Ephesians 4:14, “So that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes…”
This winter has brought on a lot of wind. Seemed like every day and night the wind blew and several nights it would wake me up. A couple of times George, or I, would have to bundle up and chase the lids from the garbage cans that were sliding up the road. It was frustrating, to say the least, and often difficult to get back to sleep.
Over the last couple years we’ve been hit with other types of wind; the types mentioned in the verse above. It’s not just the physical winds we’ve been bombarded with but spiritual winds as well.
In October 2015 I wrote an article, entitled “When the wind blows”, telling of a farmer that was hiring a new guy to help around the farm. When asked about his credentials and if he was a good farm hand, the new guy replied, “Well, I can sleep when the wind blows”. The farmer was puzzled by his response but hired him anyway.
One night the wind howled loudly and strong. The farmer jumped out of bed and rushed to the hired hand’s sleeping quarters. He shook the man and yelled, “Get up! A storm is coming! Tie things down before they blow away!”
The little man rolled over in bed and said firmly, “No, sir. I told you, I can sleep when the wind blows.” Enraged by the response, the farmer was tempted to fire him on the spot.
Instead, he hurried outside to prepare for the storm. To his amazement, he discovered that all of the haystacks had been covered with tarps. The cows were in the barn, the chickens were in the coops, and the doors were barred. The shutters were tightly secured. Everything was tied down. Nothing could blow away.
The farmer then understood what his hired hand meant, so he returned to his bed to also sleep while the wind blew.
Sometimes the world comes at us with such fierceness that we’re blown away by its strength to try and break the ties that hold us secure. But when we’re prepared spiritually, we have nothing to fear.
The hired hand in the story was able to sleep because he had secured the farm against the storm. We, as believers in Christ, need to secure ourselves against the storms of life by tightly securing ourselves in the Word of God.
There will always be those storms in our lives. We are facing many of them today. The world wants to tell us that we can chose our own gender. The world wants to tell us that certain races are inferior to others. The world wants to tell us when and where we can, or cannot, pray. Those are the types of storms we should be prepared for.
If we keep ourselves “tied down” to the scriptures and let the Holy Spirit guide us, then we can sleep peacefully when those ugly storms of life blow in our direction.
John 3:8, “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit”.
Sleep well!
(This week our church will be praying for people along Hill Avenue, Keim Street, and Philips Street in the Jerome area. We ask that you remember them this week in your daily prayers. If you have any street requests for prayer please send them to me at the email below.)
(Nancy Stoppe of Jenners is affiliated with Jenner Township Baptist Church, Boswell. She can be contacted at stoppe123@comcast.net.)
