The Four Winds and the Voice of God.
Who has seen the wind? Where does it come from and where does it go? Let me begin by mentioning just a few of the many references to wind in the Bible.
Genesis 8:1 – After the flood we are told that God remembered Noah, and made a wind to pass over the earth so that the flood waters subsided.
Exodus 14:21 – We read that a mighty wind opened up a path through the Red Sea so that the Israelites were able to cross over on dry land. Then another wind drove the sea back upon the armies of Pharaoh.
In Ezekiel 37 we have a picture of the Valley of Dry Bones and the prophet Ezekiel is told to prophesy to the wind saying, “Come you four winds and breathe upon these bones that they might live.”
In John chapter 3, On that memorable night when Nicodemus came to see Jesus, he was perplexed about the meaning of the new birth. Jesus said in verse eight, “listen Nicodemus, do you hear the wind? You cannot tell where it comes from or where it goes, so is everyone born of the Spirit.”
Throughout the Bible the wind is often used as symbol of the Holy Spirit. The supernatural power that sweeps across the ages, transforming human lives. Acts 2:2 On the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit came with the sound of the mighty rushing wind.
Revelation 7:1 “After this I saw four Angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the Earth.”
This morning I want to look at the four winds in a symbolic sense,and examine the message they have for us. So let us give the winds a mighty voice and may God speak to us through their message.
First of all we look at the South wind. In Bible lands the South wind is perhaps the most pleasant of all winds, but it is also the most dangerous. So we will call it the wind of temptation. Our Scripture reading this morning from Acts 27, describes Paul's journey toward Rome. We read in verse 13, “when the South wind blew softly, supposing that it was safe to sail, the master of the ship gave the order to do so.” But the ship had hardly cleared the mouth of the harbour when the wind suddenly shifted. The soft South wind ceased to blow and a powerful Northeast wind came down from the mountains. Then for 14 days and nights, when neither Sun nor stars could be seen, the ship was blown through stormy seas, so that all hope of being saved was abandoned until at last the ship struck the rocky cliffs on the island of Malta.
What brought that ship to ruin? It was the treacherous South wind. When the South wind blew softly, they set sail. But the South wind only tempted them out of the safe harbour.
Here is a parable of life. Temptation is universal, something we all face. Perhaps you heard the story of the young boy who was supposed to go to Sunday school but was seen later with his fishing rod. When asked for an explanation he said, “I know I'm supposed to go to Sunday school and not fish on Sunday but I brought my fishing rod along just in case I should feel tempted.” I'm afraid that sometimes we do the same. We pray to be delivered from temptation but we have one eye open, looking at the very temptation we are praying to be delivered from.
If you want to win over a bad habit or a stubborn sin, there are three things that are absolutely necessary. Without these you can never succeed.
First of all remember that sin always begins with a thought. Jesus said, “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.”
“Sow a thought, reap an act; sow an act, reap a habit;
Sow an habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny!”
Secondly, you must really want deliverance. You must really want to get rid of whatever it is that is not in your best interest, physically, mentally or spiritually. Your will must be devoted 100%. Even if 5% of your will is saying, “once in a while or just once wont hurt;”that attitude can, without question, will lead to defeat. 1st Corinthians 10:13
Then thirdly, there must be something better to take the place of that which is harmful in your life. So, if anxious, fearful, unwholesome thoughts are taking over your mind; the only way to successfully get rid of them is to replace the negative with something positive and more fulfilling. If you have ever tried to take a bone away from a hungry dog, you know you are in for a real battle. A better plan would be to offer the dog a generous portion of fresh meat. It won't take the dog long to decide which is best.
The same principle of counter attraction is found throughout the New Testament. Philippians 4:8 “ Fix your thoughts on what is true and good and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely and beautiful.” Galatians 5:16 “Live by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” God only wants us to give up those things that are harmful and he never takes anything away without giving us something better to take its place.
Next we ask, North wind, what is your message? And the North wind answers, I am the wind of judgement, and the justice of God. When the prophets- Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel and others foretold the judgements coming upon Israel, they almost always came from the North, from Babylon and Assyria, the rod of God's anger. For example: Ezekiel 13:13.
Over the years a number of people have tried to take the North wind out of the Bible. They have tried to dismiss all thoughts of hell and judgement against sin but we find that we cannot do this and remain true to the word of God. I believe very strongly in the truth that God is love, but is it not true that love is meaningless without truth and justice? And just this implies that when laws are broken they must be dealt with. Any father who never disciplines his children does not love his children in the right way.
