The Ongoing Conversation
And the word of the LORD came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He replied, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.” 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. Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” (1 Kings 19: 9-13)
Jorge Rodgriguez was the orneriest bandit on the Texas-Mexico border. The guy would often slip across the line, raid the banks of South Texas, and steal ‘em blind. Before they could catch him, he would race back into Mexico and hide out. No matter how hard the law tried, they could never catch him. Finally the Texans got fed up with this nonsense and decided to put the toughest Texas Ranger they had on the case. After only a few days of searching, the Ranger found Jorge in a dusty, dingy saloon south of the border. He bolted into the bar, pulled both guns, and yelled, “Okay, stick ‘em up Jorge; you’re under arrest! I know that you’ve got the money!” Suddenly, a little guy over in the corner butted in. “Wait, wait . . . just a minute, senor,” he said. “Jorge does not speak English. He’s my amigo, so I’ll translate for you.” The Ranger explained, “Look, we know that Jorge is the bandit who has taken 100’s of thousands – about a million bucks actually – from our banks. We want it back NOW! If he doesn’t give it back, I’ll fill him full of lead. You tell him that!” “Okay, okay, I’ll tell him.” So the little boy turned to Jorge and repeated everything the Ranger had said. The Ranger, not knowing any Spanish, waited for Jorge’s reply. Jorge, listened, frowned, then responded in Spanish, “Okay, they got me. Tell him to go down to the well at the end of town, count four stones down from the top of the well, then pull out the loose stone. All the money I’ve stolen is hidden behind that stone.” Then the clever little translator turned to the Texas Ranger and translated with a shrug, “Jorge says, ‘Go ahead, you big mouth; go ahead and shoot ‘cause I’m not telling you where the money is.”
Not being able to understand what another person is saying can get you into a load of problems in this world. Sometimes we have that problem in our relationship with the Lord. There are times in our life when it seems that his voice is either distant or silent. During those times, does God really stop speaking to us or is it that we are no longer listening?
In the passage above Elijah was going through one of those seasons in his life. He had been serving faithfully as a prophet of God for several years under incredibly difficult circumstances. Under the leadership of Ahab and Jezebel, Israel was living in open rebellion against the Lord. Instead of following God and serving him only, Ahab led Israel into the worship of false pagan gods. Scripture says that Ahab did more to anger God than all of the kings of Israel before him. In comes Elijah, who through the power of God commands the clouds to withhold rain. Finally after several years of drought comes the confrontation at Mr. Carmel between the one faithful man of God and 850 false prophets of Ahab and Jezebel. You know how the story unwinds. The prophets of Baal dance and cry out all day long to their gods, but nothing happens. Elijah prays to God. The fire of the LORD fell and burned up not only the sacrifice, but the stones, the soil and even the water in the trenches around the altar. The prophets of Baal were put to death and the hearts of the people were turned back to the LORD. But the story doesn’t end there. After Jezebel hears that her prophets were defeated, she makes a death threat against Elijah. “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.” The Bible says at that point, Elijah was afraid and ran for his life.
Now catch this; Elijah was a man who throughout his ministry had continually heard the voice of God speaking to him directly. It was the voice of God that had given him his confidence in facing the difficulties in his life. Now all of a sudden he listens to a different voice. It was the voice of one person mouthing threats that would not have intimidated him in the least in the past. But now her voice is loud and scary and God’s voice seems to be silent. Emotionally he is spent and ultimately winds up in the middle of a desert in a dark cave. God asks him, “Elijah, what are you doing here?” Elijah answers with a rather whiny reply, “I’ve been very zealous for you Lord – but everything just keeps going wrong! I’m all alone and now their trying to hurt me too!” It’s even hard for God to talk to a person who is whining and hosting their own pity party. So God decides to remind him of a few things. He sends a wind and the mountains are torn apart and huge boulders are shattered before him – but the voice of God was not in the wind. He sends an earthquake and the foundations of the earth are shaken beneath him – but the voice of God was not in the earthquake. He sends an inferno of fire that consumes everything not destroyed by the wind and the earthquake – but the voice of God was not in the fire. (All this was the Lord’s way of saying, “Can you hear me now?”) After God displays His awesome power and jars Elijah out of his pity party, then came a gentle whisper. Elijah finally started listening to the Master’s voice once again. And the Lord simply pickups the conversation with his child that had been interrupted by Elijah’s distractions.
You might be going through a season in your life right now where it seems as if God’s voice has been silent. But my guess is if you will stop for a moment and shift your concentration from the distractions and difficulties of your life to the One who has the power to change those difficulties – you will once again hear His sweet gentle voice. The Lord wants the conversation to continue. If necessary, He’ll rock your world in order to get your attention. But the wise person realizes it doesn’t have to get to that. You don’t have to get to a dark cave in the middle of a desert to hear from your loving Savior. He’ll speak right now if you’ll only stop long enough to listen.
