"My Hope is Built on Nothing Less..."

Ecclesiastes 11:4. 

"Whoever watches the wind will not plant: whoever looks at the clouds will not reap."

We are living in strategic times.  There is a lot of "wind watching" (as the bible puts it) happening around the earth right now.  Simply put, to watch the wind is to look at circumstances and what is happening in the natural atmosphere to determine what decisions should be made and what kind of life you can have! I love that Ecclesiastes is so specific here when it says, he who looks at outward conditions will NOT ever find them good enough to put a seed in the ground!  

The world we find ourselves a part of right now, ONLY operates this way!  Stock markets rise and fall, success comes and goes, popularity and human praise is short lived... And then what?  Outward conditions are ever changing and are the LEAST stable places to bank all of our hope and yet it is so easy to to find ourselves doing just that. 

The year was 2001 and it was the Tuesday before the September 11th attacks on our country.  My husband Paul and I were living in Birmingham, AL. At the time.  We had just built our first little home and we had a nice church and a nice life. Everything was going well. And then it happened, Paul's boss came into his office and announced that the company was in trouble and that major cutbacks would be taking place.  Because of this he was laid-off.  

He came home that day and there we were job-less and shocked that "just like that" everything could change.  We had to gather ourselves and begin to form a plan on how to go forward.  Then, that very week, our nation was brought to it's knees when the terrorists flew planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.  The unthinkable was everywhere I looked!  There seemed to be no relief and fear was completely gripping my heart.  

I was watching the wind and becoming unstable in my spirit as I did.  As I realized what was happening in my spirit, I knew I needed Jesus to show me IN the storm, how to trust HIM.  

Jesus speaks in Luke 21 of the kind days that are coming upon the earth preceding His great coming. He said that as the Day draws near, people's hearts will be full of fear.  Luke 21:25-26. " Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world.."    The terror the bible is describing is one that comes from watching the wind.  Jesus bothered to warn us ahead of time that days like this would come, not to depress us and scare us, but to help us not to worry and fear the way everyone else around the world will worry and fear!

I realized during those months in 2001 of joblessness that Jesus was and would always BE the only place my hope could ever stay!! Nothing else is guaranteed. Just Jesus.  It was a minute by minute shift that started to happen in me as I started to take my eyes off of the wind and put them back on my Savior.  But it happened.  

My situation didn't change overnight.  We still had to walk out the effects of joblessness. But Jesus took care of every need we had.  This hasn't been a one time lesson in my life either!  FOUR more times, for similar reasons all out of our control, we would find ourselves without a job, but WITH a choice.  Watch the wind? Or Look at Jesus?  

These are moments where true FAITH is born. In the fire. It isn't easy to TRUST Jesus when outward conditions seem so far away from being okay.  But He is still just as ever-present as He has always been. When the world says, "be terrorized with what could happen or with what has happened," Jesus says, "keep your eyes on me."  

The days that are coming are very important for the people of God. We have the great privilege and assignment to lead people out of darkness and into the Light of Jesus.  We don't do it by having a nice theory, (when was the last time a theory helped you?)  about how this is done.  We do it by showing others the PATH we, ourselves, have walked with Jesus leading all the way.  

Maybe you have had the best week of your life or maybe this week has blown you away with unexpected opportunities to watch the wind and you find yourself in a storm today.  Can I just encourage you that Jesus IS with you and days like this prove our hope can be built on nothing less then Christ Alone....

Luke 21:27-28, "At that time they will see the of Man coming in a cloud and with power andGREAT glory. When these things begin to take place, STAND UP and LIFT UP YOUR HEADS, because your redemption is drawing near."