Day 178.
And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper. (1 Kings 19:11, 12 ESV)
This passage has been such a comfort to me as we see God in the low whisper rather than the great and spectacular events. The great and spectacular, of course, was what Elijah had just witnessed on Mt Carmel as the fire fell from heaven upon his sacrifice in such a dramatic fashion. But in the aftermath he grew discouraged as Jezebel was left unchanged. God seems to be reminding Elijah that God is in the ordinary times of quiet rather than the extraordinary times of dramatic victory. This is always good for us to remember when we think about our own desire to see some “God thing” in order to know that God is at work, or are encouraged “to look for the wave of the Spirit” so that we might catch it.
What strikes me this morning is this: if God IS in the low whisper, can I hear it? Can you hear it? Do you take the time to be quiet and listen to the low whisper? How ought we hear? It seems to me that we must have some uninterrupted and prayer time in which we are simply quiet. Rather than spending all our prayer time in petition or even thanksgiving and confession, we need some quiet time where we can allow the Lord to speak. It may be he speaks through the Scripture as we read, or through our time of meditation on the Scripture, or it may be the bringing to mind of memorized Scripture, or people, or a passion. I’m not suggesting that we look for an extra biblical word from God to become rogue guide. But certainly we need to make room for the Spirit to work “by and with” His Word and work in our lives. Have you spent some quiet time in prayer today?
