Chaos. Confusion. Turmoil. Characteristics of a whirlwind. A literal whirlwind is a fast-moving, spinning column of air that is in contact with the ground— which means it is full of dust and debris. Picture a big, dirty, garbage-filled blast of wind. If you were to try to walk through it, you would be gasping in lung-fulls of gritty air, your eyes would be essentially blinded by stinging dust, your skin would be scratched and scuffed raw, you’d be disoriented and panicked. You’d do anything to get out of it and back to a calm, still, pure-clean atmosphere. All you’d want to do is breath deep. To rid your lungs, eyes and skin of the imbedded grit.
No one wants to walk through a whirlwind. And yet. We all know people who have indeed reaped the whirlwind. Or maybe we have experienced this in our own lives. Living in such a way that we have sown the wind and now find ourselves, seemingly inexplicably, reaping the whirlwind.
The dictionary says that “sowing the wind and reaping the whirlwind” means “to engage in, and suffer the consequences of, evil or folly.” (Collins Dictionary). The Bible says “They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind.” (Hosea 8:7) This refers to Israel rejecting God and living with dire consequences as a result. In our case, we “sow the wind” when we turn our backs on God, or even when we simply take a path of least-resistance rather than doing the hard things which need to be done. This is folly.
They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind
Hosea 8:7
Life throws us something hard. An illness. A financial set-back. Problems. Adversity. We have the choice to deal with it then and there, doing the hard things— taking the time and energy to pray, grit our teeth, gird up our loins and deal with it. OR another choice is to wait and see, bury our head in the sand and hope it goes away— in other words to sow the wind. “The Wind” is nothing until it’s something. It’s just air right? Until it becomes a whirlwind full of pain and destruction.
Today, take a step out of the whirlwind. If you have been sowing the wind, you can reverse course. You can find one step away from the maelstrom of the whirlwind. God is in the business of redemption and restoration. Even if you’ve gotten yourself into this mess, God loves you, is on your side and wants to help you. Seek God, pray, swallow your pride and ask other people for help. Do the hard things. Fresh clean air is out there. It’s no coincidence that the Hebrew and Greek words for the Holy Spirit are the same words used for breath and wind. This kind of wind is not the chaos and destruction of the whirlwind. It is the fresh, life-giving wind that clears out the grit and debris.
And the Spirit [wind] of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord.
Isaiah 11:2
Liza Jane Lane 
These past two posts are very good as usual. Thanks for sharing. I just finished the June book, what a heartbreaker.