The virus is not the only judgment we face at this time. So is the fear that has fallen on so many. The Book of Leviticus recounts what happens when people turn away from God to the idols of the nations. One punishment the Lord brings is the removal of mankind’s natural bravado. He says of a nation under his judgment: “The sound of a driven leaf shall put them to flight” (Lev. 23:36).

On a Saturday afternoon recently, I joined my wife to help her finish picking up our yard. A cold front had blown through earlier in the week, chasing away momentarily the warming spring weather. The strong winds caused by the weather system had dropped numerous branches and twigs from the tall oak trees around our home. By the time I joined her, she had already picked up and disposed of enough wheelbarrows of fallen debris to constitute a small tree.

After we finished cleaning up the yard, I fired up the leaf blower in order to remove the piles of leaves that had congregated around the stone wall and bushes that line our driveway. Clearing leaves is usually a fall time pursuit, but those with oak trees know they hang on to many of their leaves throughout the winter. The gusty winds in the springtime are the Lord’s way of cleaning and pruning these majestic trees, preparing them for the coming buds and new leaves they will bring.

As I herded the leaves down into the woods with the blower, a phrase from the Psalter came to mind. Psalm 104 says “the winds do Your will” in speaking of the Lord’s sovereign use of the winds to accomplish His purposes.

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