The Master of the Wind Can Help You   

At his recent birthday party, one of my grandsons received a “stomp rocket” as a gift. He and other kids were taking turns stomping or jumping on the mechanism that would force air through a tube at such a rate as to propel the lightweight “rocket” high into the air. However, at one point that projectile was shot too close to a tree and got stuck in some branches. A couple of the older kids started throwing a Frisbee in that direction to try to free the captive object, but to no avail. Then one of the adults grabbed a few balls and started hurling them at the target. After numerous attempts, the rocket remained lodged in its seemingly impenetrable position. But during one of the pauses in the action as the would-be rescuers were retrieving their ammunition scattered around the base of the tree, I felt a light breeze blow through the yard. I watched as it moved those branches just enough to easily free the rocket and cause it to come floating back to the ground. Those who had been making such strenuous efforts to knock it down were surprised at how quickly and easily a slight movement of air had accomplished what they couldn’t do.

Don’t we tend to do that, too? As we face challenges, problems, and difficulties in life, our first response is often to throw everything we’ve got at them to try to resolve the issue. We put forth a steady barrage of self-effort using all kinds of ammunition. If one thing doesn’t work, we’ll try something else. If we’re not making any headway, we’ll try even harder. Sometimes those efforts pay off. However, other times, after long, exhausting, futile attempts, we suddenly see God step in and do what we couldn’t do. And He sometimes appears to do it so effortlessly. We wonder why we didn’t pray or seek His help in the first place.

Maybe that’s the lesson He’s trying to teach us in those moments. Instead of our initial reaction being to attempt to handle it ourselves, we ought to pray and seek the Lord first. It could be that He will give us wisdom and strength to deal with the situation. He may show us what we need to do and will use our human efforts to accomplish what’s needed. But there might be other times when He’ll tell us just to stand still and watch what He can do, as He blows through like an invisible wind and solves the problem without us. The point is for us not to neglect to depend on Him in those situations. Instead of frantically trying to do it in our own strength, let’s remember that we have a great God on whom we can lean for direction and help. Let’s talk to Him, affirm our trust in Him, and then go from there.

The Bible tells us of a time when Jesus and the disciples were out in a boat on the sea. While Jesus was napping, a big windstorm threatened to sink the vessel. I imagine those disciples were doing all they could to keep the boat afloat until they finally woke Jesus up. At that point He rebuked His followers for their lack of faith while calming the wind and the waves by simply saying the word.

Let’s not wait until our boat is in jeopardy before looking to Jesus for help. Let’s not keep trying to bail ourselves out of trouble instead of bringing our situation to the Lord. After that incident, the disciples asked in amazement, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?” He’s the same mighty God who can move in your life today.