The Whirlwind Will Pass

“As the whirlwind passeth, so is the wicked no more: but the righteous is an everlasting foundation.” (Pr 10:25 AV)

 

In the midst of a severe situation, time seems to pass slowly.  The whirlwind, or can we say large tornado, may pass overhead.  It may last but a few moments.  However, with the house being ripped from its foundation and all our belongings whisked off to another county, it seems like the whole event takes a millennia.  While the kids are huddled with their parents in an interior room, fear grips them and they do not think it will ever end.  The sirens are blaring.  For what seems like an eternity, their entire life is out of their control.  Their entire life is at the mercy of something they cannot see and cannot influence.  Huddled they sit and hoping against all hope the LORD will protect them from the potential loss such a whirlwind can bring.  On the other hand, observing from a distance with no imminent threat as a reality, we realize just how brief the whirlwind is.  We also realize just how many rebuild and restore what the whirlwind removed.  Sure, there is great loss.  But what has been restored is far greater.  While in the storm time seems to stop.  While outside the storm, it is very brief.  This is the understanding of the proverb.  We may suffer because of the wicked, but they are like a tornado.  It will be over before you know it.

Just yesterday, there was a siren test in our neighborhood.  It brought back a few memories.  I have been close to four tornados in my lifetime.  Two were in Illinois and two in Kentucky.  The one in Illinois was perhaps the most vivid.  I was visiting a church member when the sirens went off.  Rather than follow these members to their basement, I decided to go home.  While driving, I could see the tornado in my rearview mirror.  My wife was calling me to warn me of a tornado in the area.  I had to chuckle.  I was looking right at it.  The second time was at our home in Illinois.  The sirens went off and I glanced outside.  Through the patio windows, I saw clouds come down so close it was like I could reach out and touch them.  No kidding.  These clouds were no more than fifty feet off the ground.  This tornado touched down five miles from my house.  The third time, we had gotten sufficient warning and were huddled in the church basement.  The tornado touched down less than a mile from my home and quickly proceeded east.  My son and his wife were running across the church parking lot to the basement in the middle of all that.  He remarked how hard it was to run against the wind.  The fourth was when I actually heard the well-known sound of a train.  They say a tornado sounds like a train running on the tracks.  I can honestly say that is true.

What I found was the more exposure I had to these storms, the less alarmed I became.  The reason being is I had enough advanced warning to stay safe, and they lasted but a brief moment.  So, too, are the wicked upon this world.  Their time is limit.  They may wreak quite a bit of havoc.  But it is nothing the LORD cannot overcome.  He has overcome the world.  The older I get, the more patient I get with the condition of the world.  Not that I agree with it.  It is merely because I know the wickedness of the world is limited and Christ will return to set all things right.  This will all come to naught.  With the great debate of ideas raging from biblical conservatism to secular socialism, we are more likely to get upset if our side doesn’t win.  However, all things are in God’s plan.  Even if things go from bad to worse, it is simply because God has chosen to allow the same so that He can judge it completely and thoroughly.  Our job is to have compassion for the wicked so as to try to win them to Christ.  What we cannot do is become discouraged when the vast majority reject Jesus.  This will be dealt with.  The storm will pass.  The whirlwind will go just as fast as it came.  Our nation has systematically rejected the God of the Bible.  We have done this over a little more than one generation.  When the LORD comes back, He will restore things even quicker than that!