** As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more. But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children; to such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them. ** Psalm 103 :15-18
Spanish summer weather has two characteristics: HOT and WINDY. The sun beats down from 7:30 am to 10:00 pm all summer long. Then just when you think you can’t take another day of 100 degree heat, the wind starts blowing at 20 miles an hour non-stop. Hot, sand-filled wind.
It sucks the energy out of you. It tests your self-control and your state of mind.
Shopping, on foot, with a cart in the wind and heat is exhausting. If you can’t get things done before 11 am, it doesn’t get done. The morning and the wee hours of the night are the only redeemable hours of Spanish summer.
But just when you think that the wind or the hot, sleepless nights are going to do you in, you hear a melody. A flamenco guitar serenading in the midnight air, bringing peace and beauty to the city residents after a tough battle with the heat. As the guitarist’s fingers race over the strings and his haunting voice fills the night’s silence, welcome sleep takes over.
Psalm 103 tells us that the wind can destroy life. It can take the bright, green grass and dry it to a dead brown. It can batter a beautiful flower, forcing all of its petals from its stem, dessimating it and leaving it barren.
Wind can eliminate life. Storms, extreme heat or extreme cold can overwhelm and obliterate life as well.
But with God as our Protector, our earthly circumstances cannot overwhelm His mercy. It is eternal. It is everlasting. It can never be removed. It can never be conquered by life’s daily climate changes. Heat or cold, wind or calm, His mercy endures forever.
Even if the hot storms of our lives win today, His mercies are new again in the morning. A fresh start. A new beginning, every day, as if yesterday’s storm never happened. A fresh pouring out of His mercy, forgiveness and grace greets us as we open our eyes and face a new day.
Whether the heat or the wind in our part of the world works relentlessly to take our joy, our peace or our comfort, the merciful Hand of God will restore us each day. He will turn our eyes to Him, to His promises, to Hope and to Eternity. His Voice will refresh us, cool us, and fortify us to face the day’s storms.
Whatever today’s wind or heat brings, His mercy is there to meet us and help us to stay deep rooted in Him and weather each storm. We can focus on the temporal heat and wind, or we can focus on Eternity, and on the mercy that the Lord shows us every hour.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His Holy Name!