God’s Gentle Whisper

Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces 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. (1 Kings 19:11-12)

God had led the discouraged prophet to a lonely mountain in the middle of the dry wilderness. It wasn’t just any mountain, but the same place where many centuries before Moses had met with God and where the people of Israel received the law of God. So here, at the special place on Mount Sinai, God told Elijah: “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” God knew what the depressed and discouraged Elijah needed. He needed a personal encounter with God. There was nothing fundamentally wrong with Elijah’s theology, but at the time there was something lacking in his experience.

God met this lack. Notice the words, “Behold, the Lord passed by.” God brought His presence before Elijah, but first to show where He was not. The Lord was not in the wind, He was not in the earthquake, and He was not in the fire. Elijah was a man like other men (James 5:17) so, as many others do, Elijah probably only looked for God in dramatic manifestations. Certainly, God sometimes appears in such ways (wind, earthquake, and fire) but He often appears in less dramatic surroundings.

We read the famous verse in Zechariah 4:6: “‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord.” We may know the words of the verse but find the heart of it painfully easy to forget. We tend to look for God’s presence only in some remarkable display of power of one kind or another. We find it hard to believe that God isn’t in the mighty wind or the scary earthquake or the fearful fire. God used this remarkable event in the life of Elijah to reinforce the principle of Zechariah 4:6.

After the wind and the earthquake and the fire had passed, there came “a still small voice.” One commentator called the still small voice a gentle whisper. This final phenomenon was a marked contrast to the previous manifestations. God actually met Elijah in the quiet whisper of a voice instead of the earth-shaking phenomenon that had gone before.

There was a deep truth in this message, both for Elijah and for us. Elijah perhaps thought that the dramatic display of power at Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18:20-40) would turn the nation around. Or perhaps he thought that the radical display of God’s judgment against the priests of Baal following the vindication at Mount Carmel would change the hearts of the nation. Neither of these worked. This example is important for Christian ministers, especially preachers, today. It shows that displays of power and preaching God’s anger don’t necessarily change hearts. Instead, the still small voice of God speaking to the human heart is actually more powerful than outward displays of power or displays of God’s judgment.

Elijah’s success at Mount Carmel faded quickly and it made him think that his whole life as a prophet had been a waste and that he had made no real impact upon the people of God. He had looked at the facts through the grey-colored glasses of unbelief and allowed his imagination to hold more power than the facts before him. God assured Elijah that there were in fact 7,000 people who were faithful to God remaining in Israel (1 Kings 19:18). The revelation of this godly remnant did more than encourage Elijah that he was not alone; it also assured him that his quiet ministry of preaching and encouraging had borne much more fruit than the discouraged prophet had dared believe.

God can still show His power through His still small voice.

Based on The Enduring Word Bible Commentary by David Guzik.

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