Yesterday I decided to ride my bicycle. I am new to the road bike scene and am getting acclimated to the roadways. Though commonsense to most, riding while under a wind advisory is not advisable! But, I accepted the challenge of a windy day and took to the road to try and burn some of the calories from the quarantine. The wind gusts yesterday were measured at nearly 13 miles per hour. Thankfully those gusts are nowhere near dangerous but are double the average for this time of year. I felt the wind against me for most of the ride, and on occasions where I should have been coasting with ease downhill, I instead had to peddle. There was little relief for me. So far, so good to cut the quarantine calories.
I decided yesterday to go to a section that some of my bike riding friends avoid due to the challenging hills. Given the conditions of the wind, I decided to continue my journey, albeit with trepidation. Honestly, I was already preparing my mind to overcome the challenge, gearing myself up to give no opportunity for the hills to best me despite the wind's resistance.
I geared down as I faced the first hill. The wind met me the entire ride, even downhill, but on this section of roadway, the part I had dreaded the most throughout the whole trip, I experienced almost no wind. As I faced the last significant hill on the road, I heard the trees above me swaying in the breeze, but I, on the roadway, experienced none of it. Verbally, in between the huffing and puffing, I exclaimed, "Thank you, Lord! "
It might sound trivial to most, to praise God for a lack of wind right when my tired legs and lungs needed it the most, but for me, it was a moment to remember God's meticulous care. God's care expressed itself in this dull moment of a cyclist on a roadway, one infinitesimal speck in the grand scheme of things, needing a short break in the wind, and getting what he required at the precise moment it was needed. Providence and my need coalesced to create in my heart a moment of praise.
There is probably an "explanation" for my encounter. Even the best of explanations cannot equate for how my heart has been shaped to interpret my experience. Perhaps the roadway was in a valley and the wind around me was being blocked. Maybe the trees were large enough around me to shelter me from the breeze. Perhaps there is some "effect" that a meteorologist could educate me to help interpret my experience.
For all of those suggestions of explanation, Scripture offers another consideration. Psalm 137:5 makes this assertion,
He it is who makes the clouds rise at the end of the earth, who makes lightnings for the rain and brings forth the wind from his storehouses.
Since this verse is Scripture, and since Scripture is the Word of God, it stands forever. Scripture' s permanence means it informs how we interpret events.
At this point of consideration, many minds gravitate towards the counter. "If God commands the wind, what about the terrible tornados that many experienced?" "How can we equate for your experience of a gentle breeze and others who receive a violent wind?" God accounts for both though our minds are right to see the difference between the two. Why one receives a gentle breeze one day and a violent wind the next is beyond me. However, this I know, the same God rules over both. The fierce wind that threatens or takes life and the gentle breeze both create longing, both encourage our hope in God. No matter if the wind howls dangerous threats or gives us relief, our need for God remains the same. It is he who brings forth the wind. It is him who both provides and delivers.
Yesterday was God's gentle whisper to me, reminding me of his meticulous care. I pray I remember this lesson when the wind blows a different direction.