Headwind

February 18

"When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it." Henry Ford

God stands solidly with you as you forge into the adverse wind that is blowing into your life. I believe with you that just as the airplane must rise against the wind and the pull of gravity, so will you. Sometimes, as with a giant aircraft, it seems the rise is impossible. How can a jumbo jet overcome gravity to become aloft? How can a massive assemblage of metal bolts and screws rise against one of earth’s most powerful forces? How can you ever overcome the forces that hold you back and keep you down? But the aircraft does, and so will you. Perhaps you can't manage in your own strength, but you aren't dependent upon your own strength (II Corinthians 12:9).

Just as takeoff in an airplane requires airspeed, so our lives require us to "run the race set before us," Hebrews 12:1. A principle of flight is that airspeed is a measure of how fast the air is flowing over the airplane, not a measure of how fast the airplane is traveling. If the airplane is flying into a headwind, its airspeed is increased, which is why airplanes take off into the wind. So, if the Lord allows us to encounter headwind, it's because He knows ultimately the seeming adversity will enable our spirits to rise faster and higher than if we were encountering winds that appeared more favorable.

Why would it be necessary for God to allow this? We can't see into the future, but we know HE always has a purpose in everything. Jesus uses things we go through to equip us for future tasks. Just as the airplane encounters headwinds to enable it to soar, so He allows us to encounter difficulties that we must rise above in order that our spirits rise into a higher realm of faith and trust and RELATIONSHIP with HIM! Because of this, we are advantaged in at least two ways--first and foremost, we gain knowledge of Jesus and His love for us that we cannot receive when things are going well. The reality of the human frame is that we draw closer to the Lord when we feel most helpless and broken. He uses our helplessness to become our HELP. He uses our brokenness to STRENGTHEN US WITH HIS INDEFATIGABLE STRENGTH!

Secondly, He uses the faith and strength we acquire as we draw nearer to Him to enable us to help others who suffer. We cannot have empathy with people whose lives are fraught with trial and disappointment and sorrow if we have never encountered and overcome trial and disappointment and sorrow ourselves. Though it appears that our suffering is pointless as we go through it, when it has been overcome by the power of the Christ who is at work in our lives, we will see the lessons of the trial and appreciate the victories won through the trial. HE uses the challenging experiences of our lives to equip us to touch the lives of people we could never have reached, for we could not have understood their pain without enduring our own. He uses the things we have overcome to lift others from the pit of their need to the pinnacle of His help.

Jesus is equipping you through the discomfiture you face to be an even more committed Christian with a more definitive purpose in the Kingdom's work than you ever could have been apart from the strength you are gaining through Jesus as you wrestle with adversity. Remember, when you are weak, you are strong (II Corinthians 12:10), for the power of Jesus is more completely free to work in you when you are most reliant upon Him.