{"id":1522,"date":"2011-10-30T11:25:11","date_gmt":"2011-10-30T11:25:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=1522"},"modified":"2011-10-30T11:25:11","modified_gmt":"2011-10-30T11:25:11","slug":"the-wind-tempered","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=1522","title":{"rendered":"THE WIND TEMPERED"},"content":{"rendered":"

THE WIND TEMPERED<\/strong>
\n\u201cThis is the resting place, let the weary rest; and this is the place of repose\u201d\u2014
\n\u201cHe stays (restrains) His rough wind in the day of the east wind.\u201d\u00a0Isaiah 27:8<\/a>
\nThis is a sheltering verse to those who, in a figurative sense, are exposed to the swoop of the hot desert wind. Under one of God\u2019s own Palms we can sit and calmly meditate on the blessed promise, here given under expressive imagery, that He will never allow our trials or His discipline to go too far!
\n\u201cMan is born to trouble.\u201d Sorrow is the common heritage of a suffering world. And not only are the \u201crough wind\u201d and the \u201ceast wind\u201d ever and anon racing by, but He does not conceal that it is He who sends them. It is specially spoken of and designated here as \u201cHis rough wind.\u201d In the blighting of Jonah\u2019s gourd, we are told \u201cThe Lord prepared a vehement east wind:\u201d and in the bold and sublime language of the Psalmist, He is similarly represented as \u201cwalking on the wings of the wind.\u201d So too in moral hurricanes. \u201cWho knows not in all these things that the hand of the Lord has wrought this?\u201d
\nBut (and this is the more special truth which claims our attention), if that east wind blows, He will not allow it to sweep too vehemently; and when it receives its mission from Him, He will not allow \u201cthe rough wind\u201d to be let loose at the same time from its chambers. He will moderate adversity! \u201cHe knows our frame.\u201d According to the common proverb, \u201cHe will temper the wind to the shorn lamb.\u201d He did not make Israel feel at one and the same time lack of bread and lack of water. The manna had been provided when they were suffering from the deprivation of the other priceless boon, water. Look at the first clause of the somewhat enigmatical words which form our motto-verse\u2014\u201dIn measure you will contend with it.\u201d \u201cIn measure!\u201d Or, as in another place, \u201cI will correct you in measure\u201d (Jer. 30:11<\/a>).
\nGod has no capricious dealings! All will be scrupulously weighed out in the balances of His wisdom and faithfulness. He CONSIDERS the soul in adversity (Ps. 31:7<\/a>). \u201cWhen He winnows,\u201d as Matthew Henry says, \u201cHe sends a gentle gale to blow away the chaff, not to blow away the corn.\u201d He will cause us to sing of mercy in the midst of judgment, and fulfill His own promise, \u201cAs your day is, so shall your strength be.\u201d
\nWho has not sat under this gracious Elim palm and experienced the truth of the assertion? Is it the hour of bereavement?\u2014the time when, above all others, the east wind may be said to blow, nipping early spring buds, or blighting tender blossoms, or strewing autumn leaves. Who has not then to tell of amazing support?\u2014some sweet solaces which have tended to moderate the sweep of the hurricane, break the cruel blow, and disarm trial of much of its severity. Glimpses appear in the midst of the darkness\u2014blue vistas are seen opening in the storm-wreathed sky!
\nIs it the hour of sickness and protracted suffering? There truly is the east wind\u2014wearing torture, days of pain, nights of weariness, every nerve a chord of anguish. But here, too, it might have been worse. That sufferer (to take one out of many suppositions,) might have been on a foreign shore\u2014away from friends and home and kindly sympathies, dying in unutterable loneliness, with no gentle hand to smooth his pillow. But when, in the midst of cruel bodily pangs, he looks around on faces beaming with kindness\u2014each member of the loving circle animated with one thought and desire\u2014to alleviate pain by offices of tender affection\u2014you can almost picture that ashen and wasted prisoner clasping his hands and muttering in silent gratitude, \u2018My case might have been far sadder. Thanks be to that gracious and considerate God who restrains His rough wind in the day of His east wind!\u2019
\nWe believe all can own and trace these tender moderations\u2014the prevention of the two winds from blowing simultaneously\u2014God not allowing the bruised reed to be broken, just because it was bruised\u2014laying on the trial with one hand, comforting and binding up with the other\u2014sending whatever harsh wind is needed to bring to the desired haven, not one blast permitted but what is required. \u201cHe will not allow us to be tempted above that we are able to bear, but will, with the temptation, also make a way to escape, that we may be able to bear it\u201d (1 Cor. 10:13<\/a>).
\n\u201cBlessed be God,\u201d says Chrysostom, \u201cwho permitted the tempest; and blessed be God, who has dispersed it and made it a calm.\u201d It was not from the lips of one of His own true people, but from a self-outcast and self-exile, that the utterance proceeded, \u201cMy punishment is greater than I can bear.\u201d His loved and trusting children recognize in Him the Refiner of silver, who sits by the furnace regulating and tempering the fury of the flames. His fires are for purification, not for destruction.
\nAnd at death\u2014seated for the last time under the Elim palms, when the tent is about to be struck for pursuing a more mysterious journey\u2014death, the hour that thousands on thousands have shrunk from and dreaded\u2014yes, the hour which none can contemplate without profound emotion; yet when it does come\u2014when the house of the earthly tabernacle rocks and trembles under the blasts of that inexorable \u2018east wind,\u2019\u2014the \u2018rough wind\u2019 is restrained. The believer feels the rush of the final hurricane, but he rises above it with the glorious compensating supports and comforts then granted. If his eye is dimming to human smiles, there is a Mightier Presence at his side, which the gathering darkness only renders more visible. When those around him can think, perhaps, only of the terribleness of grappling with the tempest which in a few moments is to reduce all to a heap of ruins; with his last breath he rises above the storm, saying in trembling accents\u2014\u2019Hush your fears! I am walking through the dark valley, but HE is giving me dying grace for a dying hour.\u2019 \u201cHe restrains His rough wind in the day of the east wind!\u201d
\nWe may appropriately conclude with the words of a sacred singer\u2014
\n\u201cThough the clouds are seen ascending,
\nSoon the heavens are overcast,
\nAnd the weary heart is bending
\n\u2018Neath affliction\u2019s stormy blast.
\n\u201cYet the Lord, on high presiding,
\nRules the storm with powerful hand;
\nHe the shower of grace is guiding
\nTo the dry and barren land.
\n\u201cSee, at length the clouds are breaking\u2014
\nTempests have not passed in vain;
\nFor the soul, revived, awaking,
\nBears its fruits and flowers again.
\n\u201cLove divine has seen and counted
\nEvery tear it caused to fall;
\nAnd the storm which love appointed
\nWas its choicest gift of all.\u201d
\n\u201cYou have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in distress, a shelter in the storm and a shade from the heat. For the breath of the ruthless is like a storm driving against a wall.\u201d \u00a0 \u00a0 MacDuff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

THE WIND TEMPERED \u201cThis is the resting place, let the weary rest; and this is the place of repose\u201d\u2014 \u201cHe stays (restrains) His rough wind in the day of the east wind.\u201d\u00a0Isaiah 27:8 This is a sheltering verse to those who, in a figurative sense, are exposed to the swoop of the hot desert wind. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-author-john-macduff","category-perseverence"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1522"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1522\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1524,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1522\/revisions\/1524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}