Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Well, hey, friends, welcome to the Wednesday edition of the Weekday podcast. All week long, we've been talking about this idea of starting over.
[00:00:05] And I don't know if you're like a lot of us, but sometimes you probably feel that feeling of needing proof before you trust something. Like if you can't see it, if you can't measure it, if you can't control it, then it doesn't feel real enough to lean on. Well, that's a fair instinct most days, but it runs straight into a wall when it comes to how God actually works in a life. Jesus tells Nicodemus this in John 3. Starting in verse 7, he says, do not be amazed that I said to you that you must be born again.
[00:00:31] The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it's going. So is everyone who is born in the Spirit. What Jesus is doing is he's using a word picture that would have landed hard for Nicodemus. In his language, the same word means both wind and spirit. You can't engineer the wind.
[00:00:51] You cannot summon it. You can aim it or shut it off, like, you just can't do those things.
[00:00:57] But you can absolutely see what the wind does. You can see when a tree is bending, you can see a flag that's snapping. You can see leaves that are scattered across the parking lot. And that's how Jesus describes the Spirit's work in someone's life, that you don't get to run it, but you can watch what it does. And maybe that's actually good news for you today. If you've been waiting to feel a certain way before you believe God is actually working, waiting for some dramatic, undeniable moment, you might be watching for the wrong thing. You don't get to see the wind. You get to see the branches move. So here's your move today. Look for the leaves moving, not the wind itself. Where has something in you softened that used to be hard? Where have you found yourself more patient or more honest or more willing to forgive than you used to be? That's not you. That's not nothing either. That's the Spirit doing what only he can do, quietly, on his own timing. Whether or not you can explain how. You don't have to control it, you just have to notice it. You don't get to see the wind. You get to see what it moves. But here's the thing I haven't told you yet. For a lot of us, the reason we don't reach for help sooner isn't confusion. It's fear that if we ask, we'll get caught. Tomorrow, we're going to deal with that fear head on. Until then, have a great day, and I hope to see you back here soon.
