16. When The Air Is Astir

VIOLENT storms did not rage in Paradise. In the garden of Eden no other breeze blew than the soft stirring which in softer climate brings morning and evening cool. Hence in the narrative of Paradise nothing is said of a quickly rising wind, but of a fixed, periodic stirring of air (in Gen. 3:8, it is called "the cool of the day," and in the original, as given in the marginal reading "the wind of the day") which announced to Adam and Eve the approach of God.

The symbolism is still intelligible. Amidst the luxuriant stillness of Paradise, where everything breathes rest and peace and calm, suddenly a soft rustic is heard, sighing through the leaves, just such a sound as strikes the ear, when, seated near a grove, we hear one come through the underbrush, whose tread pushes light twigs aside, makes the leaves quiver and causes a soft noise to go before him. When in Paradise this rustle is heard through the leaves, a soft breeze caresses the temples, and it seems as though Adam and Eve feel themselves gently touched. And with this quiet rustling and this touching emotion comes the inward address of the Lord to their soul, and thus the representation arose that the voice of the Lord came to them, walking in the garden at that time of day when the air was astir.

To look upon "the wind" as a bearer and symbol of what is holy, has thus gone forth from Paradise into all of Revelation. Of God it is said (Psalm 104:3), that He walketh upon the wings of the wind; and in Psalm 18:10, that He flew quickly upon the wings of the wind. When at Pentecost the Holy Ghost came to the Church, a sound was heard from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind (Acts 2:2); and when Nicodemus received instruction regarding regeneration, the Savior purposely applied the symbol of the wind to God the Holy Ghost. Thou hearest the sound thereof, but knowest not whence it cometh, and whither it goeth (John 3:8), and thus it is with the Holy Ghost.

In a northern land like ours where the wind is a common phenomenon, this is no longer so deeply felt. But in the regions from whence sprang Revelation, where weather conditions were more quiet, and the rise of the wind, therefore, more noticeable, the wind in its stirring has ever spoken of higher things.

Natural philosophy had not yet come to analyze atmospheric currents. The storm, as it arose with black clouds in the sky, and with its violent boom and roar made the whole forest tremble - that terrible windpower was still explained as coming from above. It came as a mysterious, inexplicable force; it was felt but could not be handled; it was heard. but could not be seen; it was an enigmatic, intangible force, pushing and driving everything before it; and the impression went forth that it acted upon man immediately from God, without any connecting link, yea, as though in that gale God with His Majesty bent over him. "The Lord hath his way in the whirlwind," said Nahum (1:3), "and the clouds are the dust of his feet. "

This symbol of the wind is the reverse of that of the temple.

The temple speaks to us of a God Who dwells in us as His temple; Who is not afar off, but close by; Who has chosen His abode in our heart, and Who from its depth quickens, reproves or comforts us.

Thus the temple symbolizes the indwelling of the Holy Ghost in the secrecy of the heart. It represents the intimacy, tenderness and closeness of fellowship. And though there may be a veil in the temple, and fellowship with the indwelling Spirit may sometimes be interrupted, the renewal of love never comes from without. but always from the depth of our own being. It is and always shall be: "Immanuel, God with us;" in Christ with all His people; in the Holy Ghost personally with His child.

In contrast with this is the symbol that is borrowed from the wind.

Softly the wind of day, as a slight stirring of air, enters Paradise from without; it approaches unobserved, but always comes from without, and thus comes to man who at first does not even perceive it.

Here also it begins with a distinction. As symbolized by the wind, man at first is without God; God is separated from man. And not from man in prayer, but from God in the air astir, proceeds the motion whereby He approaches man, awakens him, and at length entirely fills him.

Both of these symbols have the right of existence; our Christian life must concern itself with both; and only he who allows these two to come to their own, lives in vital fellowship with the Eternal.

Between God and us the difference is so radical in every way, that we can never think of God in His Majesty otherwise than as highly exalted above us; He as having established His Throne in heaven, and we kneeling on this earth as His footstool.

This is the relation pictured in the symbol of the wind; the wind striking us from the clouds, and we sometimes feeling the cutting effects of it in the marrow of our bones.

But between God and His child there is also a free fellowship which defies distance; which removes every estrangement, and presses toward intimate union. And this relation is pictured in the symbol of the temple.

Our heart is a temple of the Holy Ghost, God Himself indwelling in the inner life of our soul.

The temple represents the overwhelming wealth of all-embracing love. The gale remains the symbol of the Majesty of the Lord. And only where these two operate completely, each in its own domain, is there both the most blessed worship of God's Majesty, and, at the same time, the most blessed enjoyment of His eternal Love.

Thus let the pendulum in the inner life of the soul ever move to and fro.

When you feel that for a time you have abandoned yourself too lightly and too easily to the sweetness of mysticism, and in dreamy cornmunion with God might lose the deep reverence for His Majesty, then with one pull snatch your soul loose from this easy familiarity, in order that the greatness of the Lord Jehovah, in contrast with the smallness and the nothingness of your creaturely existence, may appear again in all its sublime loftiness.

And, on the other hand, when for a time you have been strongly affected by the Majesty of the Lord so that you know full well the Holy One above, but feel yourself at heart deserted of your God, and that all the more intirnate love of God in the soul threatens to die, then likewise with supreme effort you.must bring your frozen heart under the glow of the everlasting compassions, that fellowship with the Eternal may be tasted by you again.

But it is a gain when this swinging of the pendulum is not continued with too much force, and the intimacy of the "Our Father" and the reverence of the "which art in heaven" follow each other rhythmically in the daily experience of our inner life.

A life of mere dreaming and super-tender perceptions will not do; he who abandons himself to this weakens and slackens his spiritual existence, becomes unfit for his Divine calling in the world and forfeits the freshness of the life of his piety.

With a healthy state of heart there is here constant and regular alternation. There is constant and serious application to our calling, and with it God above us from Whom comes our strength and in Whom stands our help; and then again the search after God in prayer, the losing of oneself in the Word, the becoming inwardly tender by a feeling of sacred love.

Our God a God afar off and yet a God near at hand !

Taken this way, the wind obtains still another one than a natural significance.

Every day of your life forms a whole by itself, and every day of your life in everything that happens to you, that impresses and affects you, there is a plan and direction of God's. First those hours and moments when nothing speaks to your heart and everything loses itself in the ordinary run of things, and it seems that this day has no message for you. And then sometimes in the most trifling matter there is something that strikes you, that arouses your attention, that makes you think, and causes thoughts in you to multiply; something that a child calls out. to you, a friend whispers in your car, something that of itself comes up from your own soul; or something else that you hear, some message that is brought to you, something that brings color and tone into the dullness of the day and is for this particular day "the stirring of the air" in which the Voice of God comes near unto you.

Thus God the Lord comes every dayseeking after us. So the Voice of our God follows after us throughout our life, to draw us, to engage our interest, and to win us for Himself.

And therefore lost is every day in which in the stir of the air the voice of your God truly passes by you, but does not affect and awaken you.

And also blessed is each day of your existence in which in the gentle stir of the air God makes His approach to your soul, and that approach bears fruition with such intimacy of fellowship that with fresh draughts you may enjoy again the eternal love of your God.