So let’s take a day trip to Mount Horeb, the mount of God, where we find the prophet Elijah hiding in a cave in fear for his life. God tells him to stand at the mouth of the cave, for He was about to pass by. It’s at this point that we read a most beautiful and haunting passage.
1 Kings 19:11-12
“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.”
What we’re seeing in this passage is called a theophany, a visible manifestation of God to a human being. In the ancient Near East, theophanies were connected to battle. It was believed that the warrior gods would use thunderbolts (lightning or fire), the stormwind and the trembling earth to fight for their people, terrifying the enemy. Baal, in particular, is pictured as holding a handful of thunderbolts. So, it was believed in that culture that the gods operated and communicated by way of instilling terror into their enemies with violent natural elements.
Theologians suggest that Yahweh (God) is also viewed as a warrior in that He fights for His people. But as always Yahweh has His own counter-cultural way of communicating. Unlike the ancient Near East gods who never articulated a plan for their so-called cultural involvement,
Yahweh operated with a grand plan.
But the point in our discussion is not what God's plan was per se. Rather, it is how Yahweh communicated His plan to His people. This brings us to the mouth of the cave where Elijah stood. He stood there because God told him that He was about to pass by, He was going to reveal His plan to Elijah. God was going to communicate with Elijah. This awesome passing of God gives us insight into how God talks to us, right here and now.
When God passes by Elijah, three elements precede His actual passing: the stormwind, an earthquake and a fire. Sound familiar? These are the very elements through which the ancient Near East gods were supposed to speak.(the elements describing our lifestyles SoN) And God uses them, but He's not in any of it! Instead, a fourth element follows: "the sound of a low whisper." The Esv rendering here is strikingly close to the Hebrew meaning. This phrase is not describing the sound of God's voice, as if it was like a gentle whisper.
Elijah hears the sound of silence. The serenity w/in the storm.
The prophet encounters God's plan and direction not from the bombastic language of the ancient Near East gods, the language of culture, but from silence, literally.
There are two applications we can take from Elijah's brief encounter.
First, God does not work in the ways that make sense in our culture. In fact, they look—or in this case sound—completely different from what culture offers.
(how have you seen god working counter culture? He doesnt use the wise, the bible says, but what? What the world considers fools. He’s not into your amazing abilities but what? Youre availability.)
Second, in order to hear God's direction in our lives we need to cultivate space so that we can linger in the silence of God.
We may expect Him to communicate His plan amonst our common cultural mode, but this is not reality.
In the book of Matthew ch. 14 we see Jesus Himself, on multiple occasions, pursuing a quiet place to pray. We see Jesus experiencing a full day of teaching, feeding the five thousand and eventually walking on water in the middle of the night. But, wedged in between those events Matthew records that, “After he had taken leave of them [the disciples], he went up on the mountain to pray”.
The ultimate prayer scene with Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane. Think about the circumstances. Jesus leaves with His closest friends to a quiet place in the middle of the night. Jesus leaves His friends and goes further into the garden to pray in the quiet and the shadows. Once alone He pours out His supplication to His Father. He asks for another way out of this whole dying for sinners situation—He asks not to have to die.
Before the biggest day of His life, where do we find Jesus? On His knees, sweating blood in a quiet place, praying.
“It's in the silence that Jesus seeks Father God's face.
It's in the silence that Jesus approaches the biggest event of His life.
It's in the silence that Jesus gathers strength for the cross.
This is the silence He calls us to. This is the silence after the stormwind and the earthquake and the fire—the language of the culture. The Storm of the Norm that so many of us are living.
This is the context by which God reveals His direction for our lives. This is the context we see Jesus cultivating throughout His ministry. And this is the context from which Jesus gathered strength to face the insurmountable.
Our culture has a way of drawing us into its modus operandi. Almost without knowing it we expect God to work the way culture works—fast and obvious. But if we carry this expectation, we show our hand and reveal our own shallow understanding of God and how He works and communicates. We get so entrenched in the cultural language and so dialed in to the speed and immediacy that our childlike faith disappears. Instead, we wield an adult religion that falls vacant on our hearts and has little impact on the lives around us.
What will it take to get to that place of silence where we can actually find direction from God? What will it take to shed the culture, the storm of the norm and begin a new way of living, one marked by silence, childlike and new every morning? Discovering serenity in the storm.
Last week in a video piece I shared one of my childhood memories. Did that ignite something in you? (watch: Remember When... video)
Remember when…. Remember when you were a young child and life was easy & carefree….
God wants us to get back to that place. We’ve left those childlike behaviors, yet God’s direction is to find him there.
Remember when… how does a child spend a day? What does a child believe? How do they respond to life and everything surrounding them? What about the trust they have? How do they see the world? And their incredible imagination… (watch this… Childlike Faith video)
Here’s what Jesus said about childlike faith, found in Mark 10
“Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. 15 Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”
And in Matthew 18:2-4 what does Jesus do?
“He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. 3 And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven”
Do you want to enter into the rest God has for you? Remember when….. Remember when….
Go to that childlike faith and submit and trust, like a child. Cast the cares, the burdens, the weight of this world, the weight of your busy lifestyle upon the Lord….. Like a child drops their mess in front of their parent. And the parent cleans it up, lifts up the child, and loves on them. Loves them with a spectacular love. Do you want that?
Watch/Listen to entire message "The Sound of Silence"