People today have so many misconceptions about God. His laws such as the 10 commandments are not there to punish us but to protect us, because so many of our problems are self inflicted. He wants to protect our happiness, not remove it. The broken heart of God invites us to lay down the terrible burden of sin so that we can experience his peace and forgiveness.
I would like to read a brief report from Dr. Brad Burke, a medical doctor from Windsor, Ontario. “I ask, how long can we dabble in alcoholism, illicit drug use, adultery, premarital sex, and pornography. How long can we allow our hearts to team with pride, deceit, lust and greed and not expect to reap the whirlwind of crime, school shootings, messy custody battles, sexually transmitted diseases, poverty, rape, broken hearts and broken homes? “Be not deceived, God is not mocked for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap.” This world was made to run God's way and when we try to run it any other way we go smack into a stone wall.
Our own beloved nation of Canada, is considered by many, including myself, to be perhaps the best place to live on planet Earth. No one can deny that we have been greatly blessed by God – tremendous natural resources, breathtaking beauty, a land of opportunity, truly we have freedoms and blessings without number.
But now, we find that this nation of ours, with such a glorious heritage, is turning away from God and worshipping idols of materialism and permissiveness. A nation where crime, lust and drunkenness are on the increase. Where dishonesty and corruption abound in high places and low.
I believe that God is able and willing to heal our land and bring a mighty spiritual renewal which can bring healing and improvement to every area of life- the economic, social, political, moral and spiritual. God is looking for response on our part, the change has to start in your heart and mine. Societies are changed only when people are changed.
It was said of Thomas Jefferson, one-time president of the United States,that when he saw the awful atrocities of the slave trade – men and women and innocent children – being bought and sold like sacks of flour. He said with the inspiration of a prophet, “I tremble, I tremble when I remember that God is just.”
Is it not true that righteousness alone exalted a nation but sin is a reproach to any people? Blessed be the nation whose God is the Lord! Yes, it is time to tremble when we hear the sound of the mighty North wind. It is time to tremble when we remember that there is a righteous judge of this moral universe who cannot condone sin or turn his back upon it, and his name is God.
Next we turn to the East wind. We ask, East wind, what is your message? And the East Wind replies, I am the wind of affliction and trial. I have found the east wind to be the most penetrating, the most uncomfortable of all the winds. I remember growing up in North Sydney, and how the harbour would be filled with drift ice during the months of March and April and sometimes even into May. We called them May Flowers. Then in the late afternoon the wind would change and we would feel the bitter East wind off the ice.
I invite you to turn to the book of Jonah 3:3 and find that it was through the East wind that Jonah learned compassion and sympathy toward others. Jonah had just preached one of the greatest sermons on record,”Yet 40 days and Nineveh will be destroyed.” A sermon so powerful that it brought a whole city to its knees in repentance.
And then we are amazed to find that when the people of Nineveh repented and turned from their evil ways and the city was not destroyed, Jonah was angry and disappointed.
In chapter 4 we find him waiting outside the city and in verse 8 we read that the vine that had shaded Jonah from the heat of the sun was smitten and it withered. And God sent the scorching East wind to blow on Jonah, and the sun beat down upon his head until he grew faint and wished to die. But it was through this experience that Jonah learns sympathy and compassion.
Jonah needed to have concern and understanding toward others and many times we do also. We need to see the world through the eyes of Christ – people like sheep without a shepherd, souls lost and dying, men in despair.
Dr. Clarence Edward McCarthy was a Presbyterian minister in Philadelphia some years ago and I had the privilege of hearing him preach several times. In fact I must give him credit for the outline of this message I am following today. One Sunday he told a story about his own mother. His parents were married in Glascow, Scotland where his father was a student preparing for the Presbyterian ministry. Following graduation, they came to a small town in Ohio where their firstborn child was named Katherine after her mother and grandmother. When Katherine was three years old her parents took her on a visit to Scotland and the grandparents were so taken with the little girl that they persuaded the mother to have her remain with them through the winter, with the promise that they would bring her home the next spring
And then one day, word reached the parsonage in Ohio that Katherine's life had ended. She had taken sick and died very suddenly, and there was darkness over all the earth. Dr. McCarthy said that years later he went through his mother's diary and after she had received word about her baby's death there were weeks and even months when the pages were blank; it was a heavy blow. But with the passing days, strength came to her and she found the grace of God was sufficient even through this terrible trial.
