Not in the earthquake
Daily Scripture
1 Kings 19:11-13
11 The Lord said, “Go out and stand at the mountain before the Lord. The Lord is passing by.” A very strong wind tore through the mountains and broke apart the stones before the Lord. But the Lord wasn’t in the wind. After the wind, there was an earthquake. But the Lord wasn’t in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake, there was a fire. But the Lord wasn’t in the fire. After the fire, there was a sound. Thin. Quiet. 13 When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his coat. He went out and stood at the cave’s entrance. A voice came to him and said, “Why are you here, Elijah?”
Daily Reflection & Prayer
Elijah was exhausted, afraid, and convinced his ministry was over. God told him to go stand on the mountain, and then came wind strong enough to break rocks, an earthquake, a fire. Elijah didn’t find God in any of it. God showed up instead in a sound so quiet, some Bible translations call it “a still small voice.”
It’s worth noticing Elijah wasn’t wrong to expect something dramatic; he’d just seen fire fall from heaven days earlier. But God doesn’t always repeat the last thing God did. Sometimes God is easy to miss because we’re listening for something loud, and he’s chosen to show up quietly instead.
- Have you ever assumed God had gone silent, only to realize later God has been speaking in something quieter than you expected? What helped you notice it, or what did you miss?
- What would it look like to create real stillness, even for ten minutes, by turning off the podcast, the music, the news, whatever’s filling the silence by default? What do you notice in yourself once the quiet begins?
Prayer
Lord, I confess I often look for you in the loud and dramatic and miss you in the quiet. Slow me down enough to hear the whisper, even when I’m tired and afraid like Elijah was. Amen.
GPS Insights
Mikiala Tennie
When I moved up from my church’s children’s ministry into the student ministry, we met in a former adult Sunday School classroom. This was at a time when the height of technology, was when the person in charge of displaying lyrics during the student worship service, had to change the overhead projector sheet in-time with the music, and make sure it didn’t appear backwards on the screen in the front of the room. There wasn’t a ton of money in the budget, but one investment the church made was to hire a band to lead worship each week for the students, so we had consistency and worship leaders who were committed to creating a positive worship experience for us.
At present, the band Tenth Avenue North has won multiple Dove Awards, released fifteen studio albums, and had significant radio play on Christian stations over the past two decades. But when I was in middle school, they were just some college kids we thought were so cool because they led our student worship each week. Because of that, my favorite album of theirs isn’t any of the ones that found success on Christian music charts. It’s the one you can hardly find recordings of because they made it as those young college kid worship leaders. One of the songs I will never forget is one that sings about the time Elijah searched for God in these enormous and fearsome acts of nature—a strong wind, an earthquake, a fire—yet God wasn’t speaking to Eijah through those massive earthly experiences. Instead, God spoke in a still, small, voice…a gentle whisper.
The song is not award-worthy, it’s a twenty-year old ditty written by worship leaders even younger than that at the time. It’s young people seeking to understand scripture and how it relates to their daily lives. But it stuck with me over the years as a reminder that even in a world where my family learned to prepare for the strong winds of hurricanes in Florida, or where my middle brother had to brace for an earthquake on a football field in Virginia, or where my youngest brother has to keep a family “go-bag” when California wildfires rage…even in a world that loud and chaotic, God can still speak to us in a gentle whisper. We just have to be willing to stand still and listen.
When Elijah experienced all those elements, he was at place in life where he was exhausted, soul-weary, discouraged, and depressed. His life and circumstances probably felt a lot like trying to survive the dangers of the elements while unprepared and without shelter. Yet in that moment, God didn’t use the chaos to communicate, God forced Elijah’s ears to tune in to the quiet and hear the message God had for him. In the chaotic moments in my life, I’m grateful I can recall that little song from years ago that reminds me to stay attuned to God’s gentle whisper.
Today, I hope that you can find God in the midst of some quiet. I pray that there in the quiet, you’ll be reminded of God’s steadfastness and love for you.
