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The wind and the breeze come from the same storeroom (Psalm 135:7, Jeremiah 10:13, 51:16) and yet…..
The wind blows. Sometimes with force…. It comes across the valley headed towards the mountain. Blowing in one direction, all it touches leans in its pressing. Remember times when you’ve faced the wind. Let yourself imagine it. It can’t be seen but it won’t be ignored. Blowing your hair back, pushing against your nostrils, making your eyes water.
Sometimes the wind holds itself back and comes as a breeze. The breeze is like a gentle suggestion. It’s pleasant, not demanding. It’s wonderful on a warm day; refreshing at sunset.
A breeze can cool things.
But a wind can move things.
I watch the autumn leaves as the breeze comes to them. They shimmer in the sunlight, almost like a little girl twirling. As if the limb is the arm and the branch is the hand of a kind father…she holds on and twirls. He delights in her and she dances as his hand holds her secure. This is the joy of an autumn leaf.
Breezes, like winds, almost always blow in one direction. The softness of a breeze is tender. It’s just letting you know it is there. But the firmness of a wind is pressing. It is more demanding and will often move us to action — close the umbrella, shield the picnic, put away what will blow away….secure things.
Personally, I love the breeze. A breeze is comforting to me. It’s there, but gentle. It’s refreshing when it’s cool, like peppermint in the lungs. Even in desert places, the breeze is soothing. As it moves, it conveys that the air your breathing is being brought to you—-that you’re not being smothered in the stillness of hot, heavy oxygen. Give me a nice breeze under blue skies and I’m set for the day — most anywhere.
But the wind….. I have respect for the wind.
Wind moves whatever is in its path.
When wind comes to the leaf, attached to the limb, attached to the branch, the leaf does more than dance. If the leaf could speak, I imagine it might say, “Woe, woe, woe, hold on, this is out of control…!” The autumn leaf becomes a frantic, flapping, clinging, fleck of color holding on with its last fibers.
When we look at creation, we are invited to see something about the Creator. The movement of air can be a wonderful glimpse into His activity around us. And so, as I reach for more of Jesus — I find myself seeing Him, even feeling Him, in the breeze and the wind. But not all winds bring the feeling of God’s nearness.
1 Kings 19:11a speaks of a wind, “The Lord said (to Elijah), “‘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…”
The wild winds spoken of here are not the “presence of the LORD”. Instead they are destructive, destroying mountains and shattering rocks. So I must clarify, the breeze and the wind where I sense the nearness of God are much more tame, and not destructive winds.
But there is a wonderful peace in becoming aware of His nearness when the breeze touches or the wind presses.
It’s a picture of God’s ways. When God speaks to His kids so often it feels like a suggestion that’s coming through an idea, a thought, a sudden awareness — it’s like a breeze that rolls through your mind. Sometimes it reaches all the way to the heart. Now, I’ve learned that we should never react in that moment of “breeze” coming to our mind. We are wise when we carefully “measure it up”.
2 Corinthians 10:5b, “…take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
So, when a thought comes our way, we truly must stop and take that thought captive, make sure it is inline with (obedient to) what Christ would be saying to us. How can we know if it is inline with Christ’s guidance? Well, we must know His Word, His ways, His teachings — all of these are found in the Holy Pages.
And then I’ve learned to wait even more. If a “breeze”, a thought, a suggestion, comes to my mind. First I measure it according to what Christ teaches, and then I pause. I “wait on the Lord” (Isaiah 40:31). And dear one, I have found, as I’ve grown in this practice of living carefully, that IF the thought (the breeze) is from God, then it will, will, will, come again. Gently. Never compelling me to rush and do it quickly. It’s like a gentle nudge. A soft breeze. Sometimes it’s arrival comes so slowly that it will be days apart. Other times it might come more quickly.
Sometimes the “breeze” of holy guidance comes as someone else, who is a trusted follower of Jesus, speaks words that they have no idea fall right inline with what I’m waiting on the Lord about.
We must be careful here and not allow our own thinking, our own wants, our own desires to flood our thoughts and then to wrongly say that it is “GOD” guiding us. Oh I’ve done that before….more times than I care to admit. But I’ve learned a raw, hard, but important truth in those times — it wasn’t GOD bringing that “breeze”, it my own “god” trying to work out a way to get what I wanted or thought or felt. (Notice the little “g” in that self-centered “god”.) Guard against that deceiving thinking. It’s not a breeze from Him, it’s a stench from below.
Oh but when His guidance comes, like a cool breeze across the face of your soul, it’s so often not a thought you would have had…not even something you’ve been thinking about….not something that will personally benefit you….not something comfortable. It’s His. Not yours. And, if you know Him, you will know it’s His. (A God-honoring mentor can help you discern this too.)
Satan works to mimic the breeze….but when we know God’s Word and we are His sheep, we can distinguish between our Shepherd’s voice and the voice of darkness. All of John 10 speaks on this…John 10:14 hones in tight as it says, “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me…”
We must be careful to pause, and know,
the voice of the Good Shepherd.
For me, when a breeze washes across my face, I am intimately reminded of His nearness in that physical touch of air — and it compels my heart to reach for More of Him; to sense the gentle, guiding, blessed “breeze” He might be sending across my heart, soul, and mind. It’s a wonderful way to keep His nearness as close as the air we breathe.
So what of the wind? It’s quite different from a gentle breeze. How does the wind fit in with this “awareness” of the Shepherd-King?
When the wind blows, it is always pressing in one firm direction. A storm has wild winds, more like those Elijah saw on the mountain. Storm winds are intensely different than wind alone.
When winds blow they are more insistent, more demanding, more unyielding.
In my life, when a physical wind blows, it signals me to “batten down the hatches” and secure what’s weak. So when winds blow hard against my thoughts, my soul, I sense God doing the same thing internally — it’s time to “batten down” and secure what’s weak. Winds blowing through my soul cause me to tuck in and reassess — What is weak? Is He wanting to make something stronger? What is He wanting to blow away? What is He wanting to secure in me?
Soul winds should guide us to our knees….aren’t we less likely to be blown away….when we are on our knees.
When winds come, we are wisest when we face the wind, on our knees, release what needs to go, and strengthen what needs securing.
When breezes come, we are wisest when we pause (and perhaps enjoy), measure it up carefully, and listen with our soul.
Let the leaf help you see His nearness as it faces the breeze and twirls. And then when the breeze becomes a wind….it surrenders itself to His strength and trusts wherever He places it. He knows the plans He has for you….in the breeze, and facing the wind. His goal is not to harm you…but to give you a hope….and a future.
Pause, measure, wait….kneel, pray, listen, and surrender.
Audio background music by Nathan Nockels
