Wait For The Wind

“And it shall be, when thou shalt hear a sound of going in the tops of the mulberry trees, [that] then thou shalt go out to battle: for God is gone forth before thee to smite the host of the Philistines.” (1Ch 14:15 AV)

When David was established as king of Israel, the Philistines went up against him several times.  The first time, the LORD instructed David to confront the enemy head on.  The LORD guaranteed victory.  However, the second time the LORD told David to forego the direct approach and environ them around back and go through the mulberry trees.  The strategy was to use the movement and sound of the trees as cover for them to advance on their enemy.  When the LORD sent a wind among the trees, the forces of David were to advance.  When the wind was calm, they were to stay put.  This required David and his men to not only obey the LORD, but move only when God moved.  Waiting had to be hard, but necessary.  When the LORD said to move by the voice of His wind, they moved.  When He silenced the wind, they were to rest and wait.  This is a skill learned wisely by the child of God.  Learning to move in concert with God’s hand is something hard to learn, but once learned, advances the child of God much quicker and with better results.

A plan is only as good as the timing it involves.  We can have the best plan, but if the timing is off, it will not work.  When I was a child, flying kites was a thing.  We grew up not very far from Niagara Falls, so our weather was conducive to kite flying much of the spring, summer, and falls.  The changes in air currents caused by such a force affected the weather around the falls.  We had constant wind.  Must of the time it was a gentle wind.  But every once in a while, it was forceful.  We would go to our local drugstore and buy kites.  We would go home and rip up old clothing to make a tail.  We would assemble our kites and tie string to the center.  A hand made spool with old thread bobbins and a one by six was our spool.  Off we went to our neighborhood park.  Kite in hand.  When we got to the park, we discerned the direction of the wind and if there were any hazards that might tangle our kite.  Then as every child has done, we run against the wind and at some point, release the kite.  Up and up it would go.  Tugging on the string and turning the spool one way or another, the kite would dance in the sky.  However, how many of us have ran into the wind only to find out there wasn’t enough to fly the kite?  Or, once aloft, the wind ceases and our kites come crashing to the ground?  All the intent and planning doesn’t work unless the wind cooperates.  The same is true of life.  Unless we are on the same page with God, all our planning and effort may be for naught.

David knew that if God wasn’t in it and God wasn’t leading, the enemy would have the advantage.  One can imagine David having to stay put, waiting on a breeze.  Have you ever played that stop-go game?  The point is to be the first one to touch the caller as he or she yelled ‘stop’ or ‘go’?  How frustrating was that?  If the caller yelled ‘stop’ and caught someone moving, they had to return to the start line.  I can imagine David advancing one breeze at a time, getting antsy for the battle to begin.  God has a plan.  It is always in His time.  If we charge in before the wind blows, we will not have the advantage.  Part of growing is learning to wait.  Part of maturing is learning that zeal, although very good to have, must be disciplined.  There may be a plan.  It may be what God wants.  It might be a plan that we can trust.  We might have committed one hundred percent to the action plan.  We may have all the resources in place.  We may have trained well and are very well prepared.  But unless the LORD is in it, then we are committing to an action God cannot bless.  We need to learn to wait for the wind to blow to our advantage.  We need to learn to let go and let God lead the thing.  We need to learn the battle is not ours, but the LORD’s.  And He has a time, place, and method for it all.