Out of the Whirlwind

In June of 2010, about two months before we gave up our house and set out on the road, God gave me a dream telling us how we were to go about our ministry.

In my dream, I was standing in our living room and, from the ceiling came a swirling wind that enveloped me. It continued to moved in a circular motion around me, resembling the funnel of a small tornado.

I was mesmerized by the movement of air around me, yet on the inside, it was peaceful and still. Then, out of the wind, I heard a voice speak:

“Your job is to tell those that already know.”

In the last three years, we have done exactly as were told. We have been sent to numerous people, all of which claim Christianity, but don’t live it. God has sent us to remind people of their commitment to Him. Some people pledge their lives to God at the time of salvation, or when God has brought them through some great trouble.

Just like the children of Israel in the Old Testament, when things were going good, they forgot their commitment to God, and He had to send a prophet to remind them that they were His people. Our mission, it turns out, has not been that different.

Since God spoke to me out of the whirlwind, I thought it would be interesting to see what else a *whirlwind was used for. (*In Hebrew, the word is translated as tempest.)

In 2 Kings, Elijah was taken up to heaven alive in a whirlwind.

In Job 37:9, we are told that the whirlwind comes out of the south. South, in Hebrew, is chamber. Does that mean that a whirlwind comes out of God’s chambers?

In Psalm 107:25, God commands a ‘stormy wind’ to come upon the people.

In Isaiah, there are three instance of ‘whirlwind’. In 5:28, Isaiah compares the turning of chariot wheels to that of a whirlwind. In 17:13, a mass of people running away from God are compared to a tumbleweed being blown by a wind storm. And 66:15 tells us that God uses a whirlwind ‘to render His anger in fury.’

In Jeremiah, there are two scriptures dealing with whirlwinds. In 23:19, God uses a whirlwind to show His fury against the wicked. 30:23 is a repeat of the same scripture.

Ezekiel uses some of the most symbolic imagery in Scripture to describe what the whirlwind was made of.

In Amos 1:14, God uses a whirlwind and fire to destroy palaces.

In Nahum 1:3, it says that ‘the Lord has His way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet.’

It would seem that most of the Scripture about whirlwinds is about when God is about to pronounce a judgment upon someone. That has been our experience in our journey thus far. Everyone that has rejected what God had to offer very soon had many troubles enter their lives.

If God ever speaks to anyone from a whirlwind, take heed. If the Scriptures are anything to go by, God means business.