Stormy Wind

Stormy wind fulfilling His word.

Psalm 148: 8

Did you ever go into the woods late in the afternoon on a day of howling wind and driving rain; and did you ever see a drearier spectacle, or hear drearier sounds? The sough (moaning, whistling or rushing sound as made by the wind in trees …) of the winds through the almost bare branches, the drip, drip of the rain upon the masses of withered leaves, the air filled with flying leaves fluttering down into the gloom of the forest as into a grave, the delicate colors of trunk and moss all changed and stained and blended by the soaking of the rain: how hard to believe that such dreariness is related in any way to the beauty of the summer forest!

And yet we know that it is that very wind which is rocking the trees and howling so dismally – just that streaming rain and those rotting leaves which will help clothe the forest trees next year with verdure (lush green vegetation), and make the woods sing with joy and pulsate with life. All winds and weathers are favorable to the development of the sturdy, well-rooted tree; even the hurricane which strips it of its leaves and branches quickens all its vital powers, challenging it to put forth greater strength.

If the tree is cut down in part the result is a sturdier trunk and a more compact and symmetrical growth. Even if it is toppled over by the storm, its acorns are scattered and become the seeds of the forest. In its ruin it goes back to the soil from which spring other trees.

So you are better and purer and stronger today because of the tears and the sighing and the desolation. You know, and the world knows, that your life is richer, better poised, more trustful, less selfish, more detached from the things of sense – that the whole atmosphere is somehow purer and more vitalizing.

“Stormy wind fulfilling his word,” and the soul hears in their tumult (confusion or disorder) the rustling of Almighty Wings praises God for the storm – the storm that swings free from enervating (causing one to feel drained of energy or vitality) ease; the flood that casts upon the Eternal Rock.

Storms make a strong tree –

Sufferings make a strong saint!

• Taken from from Springs in the Valley (1968) by Cowman Publications, Inc.

If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: …

2 Timothy 2: 11