Sometimes God whispers. In I Kings 19, God chose a whisper to communicate with Elijah. Elijah was discouraged and depressed. In verse 12: “After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.” In verse 13, Elijah knew it was the Lord and went out to the opening of the cave he was in to await the message God gave to him.
God whispers when the need arises. Elijah had too much going on in his life. He was over-stimulated. He had just called down fire from heaven that licked up the water and dust off the ground. He had just seen the power of God bring rain to a land that had a seven-year drought. Now he was seeking to escape Jezebel who had a contract on his life.
We certainly don’t have the same kinds of events going on in our lives, but at times we all live over-stimulated lives. We live in a world that is over-stimulated.
Simply making choices at the grocery store can be challenging. You want a bag of potato chips. You walk down the potato chip aisle and you have to choose among plain chips, barbeque chips, sour cream chips, fried pickles with ranch chips, deep dish pizza chips, chile con queso chips, Cajun spice chips, or Chesapeake Bay crab spice chips.
You want a bottle of shampoo and again the choices are overwhelming. Walk down a different aisle this time and you can buy clarifying shampoo, neutralizing shampoo, chelating shampoo, keratin shampoo, color-protecting shampoo, volumizing shampoo, or dry shampoo.
Restaurant menus sometimes resemble a book in size; some are even spiral-bound. You put all those choices together with the stress of a job, friends, family, and elderly parents and you are definitely over-stimulated,
Like Elijah, we need a whisper from God. The prophet Zephaniah said to God’s people, “He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing (Zephaniah 3:17.)”
We need to listen for God’s whisper. Here are ways we may do this: Slow down. Pay attention when your pace is too fast. Plan some quiet time in your life. Turn off the noise. Take a break from your phones, your television, and your email. Find time to retreat. Find solitude. Take a walk, sing, and observe nature. Even God rested on the seventh day.
In The Message translation of the Bible, David wrote, “Open your ears, God, to my prayer. Don’t pretend you don’t hear me knocking. Come close and whisper your answer. I really need you” (Psalm 55:1-2, MSG.) He also wrote, “He leads me beside quiet waters” (Psalm 23:2.)
Remember God loves you and wants to show you grace. His mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:23.) He sometimes speaks in the earthquake, in the fire, in the wind, and the thunderstorm. But there are times when God speaks in a whisper.
Live life in such a way that, when needed, you can hear God whisper.