Give to the Winds Your Fears
Seek the LORD while he may be found, call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake their way, and the unrighteous their thoughts; let them return to the LORD, that he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD. (Isaiah 55:6-8)
When last did the tragedy of humanity nearly undo you? Maybe the waywardness of your own “prone-to-wander” heart knocked you down. Sometimes, God’s people are just dumbstruck by the horrors in their world - senseless violence, unchecked greed, or total mistrust in relationships. Truly did Jeremiah prophesy,
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9)
His question is rhetorically obvious. The answer is “nobody.” It is easy, at times, to look around and nearly lose one’s footing for the shock of it. In moments like these, we throw up our hands, or rub them over our eyes, saying, “How could it come to this?”
Even though the Lord gave Jeremiah a powerful rhetorical question, He still answers it in the next verse:
“I the Lord search the heart and test the mind to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.” (Jeremiah 17:10)
Now there’s a theological puzzle. Wrap your mind around the fact that God Most High searched the heart of the men leading lynch mobs. He tested the minds that created the atomic bomb. His knowledge extends to the space between your temptations and your decisions.
Will you praise Him for it? Is He trustworthy with such knowledge? Or like so many, will you rage and challenge the Most High?
If you’ve been brought low in humiliation, grief, or perplexity, then take this hymn, read it slowly, and “humble yourself, therefore, under the mighty hand of God … casting all your anxieties on Him because He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7).
1 Give to the winds your fears, in hope be undismayed;
God knows your needs and sees your tears;
God shall lift up your head.
Through waves and clouds and storms,
He gently clears the way; Wait for His time!
The night shall quickly End in joyous day
2 Far, far above your thoughts
His wisdom shall appear,
When He has finished His design
That caused your needless fear.
Leave to His sov'reign will
To choose and to command;
In wonder you shall come to see
How wise, how strong His hand!
3 You see our weakness, Lord,
Our hearts are known to you;
Put wings beneath our weary feet
And keep our pathway true!
Let us in life, in death,
Your changeless truth declare,
And utter with our final breath
Your love and guiding care.
(Give to the Winds Your Fears, Hymns of Faith #94)
Read it again, but this time sing it in your heart (or lift your voice!) to the tune of “Crown Him With Many Crowns” - feel in that melody the triumph of faith over unbelief (Listen here!).
From the Garden of Eden onward, the breaking of such faith in God has been the great tragedy of humanity. Eve and Adam believed the serpent’s wicked lie and doubted the goodness of God’s decree. Recall the serpent’s hiss in the voice that told Job to “curse God and die!” (Job 2:9)
When this world spins out of control, your life starts to unravel, and tragedy strikes, don’t add to it one ounce of faithless doubt, Christian. Give to the winds your fears.
Jesus says, “Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid” (John 14:27).