Good morning everyone, I’m glad to see you all here again. Today I thought about wind. I also thought about the symbolism that is imparted unto it in God’s word. The wind seems to be a representation of his will. Here are some illustrations of this.

Nahum 1:3: “The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty. His way is in whirlwind and storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.”

Psalm 104:3-4: “He makes the clouds his chariot; he rides on the wings of the wind; he makes his messengers winds, his ministers a flaming fire.”

Jeremiah 23:19: “Behold, the storm of the Lord! Wrath has gone forth, a whirling tempest; it will burst upon the head of the wicked.”

John 3:8:” The 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.”

Psalm 135:6-7: ”The Lord does whatever pleases him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths. He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth; he sends lightnings with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses.”

Jonah 1:4:” Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up.”

Psalm 107:25, 29: ”For he spoke and stirred up a tempest that lifted high the waves… He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed.”

Ecclesiastes 11:5: ”As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.”

This is just a sampling of the symbolism used in the bible concerning God’s will and the wind. It’s also important to note that his Holy Spirit is also likened to wind.

The Holy Spirit as the Breath and Wind of God (Ruach)
In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word “Ruach” simultaneously means “wind,” “breath,” and “spirit.” In the New Testament, the Greek word “Pneuma” carries the exact same triple meaning. These verses show how God uses the wind as a direct manifestation or symbol of His Spirit’s presence and life-giving will:

Old Testament:

Genesis 1:2″The earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit [Ruach] of God was hovering over the waters.” Before creation takes physical shape, God’s Spirit moves over the chaos like a vibrant, life-giving wind.

Job 33:4″The Spirit of God has made me; the breath [Ruach] of the Almighty gives me life.” Job recognizes that human life is directly sustained by the active, breathing wind of God’s sovereign will.

Ezekiel 37:9″Then he said to me, ‘Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath [Ruach], from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.” In the vision of the Valley of Dry Bones, God commands the wind/breath of the Spirit to bring spiritual resurrection and physical life out of absolute death.

New Testament:

John 20:22: ”And with that he breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.'”
Jesus mirrors the physical creation of man by using His own breath to convey the invisible power of the Holy Spirit to His disciples.

Acts 2:2: ”Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a mighty rushing wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.”

On the Day of Pentecost, the arrival of the Holy Spirit is explicitly accompanied by the auditory and physical power of a violent, supernatural wind, signaling a massive shift in God’s divine timeline.

With these examples we can see that God both used the wind, symbolically and literally. He used it to show the beginning of change, but also used it to control things in the physical world. He used it to influence the actions of people he decided to use in his will. And he used it to show his boundless wonders and power.  Have you ever dealt with a day where you felt everything was out of your control? I know I have. Maybe that was God showing you that nothing is ever truly in your control other than the choices you make. I can take and I hope you will too solace in these passages because to me they say “why worry about what you can’t control? God knew all of this would happen before the foundations of the world. None of this is surprising him so sit back and enjoy the ride until God decides to use you.”

We are not meant to understand what God is doing just to be alone for the ride until it’s time for us to do what we were put on this earth to do. I think the book of Ecclesiastes says it best.

Ecclesiastes 11:5: ”As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.”

In this life, the world tries to teach us to worry about everything. It tries to teach us that we can and should control everything that happens in our lives. It tries to teach us that we have the power to do all of these things. Those of us who follow God know that this is false. Those of us who follow God know that the only thing we can control is our reaction to what he has put into our lives. The only thing we can control is whether or not we allowed the circumstances in which we live, the winds and storms we deal with to pull us away from God instead of what they are meant to do which is to draw us closer to him.

We can take the symbolism of the wind used in the Bible and apply to real life as well. Next time you are in a thunderstorm, hurricane, or any other weather system featuring extreme wind…. Try to think of what God’s will might be for you in that moment. He might be presenting you with something that terrifies you… I would take that instance to pray. Why? Because in the end God controls the winds, they do his will. Take the time to draw closer to God rather than shrinking away due to fear. That might not calm the storm outside your window, but it will calm the storm in your mind. We don’t have to understand his will, we don’t have to like it either. We just have to obey. God will take care of the rest.

Just remember, wind isn’t always scary.
Just remember, wind isn’t always destructive.
Just remember, wind isn’t always dangerous.

Sometimes the wind is calm
Sometimes the wind is soft
Sometimes the wind is soothing

But no matter what it is, one thing always remains the same…

It is God’s will.