Today’s guest contributor is a young man named Derek who attends our church here in Providence with his lovely wife Diana and their two beautiful children.
One of the lessons God has taught both Diana and me through the Days of Pursuit is to be more “present.” Life can be so busy at times—and while much of that busyness is related to good and worthwhile things, it can quickly snuff out or detract from our pursuit of God.
Your writing on the story of Martha and Mary along with Jesus’ words to Martha was convicting: “One thing is necessary.” As you said, we shouldn’t put our time and relationship with Jesus on the same to-do list as our daily responsibilities. Jesus is above everything; He is everything.
Not only did busyness take away from our pursuit, but Diana and I also found distractions vying for our attention. While nothing may be wrong with taking time to scroll Instagram or watch a game, we often found them to be unnecessary and taking up more time than intended. As one of your early writings suggested, we are seeking to “put the phone away” and be present, “be still,” in our pursuit of a deep, meaningful relationship with God.
After reading Derek’s note I considered writing about the importance of narrowing our interests and devoting ourselves wholeheartedly to the pursuit of God. But I think I covered that in the last 87 days ha! Instead, I want to talk to you about what Scripture calls the “still small voice”. The ESV version of the Bible puts it this way: “the sound of a low whisper”.
Elijah
The phrase comes from 1 Kings 18, the story of Elijah when he was afraid and discouraged. Here’s a refresher on the context. In chapter 17 Elijah challenges the prophets of Baal to a sort of showdown. I’ll spare the details—but it’s an awesome story. He calls down fire from heaven! But then he’s on the run from evil Jezebel who wanted to kill him. Elijah is so distraught that he wants to die.
But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he asked that he might die, saying, “It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.” (1 Kings 19:4)
God apparently hears Elijah’s groaning and does a very surprising thing: he sends an angel with a cake. Doesn’t cake just make everything better? He was asleep when the angel showed up, so he had to be woken. Elijah eats the cake and falls into a food coma, I guess, because he goes right back asleep. The angel wakes him a second time and gives him a little more food and the Bible says, And he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God. It means he fasted for 40 days from food.
In the cave
That brings us to the part of the story I want to highlight. Elijah finds a cave and creates a lodging place in it. We aren’t sure what Elijah was doing exactly. You get the feeling he was tired after the long journey. Maybe he was building a fire or just sitting under some blankets. It’s clear from the story that he was afraid and felt alone in his devotion to the Lord. Then Scripture says,
And behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” (1 Kings 19:9)
Elijah answers the question. Sort of. He tells God that he is a great servant, the prophets have been killed, the people have forsaken the covenant and basically he’s the only righteous guy around. There was some truth to this, of course, but his perspective was skewed. The Lord teaches him a lesson and tells him this:
And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the LORD.” And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks 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 the sound of a low whisper. (1 Kings 19:11-12)
The lesson
What do you think the Lord was trying to teach Elijah? God wasn’t in the wind, the earthquake or the fire. Elijah’s involvement with God up to this point was with big dramatic things—like calling fire down from heaven. But the Lord is showing Elijah that what is even more powerful than wind and earthquake and fire—is the voice of the Lord. When Elijah heard the still small voice this is what he does:
And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” (1 Kings 19:13)
Why does God ask the same question as before? Something is different this time around. Elijah is more fully present. Though he answers the question the same on the surface, I believe his heart posture is very different. Instead of it being an expression of self-pity, it is set before the Lord with an underlying surrender. The Lord simply says to him “go”. And he goes.
One low whisper
What I want you to see is that with one low whisper, God completely turned Elijah around. He was so terrified of Jezebel that he fled, he wanted to die, he was hiding. He was drowning in anguish. But with one single word, Elijah is resurrected from the muck and is returned to his mission courageously. He heads straight into the danger without fear. How did that happen? How can a person be translated from despair to courage in a matter of minutes?
The low whisper voice of God profoundly alters us.
Maybe all this seems out of reach for you. Many of us feel like it’s impossible to hear the voice of God. But it’s not. Now, I want to distinguish the voice of God with what is the normal guidance of the Spirit. From morning till night the Holy Spirit carries us and leads us into truth. He is with us always as our comfort. But the word of God coming to us is a different thing. It’s not daily. It’s not even monthly. It’s the once in a while special message that unravels our worst affliction and sets us to flight. It’s the voice that Moses heard at the burning bush. It’s what Isaiah heard when he saw the Lord high and lifted up. It’s the specific words of Jesus to individuals that changed them dramatically. One word from God can change everything!
