Elijah


June 16
1 Kings 19:1-14

A whisper in the desert

King Ahab went back and told his wife Jezebel about how Elijah’s God had sent fire that burned up the whole altar; and how that Elijah had ordered the prophets of Baal to be killed. Jezebel was furious! She sent a message to Elijah; “May the gods strike me dead if I don’t do to you what you did to the prophets of Baal!”

Elijah was afraid and fled for his life. He found a cave where he could spend the night. Suddenly, the Lord spoke to him and said, “Go out and stand on the mountain, for the Lord is about to pass by.”

First, the Lord sent a furious wind that shattered the rocks, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. After the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he covered his face and went and stood at the entrance of the cave and God spoke to Him.

Does God speak with a voice of thunder?

God spoke—and all of creation came into being. By His words the earth was formed and every creature was given life. To do that, God’s voice must be very powerful!

When we hear a loud clap of thunder roll across the dark sky, we get an idea of how it would sound if God were to speak (see Joel 3:16).

However, God does not want to scare us by using His loud voice when he speaks to us. Elijah may have expected God to speak through the powerful wind or the earthquake, but instead, God spoke in a gentle whisper.

When God speaks to us, He doesn’t shout at us from heaven. He uses the quiet voice of the Holy Spirit in our hearts to speak to us, just like the gentle whisper Elijah heard. In fact, if we don’t get away from the noise of life and quietly spend time with Him, we may not even hear His voice.

Verse for today

“…How faint the whisper we hear of him! Who then can understand the thunder of his power?" Job 26:14