Photo and Commentary ©2024 by Shelley Schurch
Sunday, June 2, 2024
I’ve glanced at this weather vane almost every day for years, as we’ve taken our morning walk through neighborhood streets and nearby trail. This homeowner has crowned her backyard gazebo with a functional work of art.
It was only today, as I gazed at my photo, that I focused on the choice of a horse and buggy as the topper. This makes me grin, because to me they symbolize a serene, slow-paced ride, and I know this weather vane has seen some wild and windy weather that would have the horse galloping for its stable.
But our local storms are nothing compared to what our dear friends in Temple, Texas experienced a dozen days ago, when a tornado tore through their town, missing their home by a mere mile. My friend Linda said that night the sky grew dark and “an angry wind” started blowing. What followed was a ferocious storm of rain, hail, wind, and debris, like nothing they had experienced before. She said, “I prayed my way through those minutes that felt like hours.”
The tornado destroyed or severely damaged nearly 500 homes and businesses. While our friends mourn those losses, they are grateful they suffered minimal damage, and thank the Lord for His providence and care.
Linda’s phrase, “an angry wind,” has stayed in my mind. I’ve never experienced a wind as angry as the one she and her husband survived, but it reminded me of two violent storms, one in the Old Testament and one in the New Testament.
Maybe you thought of these two, too:
The prophet Elijah cowering in a cave on Mount Horeb as he flees from the fury of Jezebel, with God guiding and providing all the way:
The LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.”
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire.
And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.
Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” (I Kings 19:11-13 NIV)
We turn to Jesus and the disciples experiencing a vicious storm in two distinctly different ways:
Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”
He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. (Matthew 8:23-26)
A much better Biblical wind comes to mind, a wind that was prophesied, promised and prayed for:
When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. (Acts 2:1-2 NKJV)
As the chapter continues, we read that they were filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in the various languages represented in the multitude that gathered. Peter stands up and delivers a powerful sermon – Holy Spirit powered – and “about three thousand souls” repented and were baptized.
And so the early church begins, not with human power and strategies, but with the Holy Spirit equipping and empowering. That is the plan for today’s church, too. We lack nothing; God will provide everything we need as we humbly depend on Him.
As we step out into this brand-new week, take courage. God will be with you every step of the way, and in any storm that blows in your direction. He has given us His Holy Spirit to be our Counselor, Comforter, and Guide.