Not in the Wind, Not in the Earthquake, Not in the Fire……

God is in a Still Small Voice

A Still Small Voice

Part 2 (Just a heads up. This sight is also on facebook and I am breaking this post up into five segments over the next five days if you would rather read it that way. I’m just trying something new for people who like shorter posts.)

Have you ever felt the way that Elijah felt in 1 Kings 19? Elijah said, “It is enough!” in verse 4 of that chapter. By “it is enough”, he meant that he didn’t want to live anymore. What happened after his victory over the prophets of Baal to bring him from the heights of God’s glory to the depths of despair? Elijah’s story shows us that, no matter how great things may be going for us, things can turn on a dime, do a 180 and go in the complete opposite direction in the blink of an eye. I have experienced this first hand in my life, and I have witnessed this happen to some of the most faithful Christians that I know. Even the most confident, faithful Christians have moments where they feel defeated, depressed, anxious, worried to the point of being physically sick, disappointed, grieved, traumatized, and the list of emotions goes on and on that we can have as human beings. I really want us to take a look at how God responds to Elijah when he is at his lowest point. Does God act disappointed in Elijah? Is God disappointed in us when we let life bring us down? Does God respond to us in the same way today? How do we allow God to care for us?

Before we dive into chapter 19, let’s look at all the ways that God took care of Elijah in 1 Kings 17-18. After Elijah went to King Ahab and told him about the drought and the famine, God sent Elijah to hide next to a brook where he would have plenty of water to drink. He also provided bread and meat for Elijah which was delivered to Him by ravens twice a day. Just look at how God took care of His servant. This reminds me of how God sent manna and quail to the Israelites in the wilderness and brought water from the rock. As the drought began to get worse, the brook that Elijah was getting his water from dried up. When this happened, God sent Elijah to the widow of Zarephath for food and water. This was not only a blessing for Elijah, but for the widow and her son as well. God knew this woman’s heart and knew that she would give the last of her food to His servant if he asked. This woman’s story is a post all in itself. Her selflessness is immortalized forever in this story. We can learn so much from her. Bless her heart! She had already resolved that she and her son would die of starvation when their meal and oil ran out. She was about to make their last loaf of bread, yet she was still willing to share with God’s servant. This is why God blessed the widow with the meal and oil that would never run out until the rains came. God took care of Elijah and this widow and her son. Then, God’s power allowed Elijah to raise her son from the dead when he became sick and died. Just think about how God worked in this situation with Elijah and the widow. He provided for His servant Elijah through this widow, and in turn, provided for her. God knew what was happening to the widow and her son because of their lack of food and He knew that her son was going to get sick and die. He made sure Elijah was in place to help this wonderful woman during her time of need. Doesn’t God work in our lives this way today? Doesn’t He put people in our path at the perfect moment to help us or for us to help them or both?

I firmly believe that God works in our lives in the same ways as he did in Elijah’s day. Someone may come into our lives at just the right moment when we need that person. That is God!! First, I want to say that I have been blessed with a wonderful family who has loved and supported me beyond measure. My parents, grandparents, and aunts and uncles have been amazing throughout my life. They helped mold me into who I am. I have been blessed with: a wonderful Christian husband and two wonderful Christian children who both married wonderful Christian spouses. What more could I ask for? They have helped me be a better person and I wouldn’t be where I am without them.  But there are other people who came into my life, who had such an impact on me and I have only just recently begun to look back on my life and see that impact. They are partially responsible for me being where I am today. I will always say that God put me at Morrison school as a young 22 year old to teach with some of the finest Christian ladies that I have ever known, because He knew that I needed them in my life. You ladies know who you are but I am naming names, Jill, Wanda, Judy, and Sandy. I love you ladies!! I was not in a good place spiritually at that time in my life and I needed older Christian ladies to help me, not only as a teacher, but as a Christian. What an example you all set for me!! He then sent me to Boyd school to teach at just the right time in my life, and put people in my path to help me through some things that I needed a special kind of help with. You know who you are, but again, I’m naming names, Allison, Amanda, Donna, and Shelley. I love you ladies!! You all helped me in ways that were life-changing. And now I believe God has put me at Bobby Ray for whatever His purpose is for me there. I also believe that I have been put in other’s paths to help them, whether it be colleagues or students. Because of the people God has put in my path, I am where I am today. It is all because of Him and for His glory. I thank God every day for putting people in my life at the perfect time when I needed them, but I also thank Him for pruning people that I didn’t need out of my life at the right time as well. Think about your life. Can you think of anyone who seemed to show up out of nowhere and become a blessing to you at the perfect moment? 

