A Sound Of Sheer Silence
Ahab
told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets
with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the
gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life like the life of one
of them by this time tomorrow.” Then he was afraid; he got up and fled for his
life, and came to
But
he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down
under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: “It is enough; now, O
LORD, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.” Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an
angel touched him and said to him, “Get up and eat.” He looked, and there at
his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank,
and lay down again. The angel of the LORD came a second time, touched him, and
said, “Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.” He got
up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days and
forty nights to Horeb the mount of God. 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?” 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.”
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; and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire;
and after the fire a sound of sheer silence.
1 Kings 19:1-12
We
live in a world filled with noise – noises that are designed to sell, plead,
seduce and deceive. In the midst of all the noise, it is easy to miss the one
voice that matters the most – the voice of the LORD.
God
whispers to us. He is the “sound of sheer silence.” But we have to listen for
it. It is there.
To hear God’s voice,
turn down the
world’s volume.
Our Daily Bread –