John 3:8
The Mysterious Wind
8The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."
Job 1:18-22
The Mighty Wind
18 While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, "Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother's house, 19 when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!"
20 At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship 21 and said:
"Naked I came from my mother's womb,
and naked I will depart.
The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away;
may the name of the LORD be praised."
22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.
Job 12:1-25
To God Belongs Wisdom and Power
1 Then Job replied:
2 “Doubtless you are the people,
and wisdom will die with you!
3 But I have a mind as well as you;
I am not inferior to you.
Who does not know all these things?
4 “I have become a laughingstock to my friends,
though I called upon God and he answered—
a mere laughingstock, though righteous and blameless!
5 Men at ease have contempt for misfortune
as the fate of those whose feet are slipping.
6 The tents of marauders are undisturbed,
and those who provoke God are secure—
those who carry their god in their hands.
7 “But ask the animals, and they will teach you,
or the birds of the air, and they will tell you;
8 or speak to the earth, and it will teach you,
or let the fish of the sea inform you.
9 Which of all these does not know
that the hand of the LORD has done this?
10 In his hand is the life of every creature
and the breath of all mankind.
11 Does not the ear test words
as the tongue tastes food?
12 Is not wisdom found among the aged?
Does not long life bring understanding?
13 “To God belong wisdom and power;
counsel and understanding are his.
14 What he tears down cannot be rebuilt;
the man he imprisons cannot be released.
15 If he holds back the waters, there is drought;
if he lets them loose, they devastate the land.
16 To him belong strength and victory;
both deceived and deceiver are his.
17 He leads counselors away stripped
and makes fools of judges.
18 He takes off the shackles put on by kings
and ties a loincloth around their waist.
19 He leads priests away stripped
and overthrows men long established.
20 He silences the lips of trusted advisers
and takes away the discernment of elders.
21 He pours contempt on nobles
and disarms the mighty.
22 He reveals the deep things of darkness
and brings deep shadows into the light.
23 He makes nations great, and destroys them;
he enlarges nations, and disperses them.
24 He deprives the leaders of the earth of their reason;
he sends them wandering through a trackless waste.
25 They grope in darkness with no light;
he makes them stagger like drunkards.
Genesis 8:1-5
The Soothing and Healing Wind Over the Earth
1 But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded. 2 Now the springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens had been closed, and the rain had stopped falling from the sky. 3 The water receded steadily from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the water had gone down, 4 and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. 5 The waters continued to recede until the tenth month, and on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains became visible.
Mark 4:35-41
Jesus Calms the Storm and Wind
35 That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” 36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. 37 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”
39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.
40 He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
41 They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”
I think we do not mind a small wind or breeze in our lives...And in many cases we do not mind some small aches or suffering here and there...But give us a consistent pain over time and the long term, we can wind up questioning God...Job did...We ask, much like Job, why is this happening to me?...C. S. Lewis said that God whispers in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience but shouts in our pains...Pain is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world...
Pain and suffering get our attention and we focus more on God when we suffer, it seems than when we are healthy...Poor health sure got Job's attention...We talk to Him more, and ask Him questions, much like Job did in his sufferings...And like Job's friends each of them had an idea on Job's suffering, but they did not really know why he was suffering, anymore than Job did...We do know that God chastised Job's friends for not speaking right of Him, as His servant Job did (Job 42:7)...
The wind can be powerful...Wind can cause us great harm, like it did Job...Job suffered from a mighty wind...It destroyed his family and his house...Then later Job loses his good health...Jesus teaches us that the wind is mysterious and only God knows where it actually comes from and where it goes...God understands the wind...Why does God give us these winds and these trials in our lives?...Do we even need the wind?...
Interestingly, there are many beneficial effects of the wind...The wind is responsible for making trees strong...This might not have been known (by many, including this author) until the Biosphere 2 was built by the University of Arizona from 1987 to 1991...The Biosphere 2 was built to learn about and teach about earth...Inside the Biosphere 2 humans, farming, and technology could study the earth without harming our planet...The Biosphere 2, at first, had no winds inside the great sphere...They found that trees grew quickly inside the Biosphere, but they were not strong...The trees were weak...After much observation and study, it was determined that the trees needed the force of the wind...Lack of wind, not only made the trees weak, the wood was soft and not firm and hard, like the outdoors trees of the very same type...In the long run the trees needed the wind to be stronger...Without the wind, the trees over time inside the sphere, needed support and help to stand...
Job suffered...God allowed Job to suffer...God does allow trials and winds in our lives, in ways that He may only understand...The Book of Job is the classic book on trials in one's life...God allows some trials in the world to strengthen us...We do not like them, anymore than Job liked his trials...Job complains to God throughout the Book of Job, wanting to know why these things have to happen to him...
Almost all of my life, I did not know we needed wind, for trees and different plants...Without suffering and trials our bodies have fewer things to make us strong...We may need troubles in our lives and in the world to keep us strong...Troubles in our lives may somehow be helping us, without us even understanding it...The challenges we face each day help our character and strengthen us over time, even though like Job, we do not realize it...
I did not understand the reasons for the wind, but God does...God allows some things that we do not like and give us great despair, like Job had...Some of these things maybe to strengthen us...Job learned this...God, who came out of a storm (Job 38:1), and no doubt there was wind in that storm -to speak to Job...Job's faith was now stronger after his many trials, after meeting God...
We learn from St. Mark that Jesus' disciples were not exempt from storms and the winds of life...Jesus teaches us that in storms and in our fears, we sometimes lack in our faith...To overcome the mighty winds we must strengthen our faith...We must have faith in God, our heavenly Father to deliver us, even in the worst of storms, like the ones that Job went through...Jesus is there with us during our storms...To God belongs the True Wisdom and Power...Trust in God, trust also in Jesus...