THE NORTH WIND
G. A. Brown
Acts 27: 12–16; Job 37: 9, 10, 22; Song of Songs 4: 16
The connection between these scriptures may be somewhat tenuous, but I wish to say something about the north wind. In Acts 27 it is not particularly said to be the north wind, but this hurricane conveys the same idea, I think, of adversity. These persons on the ship did not heed the counsel of Paul. Paul had earlier said that it would be dangerous, “I perceive that the navigation will be with disaster and much loss” (Acts 27: 10). They paid no attention to Paul.
You might say that is all around us in Christendom, but it can be very near to us, dear brethren; Paul makes it perfectly clear that what he writes in 1 Corinthians is the Lord’s commandment (see 1 Corinthians 14: 37), and to ignore his counsel brings about, as he says, “disaster and much loss”. We have known it in our own time. That is what Paul said would happen, happen, but they did not heed Paul and thought they had got away with it. It says where we read, “And the south wind blowing gently, supposing that they had gained their object, having weighed anchor they sailed close in shore along Crete”. The south wind was blowing gently, things seemed to be going quite well and they supposed they had gained their object.
It is like a condition of lukewarmness, things seem to be going quite well, and a state of complacency develops. They thought they had gained their object and were getting on quite well without Paul’s counsel and without heeding the Lord’s commandment. Well, there came quickly a drastic change. Where this hurricane came from I am not sure, whether it was actually from the north or not, but it certainly was a very different situation to what it had been when the south wind was blowing softly. They found themselves in the midst of a crisis of unprecedented dimensions. What were they going to do? Eventually, of course, they did listen to Paul but by then it was too late to save the ship. I suppose we would hardly want to save the ship now. Our salvation depends on hearkening to what the Lord says through Paul.
This I believe is current, there is a need in our day to adhere to the Lord’s commandments. They all got safe to land in the end, what was living came through, but only after they listened to Paul.
Now I wanted to refer to the passage in Job, which is very telling, I think. “By the breath of God”, it says, “ice is given”. Cold comes from the winds of the north, that is to say, things in our lives do not always go easily. We all enjoy the south wind, and, of course, in one sense it speaks of divine favour and blessing, but then there come the cold winds from the north; there is discipline in the school of God. Now my impression about this verse (Job 37: 10) is that we have to learn to trace these things to God. It is so easy to say, ‘It is unfortunate what has happened, it is too bad’, but “By the breath of God ice is given”. That was the same power that saved Israel at the Red Sea, when the waters were congealed, the way through was opened up. The same power that saved us from the world is the power that God exercises in chastening and discipline. Let us not attribute these things to any other source but see that it proceeds from God—“the breath of God”, is the north wind. Then it says, “and the breadth of the waters is straitened”. If you have ever watched a river when it gets very cold and the river begins to freeze, you will know that it freezes at the edges where the water is still, and the breadth of the waters is straitened. The moving water is directed into a narrow channel in the middle and the breadth of the waters is straitened. What it means, I believe, is that through discipline God limits our way, and directs our pathway according to His will.
That is something to come to, that our way is not so wide as it once was, we do not have the scope to please ourselves that we once did. The breadth of the waters is straitened through God’s intervention, and you find your pathway is directed to where God would have it, in subjection to His will. It is not something that comes easily to us, not something that comes naturally; it perhaps takes a life-time till we come to it, that His will is best. “From the north cometh gold”. Could anyone doubt that God has anything other than the very best in mind for us? If He limits our way; if He disciplines us, chastens us, it is for the very best. What wealth, what blessing, what richness, what joy, what fulness there is as we submit to the will of God; there comes about this enrichment from the north. It is something you will not get without coming under and accepting divine discipline and chastening. I do not believe there is any other way for it, and that is why the lives of every one of us involve suffering, pressure, and many experiences which we would rather avoid, but let us remember that “From the north cometh gold”.
In the Song of Songs there is something that not many of us would be able to do, certainly I have never been able to do it. The loved one invites the north wind to “Blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may
flow forth”. She calls for the south wind too, of course, but that is another matter. She says, “Awake, north wind”. Most of us, I suppose, get discipline without asking, and the Lord knows best. What this brings out is the complete trust that she has in her Lord, that what comes from Him is best, and is calculated to release the most for His pleasure. It says, “that the spices thereof may flow forth. Let my beloved come into his garden, And eat its precious fruits”. My simple desire is for myself and each one of us, that there might be something coming out of the times of pressure through which we all pass, that might yield something for the Lord. I believe every one is going through something; in some cases it may be more obvious than others, every one of us goes through something in the way of pressure, but the outcome is that there is wealth secured and something for the pleasure of the Lord. May it be so.
Word in meeting for ministry, Edinburgh
3 September 1991