Wind...

I have never experienced the kind of sustained, unceasing wind as I have heard since moving to New England. How it howls as it whips through the trees and you hear the house brace against its force... simply amazing! It reminds me of the great failed experiment Biosphere. If you remember, it was a totally enclosed dome creating the perfect natural environment where people could live in a self-sustaining utopia without interference from the outside world. But soon after the first participants moved in, the experiment ended because they were starving. I guess "living off the land" is harder than it seems. Well, not long after being deserted, an interesting thing started happening. The trees started falling over! One after another, huge trees were falling for no apparent reason. Experts were brought in to study and explain this phenomenon. Was it disease? No. How about poor roots and soil? No, both were normal. Lack of water, insects, light? No, no, and no! They finally determined the trees were falling under their own weight because they grew to maturity without the presence of wind! It seems the very force that we witness as a destructive force during storms is the same source that gives trees their immense strength. The gentle and sometimes not so gentle swaying of the branches strengthens them to prevail against the fiercest of storms. (Makes you wonder about all the complexities God simply spoke into existence when he created the world.)

And so, the lesson for us... Trials and tribulations that come our way strengthen us like the wind stengthens the trees. Life's difficulties, which none of us welcome, actually make us stronger and gives us the ability, once surpassed, to weather greater storms. I think of Peter when Jesus told him he would deny Him.

From Luke 22:31-32... "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers." After overcoming his failures during the trial of Jesus, his speech was indeed powerful when on the day of Pentecost thousands were converted.

Also consider James 1:2-3..."Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." It is certainly not a joy to undergo trials of various proportions, but having the confidence that we will overcome them helps us in multiple ways. We gain the experience to handle these kinds of problems should they ever arise again, as well as sustain a longing for heaven where there will be no more pain and tears.

We do our children and loved ones a terrible disservice if we isolate them from the world when they are with us, only to watch them fall away when they leave our protective realm. Just as the trees that grow untested by the wind, they will collapse under the pressures the world is sure to exert. Yet we find ourselves in the same untested condition when we fail to study and grow. Our exterior may look as strong as the next, but without testing, our faith is potentially weak and not able to stand against the storms that are sure to rage in our lives.

We live in a great country with so many freedoms, and we live our lives in relative ease compared to many places in the world today. However, we have no guarantee it will stay that way. Are we grounded in the Word, and is our faith strong enough to face the coming storms of life? Just something to think about the next time the wind howls...

James 1:11-12 For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways. Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

James 5:10-11 Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience. Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.

Luke 6:48 He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock.

Hebrews 10:35,36 Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.

Hebrews 12:1-2 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.