I Kings1911b-12 And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.

A junior high band room is a noisy place. Start off with 50 or more kids and then add instruments and noisy is probably an inadequate word! Every so often I would get everyone’s attention, and just bring all the noise down. It would take a moment, but when the instruments were silenced and no one was talking or shuffling, it was an amazing thing! The silence! We couldn’t live in it, but it gave such perspective!

Elijah had had a tremendous victory! (Read chap. 18) You might have thought he was on a spiritual high, but no. He was on the run from a murderous queen. He had so many questions and doubts. What he needed was reassurance from the Lord. There was a huge, earth-shattering wind. But the Lord didn’t speak through that. There was an earthquake. But the Lord didn’t speak through that. There was a fire. But the Lord didn’t speak through that, either. But then, a still small voice. In that voice Elijah found direction and reassurance. He was renewed and set forward for the rest of his mission.

We have so much noise around us. We need to hear the voice of the Lord. But we likely will not hear that in the cacophony of social media. We will probably not hear it in the braying of politicians. It’s doubtful that we will hear it in the news. We need silence of a sort. Ironically, we generally hear God’s voice in God’s Word. Ironic because reading is generally a silent activity. We also can and should hear God’s voice in the preaching of His Word. But that also is one man or woman compared to the noise around us.

The silence of drawing in to hear God’s word gives such perspective! I live in a noisy world. But I can’t live without the still small voice!

Blessings,

Pastor Russ