I’ve been doing a challenge recently to be silent and surround myself with silence for one hour a day. Challenge is definitely the right word to describe it. Noise constantly surrounds me. In today’s world silence is more deafening than sound. We carry mobile devices that make it easy for people to reach us by calls, texts, and e-mails. We are never alone even when we are alone, but our society seems to have more problems with loneliness than ever before. We are never far from the demands of this world; constantly at its beck and call.
Standing for God in a world that abhors Him is not easy. This isn't a new thing. In 1 Kings 19 the prophet Elijah ran from a wicked queen named Jezebel. She killed many prophets and promised to do the same to him. In fear he fled. Can’t say I blame him. Discouraged and downtrodden Elijah requested that God take his life. The Lord strengthened him and led him to His mountain where they could talk. I Kings 19: 9-13 says: And the word of the LORD came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 10 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.” 11 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. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.” He spoke softly to His child. I believe that is still how He speaks. In our hustle and bustle, in our zeal for the Lord we can miss out on Him. We can miss what He is saying because we have Him on mute and the world on full blast. That is also why the prophet Elijah grew discouraged. He only saw the circumstances in front of him rather than Who stood behind him. In verses 15-18 God reveals to him that not all of Israel has bowed to Baal, but that He has reserved 7,000. Elijah was not the only one left. When Elijah got quiet he was able to hear the voice of God. When we get quiet it gives God a chance to reveal what He is doing, and gives us the ears to hear it.
A lot of times when I expect God to move I am waiting for a huge sign that resembles an earthquake or a fire. God most definitely can use things at that level to get our attention, but most of the time He speaks to us quietly. He whispers to us and waits to see if we will respond in faith just like He did with Elijah. James 5:17 reminds us that Elijah was just a man, but God did the extraordinary through Him because he took the time to listen and pursued God's direction in faith. Sometimes He leaves room in our circumstances for us to choose to trust Him or doubt that He will work it out. God’s ways of doing things often do not match our imaginings. That is why it is not a recommendation, but ESSENTIAL to spend time with Him. We are bombarded with messages, but it is His message of loving truth that needs to invade our minds, hearts, and spirits. Let His whisper drown out the shouts of what is only temporary.
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