Weekly Words

Listening for God’s Whispers

Have you ever heard God speak to you? So many of us in critical, questionable, or depressing times in our lives seek to hear from God through some miraculous move, earth shattering sign, or a divine dream. Yet often we find ourselves waiting and wanting seemingly in vain. Such was the case with the prophet Elijah in the 19th chapter of 1 Kings when Elijah is running for his life, fleeing from the political wrath of Jezebel. The 11th – 13th verse of this chapter says:

11 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. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 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?" (NIV)

This text is filled with such splendid irony in that God continues to be absent in the moments we would expect God to be present. Surely Elijah knew that when the wind tore mountains and shattered rocks God was ready to usher in a word. If not, there could be absolutely no mistaking that God was moving and speaking through the earthquake. However, still no God. After all that, I know Elijah was in full expectation that God was ready to speak through the subsequent fire that appears after the earthquake. I mean, three is a charm right?

All this goes on while Elijah is on a mountain that God ordered him to stand on while waiting on God to pass by. And after all the colossal commotion of natural forces, Elijah is standing still waiting on God. Then, all of a sudden a gentle whisper tip toes through the air preparing the way for God’s voice. Who knew? In all of God’s Greatness and Glory, God would bypass the chance to ride on the waves of the wind, ignore the opportunity to show up through the force of the earthquake, and forgo the occasion to be found in the fire. All of this chaos, and God chooses to speak through a whisper.

It is tempting to wait for God to show up in some miraculous sign, huge dream, or through some dazzling prophetic word. The absence of these is why so many of us feel that God does not show up in our lives or speak a word to our lives. But how many of us are listening for God to whisper? Are we attentive to small moves of our conscious, the simple flicker of our intuition that God so often uses to nudge us to chart the right course or take the right path. I want to encourage you today to stop demanding that God show up on your terms in some grand and magnanimous manner, and take a quiet moment to listen for God to whisper.

Humbly in Christ’s Love,
Pastor B.A. Jackson