Swift To Hear—sure To Bless - The One Year Devotions for Women with Jill Briscoe

TO READ: Psalm 104:1-24

You lay out the rafters of your home in the rain clouds. You make the clouds your chariot; you ride upon the wings of the wind.

Psalm 104:3

Wings occur frequently in the imagery of King David. If he wasn’t speaking of the warm wings of God’s comforting and immediate presence, he was writing of other sorts of wings. In Psalms 10 and 18, he sings of deliverance, praising God not only for protection in the midst of his internal troubles, but also for the intervention of God in his external problems. He has been delivered from the hand of King Saul. He speaks of the Lord God who flew “mounted on a mighty angelic being” (Psalm 18:10).

Again, in Psalm 104:3, he reminds himself of the God of creation who can “ride upon the wings of the wind.” I love the image of the Lord God who made all things using the tempests as stepping stones. He strides across our world watching out for us or riding the storm to fly to our aid. Such poetry teaches me God’s grand ability to be there wherever and whenever I need help. I do not really believe he rides an angel like a horse or that the winds truly have wings, but I do believe that he is swiftly able to control, not only my troubled heart, but also my troubled world whenever and however he wills. There are no winds that will blow upon me that are not the winds of his will.

Next time you hear the wind rustling the leaves or whirling around the eaves, listen awhile. God has come to remind you that he is present—slow to anger, swift to hear, and sure to bless!