Giving Birth to Wind

I read through the book of Isaiah recently and this passage stood out to me:
“We were with child, we writhed in labor, but we gave birth to wind. We have not brought salvation to the earth, and the people of the world have not come to life.” Isaiah 26:18
The phrasing of this passage slapped me in the face. It shows us that while we often writhe in labor—if we do it without God—we will give birth only to wind. As a driven person this causes me to stop in my tracks. And rightly so. As one of the commentaries on this passage states, “what we vainly attempt, God will accomplish.” Which is why our approach to that which we do, or labor with, must always be to partner with what God is already doing instead of blazing our own trail and hoping that He might be interested in it. Isaiah continues and makes the point even stronger in the next verse.
“But your dead will live, Lord; their bodies will rise—let those who dwell in the dust wake up and shout for joy—your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead.” Isaiah 26:19
Not only do our efforts give birth to the wind, but God’s efforts make the dead come alive. The sooner we acknowledge this and live accordingly, the sooner our life will be spent producing results. Don’t spend your life producing wind. We can choose to labor in the dust or in the dew, but only one of them brings life.

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Jeremy Jernigan

Speaker | Author | Founder of Communion Wine Co. https://linktr.ee/JeremyJernigan