I understand that we have the Bible, and we have the companionship of the Spirit. But when we get a specific word from the Lord, it can instantly change us. How? I don’t really know, but it does. The earth was without form and void and God said, “let there be light” and there was; He turned darkness to light by His spoken word. I don’t understand how He does this—but He does. He can pull us out of fear, bondage, confusion, depression, and many other things, with one single word. He just says, “Be healed” and we are healed. He just says, “I will be with you” and fear dissolves. He whispers, “Mighty man of valor” and we spring out of our cowardice.
Ask the Lord to speak a word
I encourage you to ask the Lord for a word that will turn around some particular issue that you cannot solve on your own. Maybe you are afraid of the future or tormented by past sins. Maybe you are plagued by insecurities or have a mindset of depression you can’t shake. Maybe you have a sin that holds you back or you have a personality flaw that paralyzes you. What would you most want the Lord to speak to you about? Take a moment and ponder that question.
Back to Derek’s note, the challenge with hearing the still small voice is that we so easily get busy and distracted. As Derek said, it’s not necessarily with sinful things, but we get caught up in things unnecessary. In order to hear God’s voice we must give Him time and be fully present. It seems to be true that the Lord holds back His voice from us until we are attentive. We understand this in human relationships. If someone isn’t really listening to us then we don’t bother to share certain things with them. They just aren’t present to absorb it.
Birds singing
One of the most beautiful sounds to the ear is the sound of birds singing. I can often hear them out the window where I write. But if I’m blaring the tv or playing the radio really loud, guess what? I don’t hear the birds. In order to hear them I need to be quiet.
In the same way, we need to quiet our hearts in order to hear God’s voice. I don’t mean literal quietness—though silence can be helpful—but I’m talking about the noise of activities. Derek mentioned social media and watching the game, as examples. But really anything can be noisy enough to prevent us from hearing God’s voice. I’ve noticed that very rarely does God speak to me amidst busy activities. I rarely hear His voice scrolling Instagram, shopping at the mall or binge watching Netflix. I’m not saying it’s impossible to hear but it’s extremely rare.
Hearing the voice of God happens best when we make room for it. It happens when we spend time in prayer, when we read Scripture, when we worship, when we read a spiritual book, when we write prayers and meditations. Again, we might hear His voice while washing dishes or pumping gas. I’m not saying that doesn’t happen. But most often His voice is heard as we clear away everything and listen.
Shooting stars
Have you ever seen a shooting star? It’s possible you may have glanced up at the sky at just the right time to see a shooting star. That happens. But it’s rare, right? We all know if we want to see a shooting star we need to lay on our back and stare at the night sky for a long time. Ideally, we need to even get away from city lights and get out into the deep woods or up on a mountain in Vermont. We see a shooting star when we are fully present and looking for it.
I hope this all makes sense and isn’t too abstract. You may need to read this one a few times. Pray about what I’m saying. I’m not just talking about having a verse in the Bible jump out or a time of prayer that certain ideas emerge. Again, the Spirit walks with us daily and guides our minds. I’m talking about a word from the Lord that comes in a flash that turns our darkness to light. It’s not an audible voice, and it’s not even that we hear a sentence in our minds. It’s more direct than that. It’s as if God infuses a particular truth into the center of our being and it explodes and seeps into every part of who we are. Only God can do that!
One word God spoke
I enjoy daily fellowship with the Lord, but, every so often, I get a word from God that flips me upside down. One example that comes to mind is a season many years ago that I call my personal “dark night of the soul”. It was probably the hardest year of my Christian life. I just couldn’t pull it together. I was sour, struggling with sin and sinking in despair. I felt spiritually sick and wasn’t getting better. I couldn’t pull myself out of it. I was convinced that the Lord was not only disciplining me but—that He was done with me! I don’t mean that I thought He would send me to hell. Not at all. But the strong touch of God on my life in the first years of my walk was gone, and I was convinced I could never regain it. I felt like I could be a child of God but, because of my failures, I had forfeited doing anything great for the Lord.
This delusion had me in its grip so tightly that nothing could shake it. But one night as I was praying the Lord gave me a word. He told me that not only would He restore me to where I was before but that He’d bring me further than I could ever imagine. Oh my! That one simple word catapulted me out of my despair and flooded my heart with renewed hope.
What do you need the Lord to speak to you about?