A Still Small Voice

As most people are aware of, God has many ways of speaking to mankind as a whole and to His children in particular, who are at least attempting to walk in His ways.  That last part is usually where I fit in ... attempting ... to follow Him in my walk.  Sometimes I'm successful, although the majority of times it feels like I'm not.

That's why I need Jesus to make intercession for me.  At times we all fail don't we ... even the Old Testament prophet that I want to look at today.  He was a "man of God" ...  yet he ran and hid in a cave for his own safety.

Elijah had just challenged the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal to call down fire from Heaven and burn up each of their sacrifices to prove which God was the true God.  All morning the prophets of Baal called on their god but nothing happened.

At noon, Elijah said, "Your god must be busy, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is sleeping.  You better cry even louder if you want to wake him up."

So Elijah built his alter to the Lord God of Israel, called down the fire of the Lord and it consumed the burnt sacrifice, the wood, the stones, the dust, and all the water that had been poured over the alter.  The God of Israel answered, not Baal. 

Next Elijah's men took all four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal down to the brook Kishon, and slew them.  It was a great victory for Elijah through the power of God. 

If so, why did Elijah lose faith and run and hide?  Maybe he wasn't as faithless as it looks.  It could be that he used wisdom after all.  He ran from the anger of a woman named Jezebel, the wife of Ahab, the King of northern Israel.  She wanted to take Elijah's life for killing the prophets of Baal.  Jezebel it seems, was the real power behind the throne.

We pick up the story in 1st Kings 19:9-12 ... where Elijah finds a cave in which to hid from Jezebel.  Wouldn't you just know it, God finds him there and says ... "What are you doing here Elijah?" 

Elijah responds to the Lord ... "The children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, I'm all that is left serving you, and they seek my life, they want to kill me."

So God tells Elijah to go out of the cave and stand on the top of the mountain, "before the Lord."  God then shows Elijah ... real power.

"And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake 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 ... a still small voice."

The scripture isn't very clear, but it appears that Elijah goes back to the entrance of the cave after this magnificence display of God's power over nature and the world, and hides his face with his mantle, which was a cloak or cape of sheepskin.

Again, Elijah hears the voice of the Lord asking him the same question ... "What are you doing here Elijah?"  Elijah responds to the Lord with the same answer ... "They seek my life." 

Elijah, a man of God has just proven that he was just like we are ... slow to perceive, slow to understand, and slow to learn.  The purpose of all this was to show that not only could God clean up the evil in the world and change things by His power and might ... but that He doesn't always have to do so through fire and wind and shaking.

God was showing there is a gentle way He also can change the hearts of men.  There is a mildness in His nature which God pursues; He is long-suffering and patient ... God doesn't always speak to us thru the tempest.  After the wind, after the shaking, after the fire,  there was ... a still small voice.

This lesson was for Elijah; but not for him alone.  This lesson is also for us, for believers today.

Psalm 46:10 ... "Be still and know that I am God ... "

It seems as if all we hear is the wind, or the noise of war and hate in the world.   May we cease from trusting our own strength and our own works.  Let's stop once in a while and listen for His voice.  "Be still and know" ... listen for that ... "still small voice."

To "know" means to own and acknowledge God and His promises.  Jesus said in John 10:27 ... "My sheep hear my voice ..."

I don't know about you, but when the Lord speaks to me, it's usually in a still small voice ... and I have to listen real close or I can miss it.

So loved ones ... learn to recognize which voice is the voice of the Lord.

He is speaking to you.