God also took care of Elijah in 1 Kings 18 by allowing Him to defeat and kill the prophets of Baal at Mount Carmel. God provided the power that Elijah needed at just the right moment. Don’t we know that He will take care of us just like He took care of Elijah? God doesn’t work in a miraculous way like He did with Elijah, but He provides for our every need. We are His servants also and we are no different in God’s eyes than Elijah the prophet. Remember what Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:25-34? He tells us not to worry about what we will eat or wear and that our life is more than the food we eat and our body is more than the clothes we wear. He says that God provides food for the birds, therefore He will provide for us. He says for us not to worry about tomorrow because today will provide enough for us to be concerned about. Does this mean we don’t have to lift a finger to take care of ourselves? Of course not. It simply means that God will provide a way for us to have what we need through our jobs and means of income. Am I trusting God to take care of me? Am I thankful for all the ways God provides for me? 

So, let’s move on to 1 Kings 19 to see what happens next in Elijah’s story. How did King Ahab and Queen Jezebel respond to what happened on Mount Carmel with the prophets of Baal? Did they turn from their evil ways and start following God? I’m sure that Elijah believed that they would begin following God after such a great showing of power on Mount Carmel. Everything that Elijah had done up until this point had seemed to go the way he thought it should. I think this was why he didn’t handle it so well when things didn’t go the way that he expected them to. He probably thought that everyone would just fall down and worship God, including the king and queen. But that is not what happened, and Elijah was caught off-guard!! In 1 Kings 19:1-2 it reads, “And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, also how he had executed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, ‘So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.’” When Elijah heard that he was on Jezebel’s hit list, what did he do? He ran! The Bible doesn’t say anything about him asking for God’s counsel to know what to do next before running. He just ran! And when he did talk to God in verse 4, he didn’t ask God for help in the situation. He just asked God to allow him to just die. “It is enough!”, he said. Elijah was done!! Or so he thought at the time. Elijah was not wallowing in self-pity. Obviously he wasn’t afraid to die, or he would have not asked God to let him die. He was simply admitting defeat and He wanted God to take his life rather than have Jezebel take it. He was disappointed and let down. Elijah was probably thinking, “how could they not follow God after all that He did at Mount Carmel to show His power? What else could I have done?”

Have you ever had such high hopes for something great to happen, and then it didn’t turn out like you thought it would? It’s disappointing and disheartening isn’t it? We may have all felt this way on some level. It may not have been at the level where Elijah was, but I’m sure we have gone from great happiness and joy to great sadness and despair in a short amount of time before. It can be a whirlwind and really get us off-track spiritually until we turn to God for help and comfort. Maybe it was a job interview that you think went so well for you and you were so sure that you were going to get the job, but then you didn’t. Or maybe it was a relationship that you were deeply invested in, possibly even someone you were in love with, but the other person just didn’t feel the same way that you did or maybe he wasn’t right for you spiritually and wasn’t helping you get to heaven. Maybe it is a physical illness that you or a close family member have dealt with and thought you were over, but it turns out that it is not gone, and not only that, it is now worse than it was before. It can be anything in our lives that we were on top of the world about, and then all of the sudden, the rug seems to get pulled out from under us. We all have had these times in our lives. We know that God causes the sun to shine and the rain to fall on both the just and the unjust. (Matthew 5:45) So what do we do when we have this roller coaster of emotions that is out of our control? We turn to our God. We find comfort in His word. I like to put my name in verses and let them speak to me in that way. For example, I might think of Psalm 42:11 and I add my name, Greta, why are you cast down? And Greta, why are you in turmoil inside? Greta, you have hope in God and you need to praise him! Greta, He is your only help right now! I encourage you to pray through scripture in this way. Make it personal to you. I promise it really helps. Friends, let’s never forget that “The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit.” (Psalm 34:18)  

So, how did God handle Elijah’s meltdown? Well first God knew that Elijah needed his physical needs taken care of first. Elijah was physically, mentally and emotionally drained. He needed to regroup. So before He responded to Elijah’s request to take his life, God allowed Him the time to rest. Elijah slept for a while. Then an angel gently woke him and God provided food and water for him. Then, Elijah slept some more and then the angel gently woke him again and had him to eat again, because the angel told him that he had a long journey ahead of him. God did not show anger or disappointment towards Elijah. He showed compassion and grace to Elijah. So Elijah’s physical needs were again taken care of for him just like they were earlier when he was hiding by the brook in 1 Kings 17. Then, 1 Kings 19:8 says that Elijah went “in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights as far as Horeb, the mountain of God.” The mountain of God is Mount Sinai. Wow. That food sustained him for forty days and nights!! That is a long journey without food. God was certainly with Elijah. He found a cave and spent the night there. And then God came to him and asked him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” (1 Kings 19:9) However, the angel of God told Elijah to go to Mount Sinai, so why would God ask him that question? Well, it was not a question in the physical sense, because Elijah could answer that easily by saying, “because Your angel told me to come here.” It was more of a question in the spiritual sense, like, “ok Elijah, what’s next? Are you giving up? Because I’m still here with you. What are you going to do now?” And now in 1 Kings 19:10, we finally see Elijah’s reason for wanting to die. He says, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God of Hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.” Do you hear the frustration in Elijah’s voice? Have you heard this type of frustration in your own voice about things in your life before? Life can be so frustrating for us sometimes, especially when we are trying so hard to live for God and His purpose, and it seems like the world just laughs in our faces. Elijah felt like he was the only one left who was following God. Do we sometimes feel like we are the only one following God in certain situations in our lives? Maybe it is at school, if you are a younger reader in high school or college. Maybe it is at your place of work. Maybe it is even in your home if you are married and your spouse is not a Christian. God doesn’t want us to feel alone. He is with us when no one else is. Let’s learn from Elijah’s story and know that our Father is with us in every situation we are in.

