"When the whirlwind passes, the wicked is no more, but the righteous has an everlasting foundation "
whirlwind
This is the Hebrew word cuwphah which means whirlwind, storm. It could be thought of as a tornado of destruction or a hurricane. These are the storms of life that come to test the type of materials and construction that you have used to construct your life. These storms or tornados come in all kinds of forms. They could be business cycles where the normal downturn in customers that happens after a big expansion tests whether you have really been operating your business on sound principles. These storms could actually be storms that destroy a building, a factory, a home, or a business and this tests your resolve and your plans before the storm came. These storms, whirlwinds, or tornados could be health related such as a disease or accident, which lays you low. If you have been operating on wicked principles or constant growth being your salvation, then your poor foundations will be exposed. The storms could be investigations by the authorities who audit or charge or investigate some aspect of your life. These storms could be terrorists or robbers who destroy parts of your life and maybe culture. In biblical times it was not uncommon for raiders and enemy agents to destroy families, farms, towns, and regions. These whirlwinds could be natural disasters, which bring life back to its basics.
Solomon is saying that these various testing agents will expose those who have built their life in shabby and wicked ways. Problems always expose folks like this. Do not build your life for the short term. Build for the long term. Build your life on a foundation of righteousness. There are and will always be these kinds of whirlwinds passing through a culture, a region, a family. The more solidly you build your life on righteous choices, solid relational wealth, and Godly prosperity, the more you will survive these testing agents.
In this proverb the whirlwind is the judgment of God – both directly or indirectly testing life and culture. This has been seen down through history as various things, which bring back balance and punish those who play too fast and loose with the freedom that God has given us. We must recognize that God has given humanity incredible room to design their life. Our choices can make a real difference in how our life goes. We can choose to do righteous and wise things and have a stable life built on a solid foundation as Jesus says. We can choose to lead a selfish life, grabbing and cheating our way to what we want with little regard for others – either those who are around us or who will come after us.
It is clear that our culture in America is moving away from righteousness and moving towards sexual impulses, greed impulses, and power impulses being king. We have the freedom to choose this sinful path, but our society will not survive when the whirlwind comes if we continue down this road. We need revival and a wholesale turning to God before it is too late. It has happened twice before in our country's history. The first great awakening under Jonathan Edwards and the second great awakening under Charles Finney were significant turning points in the history of America. Before those crucial revivals, America was on the same selfish, immoral path that it is on today. If we continue down this road of licentious and selfish behavior, we as a culture will be wrecked when the whirlwind passes. It may be that God will use some whirlwind of judgment to turn us back to Him, but it is clear that we cannot keep moving down the immoral path we are on without doing great damage to many people.
Until tomorrow,
Gil Stieglitz