it to their destination and back home. Strong winds are only welcome when they are tail winds because they can significantly improve one’s gas mileage.
Often winds are word pictures of representing adversities in life. Unfortunately, there are times when such winds hit a person from nearly every direction. Job received consecutive words of livestock being stolen, his servants being killed, a fire destroying his sheep, his camels were killed and finally all his children were killed by what sounds like a tornado or sheer wind storm. I can’t imagine how numb he must have felt after hearing of all these tragedies one right after another. I wouldn’t wonder if he was close to having a heart attack!! The stunning part is after hearing this incredible news, Job tore his mantel and shaved his head (symbols of severe grief in that day), fell down on the ground and WORSHIPPED God! That is most striking in itself!! That simple response revealed the incredible depth of his love and trust in God.
God promised through his prophet Isaiah that if you have a heart to honor Him in worship, do not go your own way or seek your own pleasures and keep your tongue from idle or godless talk, Then you’ll be free to enjoy GOD! Oh, I’ll make you ride high and soar above it all. I’ll make you feast on the inheritance of your ancestor Jacob” (Isaiah 58:14 MSG).
A fundamental rule of aerodynamics is that flying into the wind quickly increases altitude. The wings of the airplane create more lift by flying against the wind. I recently was in Mexico for several different meetings. One morning Connie and I watched large birds soar for extended periods of time without even flapping their wings. When they wanted to fly higher, they would head into the wind and immediately gain altitude. I’m told that when eagles sense a storm coming, they head into the wind and rise above the storm until it moves on. While that is a natural law, it is also a spiritual one. The winds of adversity enable you to reach heights of life and joy you cannot imagine with minimal exertion.
As I have reflected on that, I wondered if that is what Job was doing in order to rise above the fierce winds of adversity that came his way. There is no way of knowing whether or not he fully understood that spiritual law at that time. However, I have learned from experience that how I respond to adversities determines how they affect my life. My response can end in either a blessing, as it did Job, or send me down a path of loss, depression and despair. Connie and I have been hit with winds that literally shook whatever could be shaken in our life. On one occasion all we could do was hold each other and weep! While we endured this devastating pain, we had enough presence of mind to go into God’s presence where we found solace and hope. Like Job, as time passed, the Spirit of God lifted us up above the storm and gave us hope and restoration of our souls. I also know that God has generously blessed us in every way far beyond what we even could have imagined—just as He promised through Isaiah and by what He did in Job’s life. Winds will intimidate us and have the potential to either raise us up to soar above the storm or bring us crashing down into despair. What happens to us is not up to God; it is how we respond to the winds. In that light, I urge you to try to see the next heavy wind that comes as an opportunity for you to soar and then immerse yourself in intimacy with God himself.
Thank you for being so vulnerable, Pastor Wine. Watching you and Connie endure pain has inspired so many to continue to have faith in God even when life literally knocks the wind out of us.