Later people spoke of his mother as a remarkable woman. It seemed that whenever people had trouble or sorrow they would come to her and she would listen and she seemed to understand and she comforted them by the same comfort wherein she herself had been comforted by God. That staggering, terrible sorrow, the death of her firstborn child, with an ocean between, became a source of blessing for others. The East Wind of affliction did not blow in vain upon her soul.
And so today, the East Wind of affliction may have a purpose in your life and mine. During my first few years in full-time ministry I had very high expectations both for myself and the church. It was not unusual for me to work 70 to 80 hours a week. But there were times when I could be quite demanding and even neglectful of the needs of others. Then I faced a serious health problem and it was 16 difficult years before it was diagnosed properly and I never did get over it completely.
But looking back on that experience now I think I became more understanding and compassionate toward the needs of others And God has given me a wonderful gift of agape love toward virtually everyone. The East wind blew upon me and left a wound in my heart, but through that experience I learned things that I would not have learned otherwise.
Now we have heard the message of the North wind, the South wind, the East Wind. What about the West Wind? I found the West wind mentioned in a very strange place in the Bible,- Exodus 10. When Pharaoh refused to let the people of Israel go free, we are told that God smote the land with 10 plagues.
The eighth of these was the plague of locusts, giant grasshoppers. The East wind brought the swarm of locusts which devoured the land and stripped the leaves from the trees.
This plague, more than any other, up to this point, softened the heart of Pharaoh for a little while. He called Moses and Aaron and said, “I have sinned against the Lord your God, therefore forgive my sin and implore the Lord your God to take away this plague.”
We are told that Moses prayed, in verse 13,and the Lord sent a mighty West wind to blow away the locust and bury them in the Red Sea so that no locust' remained in all the coast of Egypt.
So we conclude that the West wind is that of God's mercy and compassion. It is a wind that blows over every praying and penitent soul. God sometimes permits the other winds to blow, but the West wind is God's favourite, the wind of his mercy and grace. For the love of God is broader than the measure of man's mind and the heart of the eternal is most wonderfully kind.
Even to proud, haughty, defiant Pharaoh when he said, I have sinned ! God sent the West wind of his mercy, and only when Pharaoh hardened his heart again that God released the North wind of his judgment.
And so let us listen to the voice of the West wind as it blows through the Bible. You remember that short little man by the name of Zacchaeus who climbed a sycamore tree to see Jesus. Then later when he made a confession of his sin and desired to make things right with others; he heard the sound of the West wind when Jesus said, “today salvation has come to your house for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.”
When the prodigal son came to his senses in a far country he said, “I have sinned against heaven and in your sight and am no more worthy to be called your son.” He was carried on the wings of the West wind back to his father's house.
And the woman who was taken in adultery – It should have been called gang- rape, or sexual assault because that's what it was. Back then she faced the penalty of being stoned to death. So we see her, weeping and fearful at the feet of Jesus, waiting for the first stone to strike her. Instead she heard the West wind blow in the words of Christ, he who is without sin cast the first stone. And the stones were dropped from the hands of her conscience smitten accusers, and she heard Jesus say, Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more.
And then the dying thief, when he repented and turned to the Lord saying,
“ Remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Immediately the West wind caught him and carried him away from that blood stained cross, to the peace and glory of paradise.
We should listen to all of the four winds.
Beware of the south wind of temptation. When the South winds of ease,flattery, prosperity and worldly pleasure blow softly, we need to keep close to our Savior.
Heed the call of the Northwind. Remember the way of the transgressor is hard. The wages of sin is death. There is a high watermark beyond which evil cannot rise. God will have the final word in righteous judgment.
Heed the east wind of affliction and sorrow. God never promised his children an easy road. Sometimes the Lord has to discipline his children. But he does so in love and he tempers the wind to the shorn lamb. And he does promise that his strength is sufficient in our time of need.
But above all others listen to the West wind of God's mercy and grace. No religion paints mankind in darker terms than Christianity. But the Bible tells the truth about man with all of its stark realism. Everywhere we look we see evidence that we are members of a fallen human race. We are sinners by nature and sinners by choice.
But this is not hopeless doctrine, because with the diagnosis, God provides a cure, a way out. We can repent of sin and wonder of wonders, through the new birth we can be cleansed, forgiven and re-created in the image of Christ. Though we have sinned there is mercy and pardon, pardon for you and for me.
And as far as the east is from the West, God will remove our transgressions from us when in repentance and faith we turn to our Savior.
