My dad has often teased the idea of becoming a storm chaser. Growing up, every storm was the same. Mom and I would hide out in the basement with flashlights and candles, and Dad would be outside in his jacket we got him from The Weather Channel. Periodically, Dad would come down to update us on the storm. “Oh, it’s crazy! Vickie, you should see this wind. It’s incredible. I’ve never seen anything like it,” followed by Mom saying “is there any damage?” and a brief report from Dad “Oh yeah, a couple trees are down, but Vickie you need to come see this!”
In many ways I am my father’s daughter, but the love of storms is not one of them. Horrid winds and bright lightning for you, soft blankets and plumeria candles for me.
But in Psalm 18, God is depicted as a storm, riding on wings of the wind.
“He bent the heavens and descended;
inky darkness was beneath His feet.
He rode upon a heavenly creature, flying;
He was carried quickly on the wings of the wind.
He took darkness as His hiding place—
both the dark waters of the seas and the dark clouds of the sky.
Out from His brilliance
hailstones and burning coals
broke through the clouds.
The Eternal thundered in the heavens;
the Highest spoke; His voice rumbled [in the midst of hail and lightning].
He shot forth His arrows and scattered the wicked;
He flung forth His lightning and struck them.
Then the deepest channels of the seas were visible,
and the very foundations of the world were uncovered
At Your rebuke, O Eternal One,
at the blast of wind from Your nostrils.”
When I read this part of the Psalm, it reminded me of Job 30:22.
“You lift me up on the wind; you make me ride on it,
and you toss me about in the roar of the storm.”
Job, much like David, wonders why God has him wrapped up in this crazy storm. And a few chapters later, God answers Job. But not just in any way.
God answers Job from the wind. He responds to Job out of the storm. He speaks to Job through the very thing that Job is upset about.
And in Psalm 18, God reaches down from heaven and draws David out of the raging waters of the storm.
We all have storms in our lives, but instead of hiding in the basement, we should put on our Weather Channel jackets and step outside. The wind tells us that something is happening, and when something is happening, God is riding on the wings of it.
Wind is movement. Wind is motion. Wind is action.
God is wind. And David and Job are storm chasers.