A whirlwind is energy in motion. What may seem chaotic could, in fact, be God on the move for us.
In a whirlwind of trouble, Job lost his family, wealth, reputation, health, friendships, and peace of mind. All he seems to have left are questions—plenty of them! He’s hoping (and maybe we are, too) that God will provide their answers. But he doesn’t know where to look for God, and Elihu can’t help. “As for the Almighty, we cannot find Him” (Job 37:23). But God finds Job instead, the pivot point of the book. “Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind [Heb, sa‘ar]” (38:1). In the life of Elijah, “the Lord was not in the wind” at Horeb (1 Ki 19:11), but He did “take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind” (2 Ki 2:1). Asaph asks the Lord to chase Israel’s enemies with His whirlwind (Ps 83:15), and this is well within His purview, for “He commands and raises the stormy wind” (sa‘ar), causing men to “cry out to the Lord in their trouble, and He brings them out of their distresses” (Ps 107:25, 28). In one of the Hallel Psalms, we hear much of what the Lord will tell Job from the whirlwind: “Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all the depths; fire and hail, snow and clouds; stormy wind [sa‘ar], fulfilling His word; mountains and all hills; fruitful trees and all cedars; beasts and all cattle; creeping things and flying fowl” (Ps 148:7-10). Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Amos, and Zechariah all describe God’s use of the whirlwind to direct people. Jonah also knew the discipline of God’s whirlwind (Jon 1:4) in bringing him back into His will. Have you met the Lord in a whirlwind of circumstances? Both Job and the psalmist learned that, when the whirlwind’s work is done, “He calms the storm [sa‘ar], so that its waves are still. Then they are glad because they are quiet; so He guides them to their desired haven” (Ps 107:29-30).