Out Our Way: The chinooks of God - 1 Kings 19

Out our way, Charlie on Jet and me on Doc loved to ride the Tiger Ridge and work cows. But only in the good weather. Come February when the Alberta Clippers rage and the cows are calving, we were well content to stay inside and let other roam the back country, There is nothing fun or romantic about pulling calves in a minus 40 degree blizzard at 3 a.m.

February is calving season and also one of the harshest months on the Hi-Line of Montana. But it can also be one of the most glorious — for more than a few times, after a bad-tempered clipper comes through dumping snow and temperatures, the soft warm wind of the chinook winds come and break winter’s icy grip. It may be only for a few days, but in that time we are reminded that coldest winter must yield to spring — as the darkest night must retreat from the dawn.

In the scriptures, there are voices of the prophets before whom, like the chinook winds in February, the darkest night and most dismal winter were rebuked. God sent prophets as he sends us chinooks, to remind us where the real power is. Like a chinook in February, God’s prophets spoke the warm words of healing and hope to the frozen hearts and souls of God’s people. They were dark days in which the faithful were few and the heresy of even the religious leaders was great. False prophets and corrupt kings ruled the people and declared the old ways were out-of-date, old-fashioned, and no longer relevant. And many, if not most, believed them. People went trhough the motions of faith, made sacrifices and long prayers at the Temple and altars dedicated to the Lord, but their hearts were cold — frozen by the popular heresies of the day.

New idols popped up, new heresies were spoken by the pagan priests and even by some of the ones who claimed to serve the Lord.

The powers of darkness, like the Alberta Clippers that sweep Montana, were strong and it seemed all must yield to them. Indeed, it seemed most did. The new prophets of the new gods pushed aside the old faith. Baal raher than the Lord was worshipped. Moses was forgotten as was the Torah — the sacred Covenant God had made with Israel on Mount Sinai during the exodus. Many lost their faith. Even the greatest of the ancient prophets, Elijah, once came to believe he was the only one left to serve the Lord (1 Kings 19) until the “still small voice” — like a chinook wind — came to him and reminded him that the darkest night must yield to the dawn.

February on the Hi-Line can be devastating and the roar and bluster of the mighty Arctic winds and storms of the Alberta Clipper seem to be in total control. But suddenly comes the chinnook and the mighty clipper is halted — and the promise of spring is renewed.

We live in a time that some might call a spiritual February. Like Elijah, it may seem to many of us that the pagans and secularists, even within the church, have won the battle and taken over the culture of nation and even the faith. I confess, I feel that way sometimes as I look at headlines. The overt anti-Roman Catholic bigotry — and recent anti-Semite rants — of some of our senators and representatives, the approval of infanticide by various state legislatures, and the willingness of Congress to appropriate hundreds of thousands of tax payer dollars to pay off sexual abuse claims against senators and representatives, all go unchallenged. More importantly for me, at least, in my attempts of daily confession before the Lord, I find I am also very willing to hear and see what I want and reject what I do not. O Lord, I, even I, am no longer left, too have fallen to Baal and been frozen by the Alberta Clipper of my own sin!

Then comes the small, warm breeze of God’s “chinook.” Like Elijah, He chastises me for being of such little faith and asks why I am “here” — i.e. running away and giving up. And then as He unfreezes my soul and helps me thaw out, He sends me back to stand with the faithful. For the faithful did not cry out, hate or demand justice. They simply “waited on the Lord,” as the rancher waits on the chinook.

I am grateful God had mercy on Elijah. For despite his failure in faith, God forgave him. Recall how Elijah was still the one to be the forerunner of the Messiah — See Malachi 4:5-6, compare Matthew 3:4 with 2 Kings 1:8, and, of course the Transfiguration, Matthew 17, for one version. Maybe even I will have some role to play in the Lord’s plan despite my failures and faithlessness.

Who can say? Certainly not I! Yet look at how Moses was old before he was ready for God to use him — mayhaps there is still time for Him to use me. Maybe he already has and some starry seed from my ministry has fallen to earth and taken root. I am grateful that I can count at least three men and two women who entered the ministry from congregations I have served — although I would be the first to deny they did so because of me. But at least I did not get in the Spirit’s way when He called them.

Regardless, even in the darkest winter and coldest blizzards of calving season, God’s chinooks blow — and even in the darkest days and coldest nights of a secularist and often corrupt society, God will yet speak through his chinooks — prophets.

Blessings!

Brother John Bruington