“The Lord answered Job our of the whirlwind.” When we reflect on Job’s story, it is easy to see why he experienced God speaking to him “out of the whirlwind.” One day his life was going along smoothly; his children were happy and healthy; his farming was prosperous; his relationship with God was strong and deep. The next day his whole life was turned upside down. Everything was swept away, as if a tornado had blown through leaving instant devastation in place of his well ordered life. He was in shock, overwhelmed by grief, when his well-meaning friends appeared hoping to comfort him, but they only managed to deepen his despair. That’s when Job heard the voice of God, when he recognized the presence of God in the whirlwind of the circumstances of his life.

When things are going well in our lives, it is far too easy for us to ignore God’s steadfast love, his life-giving presence enfolding us and all creation. For many of us, it is not so much a conscious choice as it is merely focusing our attention on other things. As they say, ”It is the squeaky wheel that gets the grease,” so we go around greasing the wheels that rise up in the situations of our lives. As long as it’s only one wheel at a time that needs attention, we manage pretty well, but when all the wheels start squeaking at once, the noise is cacophonous. It feels like we are indeed in the midst of a whirlwind. That’s when we come to realize that we can’t handle everything on our own after all. It is somehow easier to recognize our need for God when we are at the end of our rope, to turn to God when we hit bottom, when there is no where else to turn. If that is what it takes to focus our attention on our relationship with God, perhaps we might consider the whirlwinds in our lives as blessings in disguise, at least in retrospect.

God is ever-present, Emmanuel (God with us), wanting us to know his love, to trust in his saving grace, to experience his peace that passes human understanding.