Incomprehensible Wind

"The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit." (John 3:8)

You hear the sound of it. One thing that is significant about wind highlighted in this passage is the transparency of it. You cannot see air. You can feel it and hear it and maybe even measure it with certain instruments, but you cannot physically see it with your own eyes, only the effects of it or the things carried around by it.

Thus, Jesus uses the mysterious nature of wind to represent a very important spiritual truth – the invisibleness of the work of the Holy Spirit. Oh, you can sometimes see the results very obviously and if you are tuned to the Spirit more acutely you can discern much more quickly what the Spirit may be doing. But no matter how spiritual one may become they can never directly see the work of the Holy Spirit, especially outside of their own heart. For the Spirit works mostly in the arena of the heart which is far deeper in the subconscious realm of our brains than our conscious, intellectually-oriented left-brain thinking where we spend much of our time. Even those who gravitate more toward an emotional-oriented existence easily fail to properly discern the true work of the Holy Spirit in themselves because they can be blinded by focusing more on the symptomatic feelings in their life instead of discerning the root reasons for their emotions.

You can hear the sound of wind, but that gives you almost no clue whatsoever as to where it is coming from or where it is going. The sound however, does remind you of the presence of the wind. The sound can focus your attention more directly on paying attention to what may be transpiring around you when you hear the whistle of the wind through the trees or around the corner of a building. The sound of wind will also elicit different feelings within us depending on other experiences we may have had with wind.

The sound of wind on a hot day can bring hope of cooling for our bodies. The sound of wind can bring great hope to sailors stranded in open water with limp sails and little hope of forward movement without the necessary presence of breezes to move their ship. The sensation of wind may even indicate the recent passing of a large truck while one is sitting along the side of a highway.

The sound of wind can also produce great fear or apprehension. The sound of an approaching tornado is often described as a sound like that of a very large locomotive from a freight train. The shrieking sounds of the wind can indicate that one has been caught in the onslaught of a very large hurricane that is wreaking destruction and flattening everything in it's path. The mournful moans of the wind can remind one that they are trapped in a house on a very cold day while the bitter winds outside harden everything under a bitter cold grip of ice and snow.

There are some interesting thoughts that come from the Bible about hearing such sounds like wind. One of the most obvious is in Acts where the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the early believers was described as a rushing, mighty wind with flames of fire appearing on their heads. The whole place was shaken like in an earthquake and it was so loud that people from all over the city quickly collected outside to find out what this sound was all about. This event is very close to the idea of what Jesus was speaking of when He was talking with Nicodemus that night.

But another intriguing reference that comes to mind that may not be so obvious is a reference in Genesis. They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. (Genesis 3:8 NRSV) This reminds us that quite often the approaching presence of God can be accompanied by the sound of a wind or breeze. This story also highlights that, depending on our opinions about how God feels about us and our feelings about Him, this sound may make us feel very excited with anticipation or it may make us want to run away and hide from His presence much like Adam and Eve and like those described in Revelation 6:16.

I have been praying for several months now for the Holy Spirit to invade my own church and cause a revival. I am praying for people to begin to see God in a different light than what they now see Him. Like Adam and Eve, most people are very afraid of God because of the many lies in their hearts formed about Him from misinformation by the enemy of our souls and false assumptions of their own. Quite recently I am seeing changes taking place in the church that are both exciting for me and at the same time very alarming to others. It is at this point that I need to remind myself that this is due to the sound of wind picking up and that it is not my job to try to manage where it blows or how it chooses to operate. My job is to keep my heart focused on the real truth about God and to allow Him to demonstrate His character of love and compassion through me in the face of growing fear and opposition against the increasing presence of God.

You do not know, even though you can observe some of the symptoms. If you think the symptoms make up the sum total of what is important about religion you miss the point. When you think you know truth and have little need of growth, it is because you have indulged from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and are living under it's delusional effects. We tend to want to know intellectually God's methods instead of trusting in the Tree of Life to supply all that we need. We have too often mistakenly believed that intellectual knowledge is what God requires in order to be saved. But it is heart work that is carried on by the Spirit and this is impossible to understand intellectually. Hearts are incomprehensible by all but God who created them to be bonded with His own heart. If we are to serve God correctly we must worship Him in Spirit at least as much as in truth. We must be led primarily from our hearts by the Spirit of God. And when one is led by His Spirit, according to Jesus they may be as unpredictable as the wind. But like a sail or a kite they will faithfully follow the nuances of the wind and will draw their strength and power from the wind to energize and motivate the life.