Listening,
PT
Jorge Rodgriguez was the orneriest bandit on the Texas-Mexico border. The guy would often slip across the line, raid the banks of South Texas, and steal ‘em blind. Before they could catch him, he would race back into Mexico and hide out. No matter how hard the law tried, they could never catch him. Finally the Texans got fed up with this nonsense and decided to put the toughest Texas Ranger they had on the case. After only a few days of searching, the Ranger found Jorge in a dusty, dingy saloon south of the border. He bolted into the bar, pulled both guns, and yelled, “Okay, stick ‘em up Jorge; you’re under arrest! I know that you’ve got the money!” Suddenly, a little guy over in the corner butted in. “Wait, wait . . . just a minute, senor,” he said. “Jorge does not speak English. He’s my amigo, so I’ll translate for you.” The Ranger explained, “Look, we know that Jorge is the bandit who has taken 100’s of thousands – about a million bucks actually – from our banks. We want it back NOW! If he doesn’t give it back, I’ll fill him full of lead. You tell him that!” “Okay, okay, I’ll tell him.” So the little boy turned to Jorge and repeated everything the Ranger had said. The Ranger, not knowing any Spanish, waited for Jorge’s reply. Jorge, listened, frowned, then responded in Spanish, “Okay, they got me. Tell him to go down to the well at the end of town, count four stones down from the top of the well, then pull out the loose stone. All the money I’ve stolen is hidden behind that stone.” Then the clever little translator turned to the Texas Ranger and translated with a shrug, “Jorge says, ‘Go ahead, you big mouth; go ahead and shoot ‘cause I’m not telling you where the money is.”
Not being able to understand what another person is saying can get you into a load of problems in this world. Sometimes we have that problem in our relationship with the Lord. There are times in our life when it seems that his voice is either distant or silent. During those times, does God really stop speaking to us or is it that we are no longer listening?
In the passage above Elijah was going through one of those seasons in his life. He had been serving faithfully as a prophet of God for several years under incredibly difficult circumstances. Under the leadership of Ahab and Jezebel, Israel was living in open rebellion against the Lord. Instead of following God and serving him only, Ahab led Israel into the worship of false pagan gods. Scripture says that Ahab did more to anger God than all of the kings of Israel before him. In comes Elijah, who through the power of God commands the clouds to withhold rain. Finally after several years of drought comes the confrontation at Mr. Carmel between the one faithful man of God and 850 false prophets of Ahab and Jezebel. You know how the story unwinds. The prophets of Baal dance and cry out all day long to their gods, but nothing happens. Elijah prays to God. The fire of the LORD fell and burned up not only the sacrifice, but the stones, the soil and even the water in the trenches around the altar. The prophets of Baal were put to death and the hearts of the people were turned back to the LORD. But the story doesn’t end there. After Jezebel hears that her prophets were defeated, she makes a death threat against Elijah. “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.” The Bible says at that point, Elijah was afraid and ran for his life.
Now catch this; Elijah was a man who throughout his ministry had continually heard the voice of God speaking to him directly. It was the voice of God that had given him his confidence in facing the difficulties in his life. Now all of a sudden he listens to a different voice. It was the voice of one person mouthing threats that would not have intimidated him in the least in the past. But now her voice is loud and scary and God’s voice seems to be silent. Emotionally he is spent and ultimately winds up in the middle of a desert in a dark cave. God asks him, “Elijah, what are you doing here?” Elijah answers with a rather whiny reply, “I’ve been very zealous for you Lord – but everything just keeps going wrong! I’m all alone and now their trying to hurt me too!” It’s even hard for God to talk to a person who is whining and hosting their own pity party. So God decides to remind him of a few things. He sends a wind and the mountains are torn apart and huge boulders are shattered before him – but the voice of God was not in the wind. He sends an earthquake and the foundations of the earth are shaken beneath him – but the voice of God was not in the earthquake. He sends an inferno of fire that consumes everything not destroyed by the wind and the earthquake – but the voice of God was not in the fire. (All this was the Lord’s way of saying, “Can you hear me now?”) After God displays His awesome power and jars Elijah out of his pity party, then came a gentle whisper. Elijah finally started listening to the Master’s voice once again. And the Lord simply pickups the conversation with his child that had been interrupted by Elijah’s distractions.
You might be going through a season in your life right now where it seems as if God’s voice has been silent. But my guess is if you will stop for a moment and shift your concentration from the distractions and difficulties of your life to the One who has the power to change those difficulties – you will once again hear His sweet gentle voice. The Lord wants the conversation to continue. If necessary, He’ll rock your world in order to get your attention. But the wise person realizes it doesn’t have to get to that. You don’t have to get to a dark cave in the middle of a desert to hear from your loving Savior. He’ll speak right now if you’ll only stop long enough to listen.
Listening,
PT
posted by Larry | 1:22 PM
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