“And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.”
The writer of Kings tells us after Elijah's desperate plea, an Angel appeared to him and told him to eat (twice). After resting, Elijah traveled 40 days and nights to Mount Sinai, where he set up camp in a cave. There in the cave, God ‘asked’ him:
“Why are you here?”
Elijah told God his worries and fears. But instead of comforting him, God told him to stand in front of the mountain and wait.
First, a windstorm assaults the mountain, loosening rocks and toppling trees. But Elijah couldn't hear God's voice in the wind.
Second, an earthquake shook both the mountain and the prophet, rattling bones and boulders around like toys… But Elijah couldn't hear God's voice in the Earthquake.
Third, a fire consumed the mountain, and licked the landscape with its flaming tongue, singing the prophet as he stood in front of the mountain.
“Our lives can feel like they’re full of earthquakes and windstorms and fires – hot and full and violent and loud and rushing and big and crazy. But if we live to and for these things, we’ll be swiftly burned out and crushed under their weight.”
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But Elijah couldn't hear God's voice in the fire.
All these things, wind, earthquake, and fire, grand displays of power and dominance, loud and demonstrative forces that consume and overwhelm: God did not speak through any of them.
And so Elijah waited. Through the noise and the pain and the shaking and the heat, he waited. And at the end of it all (who knows how long it took), there came upon the air a gentleness, like a whisper, like the breath of God.
Other translations say that Elijah heard God in the “still small voice.” Some translators of the Biblical texts and experts in Hebrew say that this phrase in its original form doesn’t refer to audible noise, but means something like “God was in the sound of sheer silence.”
Absolute presence.
Who knows if perhaps it was God who was then ready to speak or Elijah who was then ready to listen?
In this place of contemplation, quiet, stillness – a meditative state – God encouraged a tired, heartbroken, freaked out Elijah, and told him what to do next.
Not too long before Elijah's encounter with God in the cave, He was in a spot of trouble with some Baal worshippers. But he prayed, called down fire from heaven, and God answered with fire. Maybe due to all the grand, powerful and demonstrative things Elijah had experienced, he had begun to take the small and silent stuff for granted; living from high to high.
I think some of us can relate to that.
Our lives can feel like they’re full of earthquakes and windstorms and fires – hot and full and violent and loud and rushing and big and crazy. But if we live to and for these things, we’ll be swiftly burned out and crushed under their weight.
Listen for God; make yourself available to his instruction and presence; get silent. Remove yourself from the all the crazy stuff that happens around you. Turn off your phone. Forget about your schedule, the dishes in the sink, the shows on Netflix, the problems at work… and just be still. Silent. Focused. Relaxed.
Inhale. Exhale.
He is waiting.
Written by Liz Milani
Thank you for this stabilizing helpful message
No worries PJ. Thanks for taking to taking the time to let me know that it was meaningful to you.
Liz.
Love these verses with Elijah.
I went on a silent retreat a number of years ago, and it wasn’t till the last day of that retreat waiting to hear God speak to me. I was reading my Bible and clearly felt God saying “Why don’t you just listen to me” tears flowed. It was the most humbling experience I’ve ever had with our Lord.
JOHN!! Gosh, I would LOVE to do a silent retreat… I've been thinking of sending my husband Jesse on one for his birthday… with small kids at home, I think my daily meditations is about as silent as I'm going to be able to get for a year or two. haha.
But HOW AMAZING ids practicing silence and listening? Truly transformation. So glad you had that experience.
And thank you for taking the time to let me know that you're enjoying the series about Elijah. Means heaps.
Liz.