God in Quiet Sounds, Part 2

This post, and part 1, are based on a Sunday School lesson I taught on 1 Kings 19.

Verses 9-10:  At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there.  Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 10 He answered, “I  have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant,  thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking  my life, to take it away.”

I think the question that God asks Elijah in the cave is interesting:  “What are you doing here,  Elijah?”   God’s messenger sent Elijah to the cave, so it doesn’t seem that God would ask what he is  doing there.  I wonder if it is a different kind of question.  What are you doing here, Elijah?  Could mean – why aren’t you doing what I’ve told you to do – the  mission I sent you to do, instead of running away?

Does God sometimes ask us what we are doing? Why we aren’t doing what we have been  called to do?

Verses 11-14

He said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”  Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking 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; 12 and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the  fire a sound of sheer silence. 13 When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out  and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, “What are you doing  here, Elijah?” 14 He answered, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the  Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the  sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.” 

Question:  Why do you think God chose to speak out of the quiet rather than the climatic (wind,  earthquake, fire) elements?

• Fire, wind, and other natural elements were often objects of pagan worship – perhaps God  wanted the contrast between the prophets of Baal.
• In the story that is right before this one, when Elijah is competing with the prophets of Baal, God  appears in fire.  Maybe Elijah would have expected God to come again in fire.  Perhaps there is  a point to be made that God comes in unexpected ways.
• Maybe God knew Elijah needed theophany in the quiet, so that’s what He did.

Think back again to the pandemic.  What was your faith like at the time?  Was God near or  far?  Were there times when God came close to you in an unexpected way?

1.  I couldn’t pray. Just couldn’t. And I remember a peace in that – it was OK.
2.  For a lot of the time, I couldn’t be creative.  I love to make cards, but couldn’t.  Until the day I  realized I couldn’t pray, but I could sit down and make a few cards, and it felt great. It was a  strange way to find a peaceful presence of God.

Have you ever experienced God in the quiet?  Or in loud or dramatic ways? I remember one year we were finishing a retreat with the church youth at Spring Heights.  We were in a circle, having a closing prayer, about to board the vans.  Steve started praying and the wind blew around the circle.  It was a quiet reminder of the presence of God

How can we discern God’s voice in difficult and uncertain times?