December 23

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.
1 Kings 19: 11 – 12 (NIV)

God told Elijah to leave the cave where he was hiding, stand on the mountain, and wait because He was about to pass by. That, right there, is intense enough. What came next was beyond powerful — wind tore mountains apart and shattered rocks, an earthquake rumbled up from the depths of the earth, a fire ate away at the land.

It’s natural to assume that the Almighty God was about to make an entrance, that each display of force served as a herald of his arrival. But scripture says God wasn’t in any of those things. Scripture says that God came after a gentle whisper.

To understand the significance of this, you have to consider Elijah’s emotional state. He was on the run from Queen Jezebel after killing Baal’s prophets. In the midst of fleeing, an angel of the Lord instructed Elijah to rest, then eat, rest, then eat. God knew that Elijah was exhausted.

He wanted Elijah rested, and He wanted Elijah to focus — hence the miraculous show of force. When God knew He had Elijah’s full attention, then came the whisper.

There it is.

Rest precedes the whisper — it did for Elijah, and it does for us — and sometimes, big, big things slam into our lives to get our attention and to prepare us. Prepare us to hear God’s still, small voice; peace comes on the wings of that whisper.

For Today: Looking back, can you recall times when God used something huge to get your attention, and in the aftermath, whispered peace and love into your life?