How to navigate the whirlwind, an experience everyone will endure
By Dean Collins
I’ve been through a whirlwind. I imagine you can say the same. Seldom do we pause to process it or discuss it, generally because once things have settled we cling to the calm that always comes after the storm. Sometimes the whirlwinds are brief, and sometimes they seem to last forever. And like tornadoes, it seems that sometimes one storm stirs up another. It is likely your whirlwind and mine may have been going on at the same time, but we didn’t notice each other’s storm while we were navigating our own.
Sometimes we anticipate the storms. The national weather service can usually warn us about a risk of a tornado or turbulent weather. Similarly, we sometimes have a warning of a likely whirlwind of activity and/or emotions. The doctor orders some tests, for example, and we leave his office with the idea that a procedure or a treatment plan will soon follow.
We sometimes see the whirlwind forming in another’s life before we see it in ourselves. The loss of a job, marital struggle, a death in the family, and many other life events bring experiences of grief, and grief in itself is a whirlwind. During my years as a therapist, I explained to many clients that the process of grief is shaped like a spiraling whirlwind. Moving through the stages of grief is never a one-and-done experience. The stages repeat over and over in varying degrees of intensity, and one will often be surprised by what may stir up the whirlwind at any given moment.
Presence and power
In scripture, a whirlwind may signify God’s presence and power. It is impossible to dissect God. His presence along with his wisdom, power, love, mercy, justice, grace, and characteristics we cannot even name are all a part of the Almighty.
Nahum said, “His way is a whirlwind.” Elijah was transported to Heaven by a whirlwind. The psalmist said the crash of thunder was in the whirlwind. And after Job’s ongoing vent about his horrible experiences, and after listening to both young and old friends’ tepid attempts to comfort, explain, or correct Job’s situation and speak on behalf of God, the Almighty answered Job out of the whirlwind.
There are no whirlwinds that God cannot see and where he does not exist. We may or may not always sense his presence or understand his purposes, but our greatest moments of growth and grace come during and after the whirlwinds of life.
Stop and listen
In the middle of the whirlwind we will often hurt each other. This happens for a number of reasons. Our own experience may make it hard to understand another’s. Our own pain may block our ability to see the other’s pain. Our life scripts and our education do the same. There is always more going on than we realize in the middle of a whirlwind.
Maybe our best path to experiencing God and understanding each other comes when we do as Job was forced to do, stop and listen. It may be that we will hear God asking us questions as a part of his supplying us with not only answers but the understanding that we do not actually need all the answers. What we need in any and every whirlwind is God himself.
The celebration of the birth of Christ reminds us that God did give us himself completely. Because of Jesus we never must go through a whirlwind alone. His abiding love and spirit live in us. God may hold us tightly or send someone to help us hold tight in the storm. But God will never abandon us in the whirlwind. Jesus can and will calm every storm. “Peace, be still” from the mouth of Jesus did and will for all time bring calm.
May you experience his peace today and pass it on to someone else who may desperately need to hear these words.
Your time with God’s Word
Job 38:1; 2 Kings 2:1, 11; Psalm 77:18; Nahum 1:3; Mark 4:39-41 ESV
Photo by Uday Mittal on Unsplash
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