“The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8 KJV)
There is something very precious about this verse. In a very special way it encapsulates and reveals the idea of God’s way being much higher than ours (see also Isaiah 55:9). What is of initial interest to me about this verse is that it is a quote of Jesus. For those of you who have a red-letter edition of the Bible, this should clearly stand out. Compare the idea that Jesus is the rock on which we can build our foundation. The rock that is so stable that it causes men to stumble, and even when He describes Himself as the vine, He is the stable part of the vine and we are the branches or the parts that can reliably sprout from and attach to Him. Is it not an amazing contrast as to how God is so big that the very comfort that Jesus sends is described as the wind (see John 14:15-18)? Something as seemingly without order as the wind is the very Spirit that flows through us and hovers over and watches us (see Genesis 1:2). His bigness! His completeness! God is so large that something that appears as uncontrollable and as spontaneous as a breeze to us is in reality sent from His hand to have and to work a specific and calculated effect on us.
Notice that it is the wind that causes the tree to move. We surrender to God’s Spirit rather than trying to manage it. So many tend to behave, as though it were there movements as trees that create the wind. It is His wind that blows through us. We are still, meek, and humble; and He is powerful, great, and mighty. It is His wind that rustles our leaves. We seek Him and He reveals Himself. It is His wind that causes us to move. It is His wind that reveals the direction that He wants us to lean. We walk with God and He guides us. The funny thing is that we need not know from which direction the wind comes. We simply need to be a faithful witness to that fact that it is there and is the cause of our movements. We just need to sway with it. How unnatural would it be if each tree in the forest swayed in it’s own direction in complete indifference to the wind? It is a testimony to the presence and the power of the wind, and not the tree, when you see and hear the leaves rustling and the branches swaying in the wind. Remember, “the wind bloweth where it listeth”. That is to say the wind bloweth where it chooses, prefers, wishes, wherever it is inclined to, or in whatever direction it delights. Also, as the tree will bear the fruit that reveals it’s kind, so we as Christian stewards are not necessarily given a choice of what it is we are to be stewards of. We gladly bring forth a harvest of what has been planted in us.
“Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.” (Psalms 1:1-3 KJV)