Then comes my favorite part of chapter 19. God tells Elijah to go stand on the mount and stand before Him. Then God begins to reveal Himself to Elijah. First, He shows His power by passing by Elijah and then “a great and strong wind that tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces” came by, then an earthquake came, and last, a fire. (1 Kings 19:11-12) These verses also say that God was not in any of these three manifestations of power. He was not in the wind, the earthquake, or the fire. He caused them to happen with His great power, but He was not “in” them. God was, however, in “a still small voice” that spoke after the fire. (1 Kings 19:12) God speaks to Elijah in a calm and comforting way. God shows Elijah that He is a God of power and of comfort. God is letting Elijah know that He is with Him and there is nothing to fear. All the men in the world standing with Elijah, would never compare to having God beside him. We can have that same comfort today, ladies!! I love Romans 8:31-39. If these verses don’t comfort us, then I don’t know what will. Read the verses below and think about Elijah’s life. He was never alone. Think about your life. You are never alone.

“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: ‘For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.’ Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:31-39)

After His still small voice, God asked Elijah yet again, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” and again Elijah answered Him with the same thing as before, “I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.” What does God do next? He immediately begins giving Elijah instructions on what to do next. He tells him who to anoint as king of Syria and king of Israel. Then in verse 16, God tells Elijah to anoint Elisha as the new prophet to take his place. He seems to be done trying to convince Elijah that he is not alone. He is preparing to grant Elijah’s request and take his life. It turns out Elijah wasn’t the “only one left”. In 1 Kings 19:18, God says, “Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.” God is saying, Elijah, you are not the only one! I have 7000 more who belong to me. Elijah is on earth with Elisha for a while, probably preparing him for his new role as prophet. In 2 Kings 2:11, God granted Elijah’s wish to take his life. It reads, “Then it happened, as they continued on and talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared, with horses of fire, and separated the two of them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.” God took Elijah in such a powerful and dramatic way. Elijah had been a wonderful servant to God. God granted his wish to be taken from earth into heaven. We will see Elijah someday if we have obeyed the gospel and remained faithful. We will see all those wonderful men and women from the Bible. Won’t that be amazing? But more amazing than anything, we will be meeting God, Our Father and His Son, Jesus Christ face to face. I can hardly wait for that day!!

In closing, let’s go back to the wind, the earthquake, and the fire that God showed to Elijah through His great power. Let’s remember how the Bible said that God was not in those things. God had control over them but He was not in them. God was in a still, small voice that came after those things. Let’s think of the wind, earthquake and fire as trials in our lives. God is not in those trials. But God is still in control of all things. He does allow us to suffer trials. But God is here with us. And he will take care of us if we belong to Him, if we have obeyed Him and been faithful to Him. God is in a still, small voice in the midst of the winds, earthquakes and fires of life that seek to consume us. But we will not be consumed if we listen to God’s still, small voice. How do we hear God’s still, small voice? We open His word and let it do its work on us every single day. We talk to Him in prayer every single day and ask Him for help. I promise you, His word has healed me so many times that I can’t even count them. “O Lord my God, I cried out to You, and You healed me.” (Psalm 30:2) And when I didn’t open His word, guess what? I remained in turmoil, unhealed, and alone. Open His word friends. Dig into it. Pray without ceasing. (1 Thessalonians 5:17) You will never regret the time you spend with God.

Thank you all so much for reading my blog. I have truly enjoyed studying about Elijah’s life and applying it to my own life. I hope you all have a blessed Lord’s Day and week ahead!! 

God’s Plan of Salvation

If anyone ever needs help in learning the truth of the gospel, please reach out and I can help you or put you in contact with someone who can. Below is the plan that God has set forth in His word, for mankind to receive His grace that leads to salvation and an eternity with God in heaven. 

We have to hear His word. (Romans 10:17) 

Upon hearing the message of Jesus, we believe it. (Mark 16:16) 

Then, we confess Jesus’ name before men. (Matthew 10:32) 

Next, we repent of our sins. (Acts 2:38, Acts 3:19) 

Finally, we are baptized into Christ for the remission of our sins. (Acts 2:38, Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:16, Romans 6:3-4, Acts 22:16, 1 Corinthians 12:13, Galatians 3:26-27) After baptism, God adds us to His church. (Acts 2:47)

Then, we remain faithful in our commitment to Christ until death. (Revelation 2:10, 2 Peter 2:20-22)