A STILL, SMALL VOICE

Recently, we were in Little Rock. One evening, while it was raining, I got a weather alert about San Angelo, TX, our hometown. It said extremely high winds were expected. I called home and asked one of our daughters about it. She said, “Well, mom, it’s pretty bad. In fact, they haven’t decided if it is a tornado.” Turns out, it was not. But the high winds persisted for many hours and caused lots of damage. The next morning, we were having breakfast with friends. Of course, there was a television on, and it was showing the fires that were going on in the Carolinas; great big fires!

It all reminded me of when Elijah was in the cave in the wilderness, hiding from Jezebel. Now, Jezebel gives all of womanhood a bad name. She was worse than Cruella De Vil; she was evil personified. People, including Elijah, feared her greatly. Most of those people should have feared her, but . . . Elijah? The prophet of God who had just had that remarkable victory over Ahab and 850 false prophets? Yes, Elijah.

The word of God came to Elijah and asked him what was he was doing. Elijah answered God by telling Him how faithful he had been. He was just sure that he was all alone and about to be killed. God told Elijah to go stand outside of the cave. God sent a wind so strong that it broke rocks into pieces, but God was not in the wind. Then God sent an earthquake, but He was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake, there was a great fire, but God was not there either. Finally, there was a still, small voice; God asked Elijah why he was in that cave. Elijah began to tell God all the reasons he had for being afraid; do you remember how God answered Elijah? He said, “Go back to work. I have this all under control, and you have a job to do.”

God can use so many different ways to speak to us. We prefer the quiet voice, like the one that came to Samuel in the night. But sometimes, it is a wind like what the apostles had to deal with on the Sea of Galilee. Sometimes, it is an earthquake like the one that swallowed up Korah and the others who disobeyed God. Sometimes, it’s a fire like the one Nebuchadnezzar had in that furnace. Sometimes, it’s a flood like what the world faced in the days of Noah. Sometimes, it is like the stern warning that Jeremiah got when he became so discouraged that he wanted to give up. God’s answer is always the same. “Get back to work.” So, whatever is happening in your life today – storms, fiery ordeals, or a quiet voice - listen for God’s encouragement to you. And never give up.                                                                                             

Patsy Shero, San Angelo, TX, honey@sgcoc.com