After all that Elijah had been through, the ups and downs, victories and flights, he snapped. He tells God in 1 Kings 19:4 that he's had enough and wants to die. He's over it.
But God isn't done with him. He tells him to rest up and be fed by God because his next journey can't be done in man's strength. Elijah goes to Mount Horeb to meet with God. Horeb is another name for Mount Sinai, where, of course, God spoke to Moses and delivered the Ten Commandments.
When God asks what Elijah's doing there, he replies with a negative prayer about all the misgivings of Israel. He never mentions the awesome miracles that God has performed recently. He has let the evil resistance of a single person, Jezebel, turn his attitude sour. A woman can do that, ya know. (Kidding, ladies. Not really, but, yeah.)
So God tells him to go outside the cave and stand before Him. Then a "great and strong wind" blows so hard that it broke the rocks into pieces. But God wasn't in the wind. Then an earthquake, I suppose more rocks broke, but God wasn't in the earthquake, either. As if those weren't enough, next came a fire, but God still wasn't in the fire. Then came a low whisper.
I read that the Hebrew for this means, "a thin silence" (Sarah, check me on that). When Elijah heard the whisper, he came out of the cave with his face covered. Then a voice spoke to him again.
What blows me away about this is, first, that God had told Elijah to come out of the cave. He didn't do this until he heard the whisper after all the commotion. With the mountain falling down around him, he doesn't get curious until he hears next to nothing, a thin silence. So why all the racket in the first place?
I wonder how often in my life, and yours, does God tell us to get before Him and we hesitate. How many times are we hoping to hear from God and a strong, powerful wind blows through? We think, "This is it, the big one. Surely this is God." But God isn't in that. Then there's another big shake-up, or earthquake. It's strong and powerful, too. Surely this is from God because it's big and it's shaking my life all up. But God isn't in that, either. Then a fire, with all its fury and cleansing destruction. This just has to be God. Nope. Then we think we hear the faintest sound. So we come out of our cave and stand before God.
We get to points in our life when we want a change, a shake-up. We want something new and we beg God to speak and drop something huge on us. God might tell us to come out and stand before Him to hear His Word. But we balk. Does God throw up His hands and leave?
I think He draws us out. I think He gets our attention so we will come out and stand before just Him, no distractions. I say from experience that there have been strong winds, but they eventually faded from lack of God. There have been earthquakes, but they grew silent because God wasn't in them. And there were fires, furious and destructive, but they flickered out. After each of these, when things were silent, my attention was on God.
"I thought You were the wind, the earthquake, and the fire."
"I was just getting your attention. You've been listening for your own voice, not Mine. I need you to hear Me because there's more to do. I'm not through with you just yet."
