BY: MEGAN GILMORE
Have you ever deeply desired to hear from God? Felt alone and desperately wanting to hear His voice? I know I have felt this way before. Can I share what God recently reminded me of?
I was at my parent’s house in Palm Springs, California. You may be familiar with this area of Southern California. However, some of you may not know that it is a desert and known for the hot, dry weather. It is located in s a valley between mountains. A fact some are unaware of is that it is also very, very windy! When the wind comes it is intense. It is so intense that you can hear its roar. Not only can you hear the wind whipping around but you hear the wind picking pick up objects and move them around.
The day I was there the wind was extremely intense! I heard it whipping through the trees. It was moving the chairs on the deck around. I decided to go take a look and watch it through the window. As I stood there looking at the evidence of the wind I had been hearing, I heard God whisper to me.
“Don’t forget I am in the whisper...not the wind.”
He was reminding me of His still quiet whisper. His words had me reflecting on the story of Elijah in 1 Kings.
A quick recap of what led to these passages of scripture. Elijah had just been on Mount Carmel to take on the prophets of Baal. He wanted the people to see that the only powerful God was the God of Isreal. Y’all...God showed up! The prophets of Baal had tried to call upon him to start a fire - it went on for a long time, but nothing happened. We know nothing happened because Baal is not the one true God! Elijah made the stakes even higher by pouring water on his pile of wood. When Elijah called on God to bring down fire...He brought it down! It licked up every ounce of water and started a fire.
Now there is a little more back story to Elijah. He had already announced there were be famine. Elijah was not liked by King Ahab and especially disliked by Ahab’s with Jezebel. After being God’s vessel to show off with the fire Elijah flees in fear of Jezebel.
We find Elijah in chapter 19 of 1 Kings having run for his life. This is where I want to focus on what God was speaking to me about.
Elijah is hiding in a cave - afraid.
“But the Lord said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
Elijah replied, “I have zealously served the Lord God Almighty. But the people of Israel have broken their covenant with you, torn down your altars, and killed every one of your prophets. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me, too.”
“Go out and stand before me on the mountain,” the Lord told him. And as Elijah stood there, the Lord passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.
And a voice said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 1 Kings 19:9-13
Elijah was standing there ready to hear from God. Every loud and big event was not the Lord. The wind was not Him, the earthquake was not Him, the fire was not Him...again all these big obvious signs were not God speaking. God spoke in a gentle, quiet whisper. I am sure Elijah expected big and loud, but he was met with a quiet, gentle whisper.
As I was thinking about this I started to see the world as the loud wind. There is a lot of sounds, voices, loud noises that we think will be God speaking to us. We are looking to signs like the earthquake to be God speaking. God does use signs at times to speak to us. However, I think we can miss Him when He is whispering.
Elijah was running in fear and needed to hear from God. God did not meet Elijah in any of the big ways he expected God to speak through. God met Him with that gentle, quiet whisper. What would have happened if he had only looked for big signs of evidence that God was speaking? He would not have truly heard from God. He would not have gotten his next assignment. He would have missed out on participating in what God was doing.
You might be wondering how this relates to us. I know that there have been such challenging circumstances over the past year that have caused fear, uncertainty, and anxiety. I know that we have been praying, asking for God to speak to us. Have we been expecting God to speak in big and loud ways? Maybe we have thought that He was not answering but maybe we missed Him in the whisper.
God is here.
God is listening.
God loves to speak to His children.
Quiet your soul and your mind. Ask God to speak and then just wait to hear His whisper. You may have to push aside distractions that are not Him, but He will show up. He will speak. God is faithful!
Don’t forget that He is not in the wind...wait for the whisper.