As If Carried Off By The Wind
Have you ever found yourself in a spiritual place that you’re not suppose to be in? Are you feeling distant from God as if you were carried off by the wind to a place you don’t belong? I think at some point in all of our lives, we will have experienced similar feelings or situations.
Last week, I came home from running errands and went straight to the kitchen sink to set my dirty coffee mug down. The sink sits in front of my favorite window that overlooks our backyard. At first glance out the window, I noticed something extremely out of place. The umbrella to my patio table was laying in the creek which is in the middle of our yard.
Realizing You’ve Been Carried Off By The Wind
As we all know, during the summer months when a storm swoops in the wind, can be very powerful. So, leaving an umbrella opened unattended is not very wise. This was not the first time I’ve suffered the consequences of doing just that. Actually, I wrote about what happened the last time I left it opened unattended when it stormed. The post title is “Avoid Shattered Glass.” If you’ve read it, you might be wondering why I didn’t learn my lesson the first two times.
Subsequently, as I walked down to the creek staring at the top of the umbrella sticking out, this question came to my mind: Like the umbrella, do you feel like you are somewhere you don’t belong? The question in my mind, stopped me in my tracks. Because the answer was yes! That’s how I had been feeling for quite sometime.
What Makes You Feel As If You Don’t Belong?
Maybe for some people, it’s your physical location you are feeling out of place in. Such as; the city, town or house you’re living in may not feel like it’s home. Other scenarios could be a job, a church or being around certain people who make you feel as if you don’t belong.
On the other side of the coin, there are times when we feel spiritually out of place. I know when I feel a distance between the Lord and I, it puts me in a place I don’t belong.
Reasons we may feel distant from the Lord could be because of sin or being neglectful in prayer and time spent with God. But then there are times when you can’t understand how your emotions got to the place your in. It was as if, like the umbrella, the wind swooped you away into a place you didn’t belong.
Sometimes God Sends The Wind
After analyzing things, I googled wind scriptures. The verses I read made me wonder if it was God who sent the wind.
“He who forms the mountains,
who creates the wind,
and who reveals his thoughts to mankind,
who turns dawn to darkness,
and treads on the heights of the earth—
the Lord God Almighty is his name.” – Amos 4:13
“He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth;
he sends lightning with the rain
and brings out the wind from his storehouses.” – Psalm 135:7
“But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up.” – Jonah 1:4
God is the creator of the wind, and He sometimes uses it to accomplish His purpose.
In Jonah 1:4, God hurled a great wind upon the sea to redirect the path Jonah was taken. God had commanded Jonah to go to the people of Nineveh with a message (Jonah 1). He was calling them to repent and turn from their ways or incur impending doom.
However, Jonah thought the people deserved to be punished, and he refused to go. He then hopped on a ship and headed in a different direction than where God wanted to send him. Thus God sent the wind, to kick up a storm on the sea which lead to Jonah being thrown over board to be swallowed up by a great fish.
It wasn’t until Jonah submitted to God’s will and desire to rescue the people of Nineveh, that the great fish spit him out.
When Jonah finally reach Nineveh, he preached the message God had for the people. Fortunately, the people repented and turned from there sin. Resulting in, many people being saved from the potential judgement of God.
Like Jonah, is there a plan/purpose God is calling you to fulfill, and you have been reluctant?
There is no doubt in my mind that God used a wind blown umbrella to catch my attention.
God created us to fellowship and worship Him. It is not His intent for us to ever feel distant from Him. He has been proclaiming for thousands of years that He will never leave us, forsake us,(Deuteronomy 31:6) (Hebrews 13:5) and He will always be with us if our hearts are bent on Him (Matthew 28:20) (1 Corinthians 3:16) .
I encourage you if your are feeling as if you are in a place you don’t belong spiritually, draw closer to God. Turn to the one who has the answer to your every question, and find your home in Him.
