God in the Whisper

I’ve never been a very heavy sleeper, but when I had children any sleep I might have been getting disappeared. I like to say that once you become a mommy you never really sleep again. I think something clicks inside of you that allows you to get the rest you need (most of the time) while still having one ear open to hear anything from a cough in the night to the pitter patter of little feet coming down the stairs.

I’m sure it’s not that way for everyone. My husband, for example, sleeps perfectly well through everything from my daughter coming into our room in the night complaining about a nightmare to a hurricane-strength gale. For me, though, there is a little piece of me that is always aware of the sound in the night—the still whispers.

“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. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’” (1 Kings 19:11-13 NIV)

I’ve always found this story to be so interesting. In the midst of a really “down” moment for Elijah, God decides Elijah could use a little moral support. And what better support could there be, really, than a visit from God? God brought Elijah His presence, but first to show where He was NOT. He was not in the wind; he was not in the earthquake; he was not in the fire. Imagine how much of a contrast the gentle whisper, sometimes referred to as a “still small voice,” must have been in comparison to the previous manifestations.

God knew exactly what Elijah needed—a personal encounter with God. There was nothing at this time that was fundamentally wrong with Elijah’s theology, but there was something lacking in his experience. We all tend to look for God in dramatic expressions. Sometimes, though, we can only encounter God properly in less dramatic surroundings.