A mighty wind

A sand storm is an amazing thing. I've never been in one, but have seen them on video. It's intimidating as this wall of sand approaches and then overwhelms, but it's not the sand that makes this happen it's the wind. Behind this immense cloud of sand is a wind...a wind that has stirred up more grains of sand than we could possibly count and driven them across the surface of the earth. Apart from the wind the sand is unmoved, unmoving, hardly a threat....but with a mighty wind....

This evening I've been thinking about God's work. I've been thinking about my part. It suddenly struck me that like all this sand I'm but one grain and nothing happens with me or the world around me unless a wind moves us all towards a goal...towards a purpose. The wind God describes in the Bible is the Holy Spirit. Like that wind that drives a mountain of sand across the desert God's Spirit is moving his people towards a goal. By myself I'm not much, but when the Spirit of God moves, works in me and through me...when he does that in millions of other lives then something amazing happens....

Sometimes we begin to think we are rather important and the kingdom of God needs us. But without the wind we simply lie there...lifeless, unmoving, not impacting anyone or anything. To see myself "right sized" I need to realize that I'm part of a vast army God is working through and that without the work of God's Spirit in my life I would make no difference in time and space...BUT, what a change a mighty wind can make in us and in the world around us.