A Gentle Whisper

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any nights I lay in my bed on Main Street and listened to the telltale signs of an approaching midnight train.  The railroad tracks were located right across the street from our home and I always knew when a train was coming. The dishes in our kitchen cabinets would begin vibrating with a low rhythmic hum.  Soon after, the panes of glass in the windows and the entire front door would join in the music, creating a feeling of harmony and security as the train grew ever closer.

Just as the engine passed our home, the engineer would pull down on the whistle, sending a sharp shrill through the air, splitting the silence that had reigned only moments before.  As the whistle disappeared into the darkness, the familiar sound of the boxcars moving along the tracks, their wheels pounding out a steady rhythm, filled the hole in the air left by the train’s whistle. At such times, all communication was impossible because the sound of the train was overwhelming.

After a few minutes, the last car passed by, the rhythmic hum of the railroad cars stopped, and the kitchen returned to its slumber.  All was still and quiet.  The silence was almost deafening but in the stillness, I heard something I hadn’t been aware of before the train’s passing.  There, in the darkness, I could hear the steady ticking of the grandmother clock in our living room.  The pendulum swung back and forth, marking the passage of the night.  As I listened, I relaxed and dozed off into a deep, peaceful sleep. Had it not been for the train, however, I would have taken little, if any notice of the ticking clock in the next room.

The prophet Elijah could identify very well with my experience.  After confronting the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel and defeating them, he was running for his life.  Jezebel, the queen, had promised to treat him exactly as he had treated Baal’s prophets.  Elijah heard the sound of the oncoming train and decided to seek shelter as far away from those tracks as his feet would carry him.  As we look at our scripture today, Elijah is in hiding, worried, scared, and unsure of what the future holds.  He has just experienced a mighty move of God in his life but now it seems that all signs point to his destruction.

God, however, has something else in mind for Elijah and we need only look at a few verses from 1 Kings to understand how God works, not only in the life of Elijah, but in our lives as well.  1 Kings 19:11-13 reads, “The LORD said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD , for the LORD is about to pass by. Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD , but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake.  After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.  When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

There are three distinct things Elijah learned in this passage.  First, if we are to meet God, we must go where He calls us.  We cannot meet Him on ground of our choosing.  Elijah was told to go out and stand on the mountain, not to remain in the cave where he was.  Second, God doesn’t always appear in a flash of fire or a cloud of smoke.  Elijah experienced a strong wind, an earthquake, and a raging fire.  But each time the Scriptures tell us that God was not in these phenomena.  Instead, Elijah heard a gentle whisper (a still small voice in the King James Version) and God was in that whisper. Third, when we become aware of God’s presence, we are humbled.  Like Elijah, we need to cover ourselves, stand in God’s presence, and worship Him. 

There is so much we need to learn from this passage, especially about our Heavenly Father.  He approaches us, not with lightening, or fire, or anything else we conjure up in our minds, but with a gentle whisper.  God is always intimate with us, like a father with his child.  He loves us and cares for us and wants to make Himself known to us in a very real and intimate way.  Earthquakes, strong winds, and fires are sources of fear.  God wants us to approach Him confidently, not out of fear.  The Bible tells us plainly that we are to fear the Lord, that is to respect Him, but it never tells us to be afraid of Him. 

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lijah learned that day that God is always near. He is as near as our breath, as near as our thoughts, and as near as the beating of our hearts.  He chooses to communicate with us, not with whistles and peals of thunder, but through the loving caress of a gentle whisper. Do you hear Him speaking to you today?