Hear The Still Small Voice

There's an old testament story in the bible in which the prophet Elijah tried to bring the people of Israel back to worshipping God. His efforts failed, and he was disheartened to say the least.

He ends up hiding in a cave, in solitude. But God wants to bring Elijah some encouragement, so he tells him to come stand outside the cave, that he'd soon be passing by. The story goes:

A huge wind arose, so strong that it caused rocks from the mountain to fall and shatter. However, God was not in the wind. After the wind, an earthquake occurred, but God was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake, there was a fire, but God was not in the fire, either. Finally, there came a still, small voice, which marked God's presence.

I believe we are in a time when God wants us to hear his still small voice. We're pinned into a place of quiet like we've never experienced before. I think often, likely too often, I spend a lot of times looking for God in the grandiose, in the places where I feel relevant and driven to succeed and where I have influence and impact. And maybe all along God has been saying - be still.

I think God was telling Elijah, I don't need wind and earthquakes and fire to make a world changing impact. And in turn, I think he was also telling Elijah there was a lot for him to learn and contribute through a whisper as well.

I hear a lot of talk about when we return to normal. People wonder when "this" will be over. When will we go back to school and to work and to play. And that is all perfectly understandable.

In a way, though, right now, we are all standing outside the cave, and there is wind and there is earthquake and there is fire. And it might be easy to imagine God is in all that somewhere trying to tell us something. It's also possible, if we can resist the temptation to return as quickly as possible to the world of relevance, that there's a whisper you and I need to hear.

I believe in these challenging times, anything really is possible.