The Wind

 

    I was sitting in my living room in my favorite chair the other day watching a storm develop outside.  The wind was really blowing the trees in various directions and the leaves where falling here and there.  In a sense it was quite captivating watching the physical objects around me respond to something that I could not see with my eyes.  But I could certainly see the effects it was creating.

     A couple of thoughts came to my mind while all this was going on.  First, why is it that some people can’t believe in things that they cannot see?  And secondly, why are human endeavors that ignore God’s purpose futile?

     In considering the first question we must realize that most people do believe in things that they can’t see!  Or, at least, they put some amount of trust or confidence within things that are not visible or tangible.  Let’s consider an example of what I am talking about.

     Think about the air that we breathe.  You can’t see it.  Yet, you take very positive steps in breathing as a given and probably give very little thought to actually do it.  However, according to any article several years ago on www.hearldtribune.com it was stated that “on average, a person at rest takes about 16 breaths per minute.  This means we breathe about 960 breaths an hour, 23,040 breaths a day, 8,409,600 a year.” 

     That’s a lot of breathing considering air is something that we cannot see and we do not know where it is coming from while we are doing it.  A very simple experiment to show how important it is to have this “wind” (air) available to us for all these millions of breaths we take each year is to place yourself in an environment where there is no air or the air is contaminated.  (I DON’T recommend you try this experiment, but you will understand the results.)

     Think of the men and women who have gone into orbit around the earth.  Or those who have made dives into the very deep trenches of the earth’s oceans?  Do not these individuals first make certain that they have a reliable source of air while engaged in these activities?  Of course, they do!

     So, why is it that so many people have reached the conclusion that God does not exist simply because they cannot see Him?  Most people have not seen their own brains, but I’d venture to conclude that they would say they have one!  Although, many seem not to use it very well.

     Now, that leads into a consideration of the second question.  Although, there have been many endeavors in which men have provided great achievements and advances for human kind, often these things are only done for personal or corporate advantages.  If a person or a company cannot see the financial benefits they often refuse or “kill” the advancement before it can provide any benefits to anyone.

     I recall reading in a popular auto magazine years ago (It seems like it was in the 1960s) about a company which had in pre-production an automobile engine that ran off freon.  As long as the engine system did not develop a leak of some kind, the engine would continue to run.  There would be no need for any other fuel, gasoline, diesel, etc.

     And then according to rumor, and you know how reliable rumors are, it was presumably spread around that the design had been bought by a major oil production company and the development was halted.  If true or not, I do not know.  But I never recall seeing or hearing about the production of automobiles with freon engines.  I only recall that the freon used in your vehicle’s air conditioning system was changed.

     However, in the grander scheme of things, people die, companies go out of business or change ownership, ideas and circumstances change, and life goes on.  The point is that at some point ALL human ideas, inventions, developments, creations, come to nothing!  The only thing for certain is what God had put into motion and continues to provide.

     Even though mankind has violated God’s original purpose and thereby produced a global system that is out of harmony with His will and purpose, He continues to allow them to go on.  However, what many individuals refuse to see is that this will not go one forever.  (Acts 17:31) “Because he has set a day on which he purposes to judge the inhabited earth in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and he has provided a guarantee to all men by resurrecting him from the dead.”  At that time, it will certainly show that human endeavors will be as the Congregator (Solomon) stated at Ecclesiastes 1:14 “I saw all the works that were done under the sun, And look! everything was futile, a chasing after the wind.”

     We (humans) cannot hold the wind in our hands.  We cannot stop the will of God from taking place.  Regardless of our decision to believe these things or not, it doesn’t stop the fact that God has spoken them and has put them into motion.  We should give serious consideration to these matters; however, we’re only human!

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"Instead of fighting what we can't see,

make adjustments and use it to our advantage."