The LORD was not in the great and strong wind that pulverized the rocks. Nor was He in the quake that shook the ground. And though you couldn’t take your eyes off the blazing fire, the LORD wasn’t in that either. Thinking this morning how sometimes what we need is to hear the sound of a thin silence.

Hovering over the story of God tending to the depressed prophet. Elijah had hit them with his best shot (1Kings 18) and had nothing to show for it; nothing had changed. And though I can’t identify with Elijah’s prayer to “take away my life”, his words, “It is enough!” seem to resonate. I’m tired. It’s time to tap out. Let’s call it a day, shall we? Can’t we just go home?

That Elijah was done, is pretty evident. That the prophet of God who defeated the 850 prophets of Baal and Asherah was spent is pretty clear. To say that he “lost courage” after Jezebel put out a hit on him would be an understatement. And so, he runs. And so, God intervenes. And so, he ends up at the mount of God at Horeb, Sinai. And there he holes up in a cave.

And there, God asks the kind of penetrating question that God is prone to ask. In the garden, the LORD God called to the man and asked, “Where are you?” Here, on the mount, the searching, seeking God of His people asks the weary prophet, “What are you doing here?” (19:9).

Elijah, you’ve come to the place where the bush once burned without being consumed. You’re standing on the holy ground that compels men to put off their sandals. I have thundered on this mountain before. From here I have revealed my will and my ways for my people. So, what are you doing here? Why the cave? What do you want?

And, as is often the case with all of us, Elijah, the man “subject to like passions as we are” (James 5:17 KJV), can’t help but focus on himself. The world around him has descended into chaos and Elijah boils it down to, “I, even I only, am left.”

And God knows just what His weary messenger needs.

And He said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the LORD.” And behold, the LORD passed by, . . .

(1Kings 19:11a ESV)

Stand on the mountain before Yahweh. Post up before the LORD’s presence. Firmly plant your feet, fix your eyes, open your ears, and behold anew My glory.

Thinking that’s what you need sometimes amidst the overwhelming chaos. A fresh intake of God’s glory. And where does it come from?

And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke 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 the sound of a low whisper.

(1Kings 19:11b-12 ESV)

The sound of a low whisper. Three words in the original, literally a “voice still small.” Or, as the rendering in my margin reads, a thin silence.

A thin silence, sometimes that’s what is needed amidst the cacophony of the chaos around us. Needing God’s still small voice when we feel victimized. Waiting on the whisper of God when we’re feeling waylaid by life. Hearing afresh His quiet call as, in our quiet place, we open and read His word.

“Be still, and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10 ESV)

A thin silence . . .

By Your grace, Lord, show me again Your glory.