One windy day, while two little girls were playing together, one said to the other, “I wish He would not send the wind to blow our hoops down.”
“No, Kathleen,” said the other, “He sends the wind to dry the clothes.”
The child’s saying reminds us that faith always puts the best construction on what God does. “He doeth all things well.” So Job thought when “the great wind” (Job 1:1919And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. (Job 1:19)) had done its deadly work. The bereaved one became a worshiper, saying, “Blessed be the name of the Lord.” Thus faith rides in triumph on the waves of adversity. “Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord” (James 5:1111Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy. (James 5:11)). Then was Job seen to be no loser (chap. 42:13), and God was a positive gainer, for His servant fell down and worshiped Him (chap. 1:20). The Creator and Commander of the wind was “a hiding place” for him.
And what but “a great wind” could have produced such marvelous results as those related in the book of Jonah? (Chap. 1). There God is seen to be using even the prophet’s disobedience to further His own purposes, and “the great wind” which He sends out into the sea results not only in the restoration of Jonah, but also in the blessing of all the crew. Who could call that “an ill wind” which brought a ship’s crew of guilty sinners into living contact with Jehovah, and replaced the feet of His erring servant in the path of obedience? “Lo, all these things worketh God oftentimes with man” (Job 33:2929Lo, all these things worketh God oftentimes with man, (Job 33:29)).
Alas! some of us are very good fine-weather Christians. We like the south wind to blow softly (Acts 27:1313And when the south wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained their purpose, loosing thence, they sailed close by Crete. (Acts 27:13)), and even a little storm in our circumstances will fill us with “great fear,” and we are at our “wit’s end.” But even then our hearts need never want for anchorage, while we have such words as these, “God is for us” (Rom. 8:3131What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31)). Yes, for us, when our friends are against us; when the world hates, when trials press, and when sorrows pierce, it is still true, God is “for us.” Whom He loves He chastens (Heb. 12). “He shall rest in His love,” and invites us to rest there, too. We cannot, dare not, rest in our love to Him; but in the Father’s love to us and for us our hearts may truly find repose, while we call to mind the blessed fact “The love wherewith He loves His Son, Such is His love for us.”
Not only is God for us, but what comfort there is in the Saviour’s words for our hearts, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end.” (Matt. 28:2020Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. (Matthew 28:20)). Literally it reads, “All the days”; whether they be bright or cloudy, calm or stormy, He is with us in them all. You never went a journey without Him; you never had a trial but He was with you in it. We may fail, He never will. The church may become more like the world; and the Christian, through unfaithfulness, may lose his reward, but the presence of Christ (as well as eternal life) is a thing never to be lost. His promise is an unconditional one, “Lo, I am with you alway.” If we are with Him, He will minister of His abundance to our souls; but if we leave Him, He will follow us (if it be with a rod), in order to bring us back to the place of blessing we had departed from. We often lose the sense of the Lord’s presence, and this accounts for so much of our sorrow, and so many of our fears. The disciples could never have thought of sinking in the deep, had they had a true sense of His presence. It is this which stills us in the storm, “It is I, be not afraid.”
“At all times, in all places, He standeth by my side, He rules the battle’s fury, the tempest and the tide.”