“The
wind blows toward the south,
Then
circles toward the north;
The
wind circles and swirls endlessly,
And
on its circular course the wind returns.” – Ecclesiastes 1:6 AMP
I was listening to the
weather woman predict this week’s weather and she pointed out a wind increase in
the late afternoons at 15 mph coming from the southwest. As I listened the thought struck me that,
although weather predictions have become more accurate in the past 20 years
(thanks to scientific research), unpredictable things still happen.
Good examples of the
unpredictable are twisters and hurricanes.
Weather experts can say that certain storms will have twisters but they cannot
say where they will touch down. They can
predict where hurricanes are most likely to strike land but have no way to
control them; no man has authority or can control the wind (Ecclesiastes 8:8).
Just like the wind, we
cannot predict the future. We can make
educated guesses as to if we can find a way to afford college or put ourselves
in situations where we can meet other people and eventually find a soul-mate
but we cannot say for sure what will happen.
We might try to wait until the winds (trials) of our lives settle before
we make solid plans but a farmer who waits until the winds die down will never
plant seeds (Ecclesiastes 11:4). This is like
the 2nd Chapter of Acts song, "Which Way the Wind Blows":
“You don’t know which way the wind
blows,
So how can you plan tomorrow?”
We may not know the
direction of the winds of our lives and plan for our future but there is
Someone Who does know. He gathers the
natural wind in His fists (Proverbs 30:4) and even sends wind (Numbers
11:31). He makes the wind blow (Genesis
8:1) and the wind fulfills His orders (Psalms 148:8). He speaks, rebuking the winds and they obey Him (Mark 4:39). In the same way He is in control of the
trials (spiritual winds) in our lives.
Sometimes we ask Him to remove or deliver us out of the trial, and He
does. Sometimes, instead of removing it
He gives us the ability to live through it; the benefit of living through a
wind is that all the old stuff we do not need is shaken off (like the figs in
the fig tree in Revelation 6:13). In
either case He is always in control.
That should be our focus
in any spiritual wind…on the One Who is ultimately in control, on the One Who knows which way the wind blows, then we will be
either delivered from or carried through the wind.
