Wind, which is movement of air, is a very necessary part of God’s wonderful creation. It is the means of keeping air fresh, moving heat from the tropics and exchanging it with cooler air from elsewhere. This is a benefit to all God’s creatures. Even violent storms serve a purpose by bringing rain to quench the thirst of dry lands and relief from droughts and oppressive heat. But such storms are not something to fly a kite in, but rather a time to find shelter until they blow over.
A tornado is a rotating funnel cloud that extends downward from a mass of dark clouds. Not all tornadoes touch the ground, but those that do destroy everything in their paths. Homes and buildings are flattened, and automobiles are thrown around like toys. Sometimes strange things happen too. Babies in their cribs have been picked up by such winds and later found, crib and all, safely resting in the fork of a tree, or some other place. Often a tornado will flatten one house and skip right over the house next to it. We hope people who survive such experiences thank God for His preserving care.
Tornadoes occur throughout the world, but mostly in the United States. About 700 tornadoes are reported in the United States each year. Sometimes they are called twisters or cyclones. Sweeping across a lake or ocean, the force of these funnels can lift great amounts of water to form spectacular waterspouts.
Scientists do not know exactly why tornadoes develop. Most occur in spring or early summer when it is hot and humid in the afternoon or evening. A squall line of thunderclouds forms between cool, dry air from the north and warm, humid air from the south. The warm, humid air rises rapidly. More warm air rushes in to replace it and in some cases begins to rotate and forms a twisting, powerful funnel. Where this touches the ground the severe damage occurs.
These storms are a picture of Satan and his power of destruction in people’s lives. The Scriptures tell of instances in Bible days where people threatened by the wind were saved when they cried to the Lord. One instance is in Mark 4 when the Lord saved several boatloads of people from a violent storm on Lake Galilee; the grateful passengers said, “What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?” (Mark 4:4141And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him? (Mark 4:41)).
The Lord still delights to save all who call on Him when Satan attacks. This is referred to in Isaiah 25:44For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall. (Isaiah 25:4): “For Thou hast been a strength . . . to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm . . . when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.” Do not try to fight Satan by yourself. That is as useless as trying to stop a tornado by blowing on it. Go to the Lord Jesus with your troubles; ask Him to take your sins away, to shield you from Satan, and you will find Him answering you immediately.
APRIL 6, 1997
ML-04/06/1997