THE STILL SMALL VOICE

Elijah was a prophet of the Lord who lived around 900 B.C.  God worked many miracles through Elijah including sending fire from heaven in a great contest between him and the prophets of Baal.  The story with which I most identify from Elijah's life, however, is found in the 19th chapter of 1 Kings. 

 

After Elijah's confrontation on Mt. Carmel with the Baal worshippers, Queen Jezebel of Israel was furious with him and commanded that he be put to death.  Elijah's response was like what yours or mine might be: he fled for his life, traveling a day's journey into the wilderness to hide.  While there, Elijah began to feel sorry for himself, and asked God to end his life.  Instead, the Lord sends an angel to minister to him, providing food and water to sustain him.  On the strength of that food, Elijah is able to travel 40 days to Mt. Horeb, where he finds a cave to hide in.  It is there that God asks him this pointed question, "What doest thou here, Elijah?" (1 Kings 19:9)  Elijah answers the Lord by saying, "I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away." (1 Kings 19:10).

 

I can remember too many times in my life when I have felt like Elijah.  No, not for nearly as glorious a reason as Elijah, but discouraged, defeated, and feeling confused about why things didn't work out the way I thought they should.  Not a very great place to be in.  Right at that very moment, however, while I'm hiding myself in my cave and shutting everyone else out is when God has spoken to me and said, "What are you doing here?"  God always makes us examine our motives.  We may try to blanket our actions by using "godly" excuses; but, in the end, God sees through us and demands to know why we are following our own fears instead of His work.  You see, God still had a work for Elijah to do - and He still has a work for you and me to do, too - but we can't accomplish God's work while we're hiding and feeling sorry for ourselves.

 

God told Elijah to leave the cave and go stand on the mount.  When he did so the Lord passed by him, and a mighty wind went before Him that broke apart the rocks of the mountain.  The Lord was not in the mighty wind, however.  Next, there was a great earthquake that shook the mountain, but God was not in the earthquake either.  After this, there was a fire that passed through; but again, God was not in the fire.  Finally, there was a still, small voice; and that's where God was found! 

 

It's no coincidence that Mt. Horeb was the same spot where God revealed Himself to Moses, hiding him in the cleft of the rock while He passed by him in His glory.  It was there that the Lord said to Moses, "The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation." (Exodus 34:6, 7).  It was not in His fearsome power, but in His goodness and mercy that God most wanted to be known.  Yes, He often uses the earthquakes, the winds, and the fires to get our attention; but it is in His still, small voice that He wants to speak to us.  It's when we quiet ourselves before the Lord that we discover Who He really is.  It's when we quit running and hiding that He can speak to us.  God would have preferred that Elijah not run from his enemies, but he was too frightened and frustrated to hear what God wanted. 

 

It is often after our greatest victories that we experience our most challenging trials.  If we’re not careful, we can spend a lifetime looking for God only in the wind and the earthquake, and miss Him when He tries to speak to us in the still, small voice.  I know we all love it when the fire of God falls, but our spiritual walk will always be shallow until we learn to discern God’s voice. 

 

Years ago, I knew a young man who had just recently been saved.  He came by our house one night and asked if I would pray with him that God would provide him with a job.  We prayed together, and just a few days later, he returned to say that God had answered our prayer and that he had a new job.  I asked my friend where he would be working, and he said that he would be bartending at a local bar.  I was a little taken aback, I wanted to tell him that perhaps this wasn’t God, and he should keep looking for something more suitable; but I felt a check in my spirit to keep quiet about it.  I wondered at this, but trusted that God knew best.  Later that week, the young man returned to say that he had lost his job.  I asked why, and he said that he was pouring a drink for a patron one night and when he slid it across the bar to the customer, the Holy Spirit spoke inside of him and said, “If you wouldn’t drink that yourself, why would you serve it to another?”  He said, “After that, I knew I couldn’t stay there anymore.”  How grateful I was that I had kept my mouth shut so that my friend could have the opportunity to learn God’s voice for himself.

 

Psalm 103:7 tells us, “He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel.”  I don’t want to merely witness the acts of God; I want to know His ways and understand His will.  I want to learn the principles behind why God does what he does.  This is part of what it means to become the friend of God.     

 

Once God had Elijah’s attention, He told him that there were three things that He wanted him to do.  He was to go and anoint Hazael to be the king of Syria, Jehu to be king of Israel, and Elisha to succeed him as prophet of the Lord.  Through these three men, God would deal with Israel and their hardened hearts.  Also, God revealed to Elijah that he was not alone in serving the Lord.  God told him that he had 7,000 men who had not bowed the knee to Baal. 

 

So, if you are going through some great trial in your life, it may be because of something that you did right rather than something you did wrong.  It may be that the enemy of your soul is trying to get you discouraged so that you will stop doing what God wants you to do.  If he can get you to run away and hide yourself in a cave, he has succeeded in quieting your witness.  God is not done with you yet!  He has something great planned, but you may have to put aside your fears and trust Him.  This isn’t easy, especially when you’re running for your life.  Jesus said that if you seek to save your life, you will lose it; but if you lose your life for His sake, you will keep it to life eternal.  The choice is yours.  He will give you grace to accomplish anything that He asks of you - you can be sure of it.  So, climb out of that cave, learn to hear God’s still, small voice, and get back in the fray.  You will find yourself strengthened by His might and power, and you will come to know and understand His ways intimately.    

                                                                                                                                                        

“The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.  For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.  For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.” (Romans 10:8-11).