In the Old Testament Bible, I Kings 19:11-12 tells of the prophet Elijah, who was distraught in the midst of his ministry. Elijah is expecting the Lord to address his concerns – his way. When the Lord directed Elijah to stand upon a mountain, Elijah thought that God would surely have a word for him. The events that followed possibly gave Elijah moments of doubt that God had made Elijah’s concerns His own.
Instead of a great, wondrous work, the mountains crumbled. Next, a strong wind passed without a word from God. A destructive earthquake followed the strong winds. Finally, consuming fire appeared. After all of these displays of great calamity, the Lord chose to address Elijah in a still, small voice.
Perhaps the other events were attention getters. Elijah was used to God doing great things in tremendous ways as he dealt with false prophets and the children of Israel. What is most significant to note is that after each calamity, Elijah still tuned his ear to hear the Voice of God. Otherwise, he would have missed the call when the Lord spoke to him.
During this time, Elijah was in a questionable place that did not reflect his faith in God. He was fleeing in fear of the enemy’s threat against his life. There – in that questionable place – Elijah wanted and needed to hear from God.
Is the Lord trying to reach you? Are you looking for a profound move from God? During moments of uncertainty and doubt, is your service unavailable to the Lord?
Even with the convenience of mobile phones, many of us have inconveniently missed an important call. Maybe we were traveling through a remote area. Or perhaps our cell phone service dropped the call. Oh, the frustrations when you think you are connected!
Life can bring so many distractions and threaten to interrupt our communication with the Lord. Distractions may cause us to forget that our finite minds have a tendency to box God into our expectations. We forget that God is infinite and has a perfect plan beyond what we think.
Do you hear the Voice of God today? Perhaps your comfort zone appears to be crumbling around you as the mountains crumbled before Elijah. On the other hand, maybe strong winds have rocked and reeled you off center.
Are there destructive habits that may leave your life in ruins? These habits could be behavioral or internal thoughts that are holding you down. Where is the fire engulfing you today? It is possible that the Lord is nudging you to take one more step of faith.
Declare this day that you will not have a missed call of faith or spiritual power outage. You want to hear the Lord when He speaks. Your concerns are God’s concerns.
"Often the most difficult part of faith is when no more action can be taken and nothing remains but to wait patiently for God to work out His will. It is at this moment that doubts arise and anxiety creeps in." - Unknown
