Matt's Anthology

As I walked the dog this morning, snow was falling.  It was like a white blanket.  It was beautiful, peaceful but mostly what I noticed was it was silent.  The neighborhood, which is usually filled with the noise of school buses and people rushing off to work, was just silent.  The only sound was that of the snow falling against itself.  It was almost like a gentle whisper.  It reminded me of a story from 1Kings Chapter 19.

In Verses 9-13 the prophet Elijah is running for his life and hiding in a cave.  Now he had just seen the Lord in a big way (1Kings18) but he is running and hiding. Truth be told all of us run and hide from time to time and so we pick up the story there.

1Kings19:9: There he went into a cave and spent the night.  And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”  Now please allow me to paraphrase his answer;  “I have run around doing what YOU called me to do and now look at the mess I’m in, I am all by myself and these people even want kill me.”  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.  After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire.  And after the fire came a gentle whisper.  When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

I believe the Lord showed Elijah the fire, wind and earthquake to show a portion of His power.  But He whispered to him to show him his Love.  In our lives, in all the running around, in all the noise, the Lord is still whispering.  Don’t run and hide from your life.  You are not all by yourself.  Don’t get burned out by all the things you are called to do.  If you are there hiding in a cave, running for your life; I ask you the same question the Lord asked, “What are you doing here?”  Go out and stand on the top of your mountain and enjoy the silence.  He is whispering His love for you.

~ by MGilstrap on February 11, 2010.

Posted in Biblical Lessons