The Purging Winds

The Purging Winds Capt. Kelly Durant 10-9-16

Matthew 7:24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

2. How many of you have ever been at a place where the comedian was telling jokes but then he said one that was not funny? I recall one time about 1993, I was at a Renaissance Fair and it was an interesting event with people dressed up as in medieval times selling jewelry and things. Have you ever been to one of those?

And then a young man (from out of town) went on the stage to do a comedian show. He asked the audience, “Do you know what the most played music hit of Miami is? It is not a one hit number, but a song you hear with only one note! That’s right, do you want to hear it?”

He took out a bugle and played one note marching in a circle and it became obvious he was imitating the sound or note a siren makes when it is giving a warning of danger. These are the sounds everyone had heard just before the massive destruction of Hurricane Andrew in 1992. Do you know what happened? Not a single person laughed! Everyone walked away from his show because he without even realizing it was making light of the event for those who had survived! I was amazed, how insensitive he was, and this proves how others never can fully understand tragedy and loss unless they have been in those shoes.

3. Destruction is the mission of the ‘prince of the air’. With wind (physical or verbal) our spiritual adversary loves to destroy properties, finances, and families but most of all he loves to destroy love, the love of God we share and comfort ourselves with. Ephesians 2:2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. God allowed Satan to carry out some destruction with Job in the Old Testament as an example to learn by, and from time to time God allows Satan to do his damage as a purge on humanity.

Just living on this earth is enough to scare all of us into depending on God! Anyone at any time can die from an earthquake, a hurricane, a flood, a volcano, a meteorite, an atomic bomb, or also be killed by a thief, a wreck, or a random guerrilla attack, or with a cancer or a medicine prescribed by error! And in Florida your entire house without warning can fall into a deep sinkhole!

Why do we classify a hurricane as an ‘Act of God’? Because frail man, that is comparable to a worm, has no power over these powerful forces that no human being can produce, manipulate, or control! We are, in the end, weak tiny creatures and often all of us get reminded by massive catastrophic events how defenseless we really are! We also we get reminded that we should build on the right foundation of the rock; we need God!

4. Catastrophic events humble us. Jesus reminded us that we are not losing it all without god as the foundation. No one can even build a storm proof house that can endure the winds and storms of time and the inevitable harsh assaults. The precarious conditions of our nature seem to destroy at any moment any of our frail constructions, physical or spiritual.

At one time when the earth was young, God protected Adam and Eve in the Garden from any destruction, but because man unleased death, it spread to all nature, misbalancing the forces of earth. Many of the practices of man’s exploitations provoke the destruction and poisoning of nature.

Even though the earth is fragile enough already, how sad it is that evil human man destroys nature as well! Some natural destructions are the consequence of our own mistakes and many catastrophic sufferings is our own fault. Romans 8: 22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.

5. No one should be surprised by these events since we who live on this earth know that man, and all creation, fell from perfection several millennia ago and came under a curse. But despite that God is with us and we get through the fire, storm, or the purge of winds!