Whirlwind

Whirlwind.

Life feels like that sometimes, doesn't it?

We all know a little something of whirlwinds. Whether it's the whirlwind of busy-ness we can find ourselves in, the whirlwind of time flying by, or the gale force winds of life's real storms... Oh yes. We all know about whirlwinds.

Recently I've come to see whirlwinds in a different way, in the beautiful way they exist in creation. About a month ago, after going through a particularly trying time, just as I felt God was finally getting back on my feet, He sent me a whirlwind. I was working outside on a perfectly calm and sunny fall day, when out of nowhere I heard the cornstalks rustling out in the field. It had been so very calm, and the rustling was so very great, it immediately caught my attention.

There it was, a whirlwind.

In the field, just across the road from me, it swirled by, shaking the stalks and stirring up the chaff as it moved along. I couldn't take my eyes off of it. I halfway wanted to run out there and stand right in the middle of it.

And today, once again on the better side of one of life's many trials, I just happened to decide to step out the door quickly to let one of our dogs out. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw it... Again in the field... A whirlwind! The field has been recently harvested, so this time I could see the whirlwind from right where it met the ground, all the way up, swirling the chaff high into the sky, stirring the harvest.

As I watched, I thought about these whirlwinds, whether real or figurative, that stir us up. Not only does God give us beauty in a whirlwind, but purpose as well, for they draw us up closer to Him, just as the chaff of the field. God knows about your whirlwinds, good or bad, and He will never grow tired of getting you through them.

Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth was founded? He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in. He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing. No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground, than he blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff. “To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens... Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing. Why do you complain, Jacob? Why do you say, Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD; my cause is disregarded by my God”? Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:21-31