Elijah holds a special place in my heart. As Biblical characters go, he is my "spirit animal". In 1 Kings 18 he is standing before the entire nation of Israel who has started worshiping a pagan god. He calls out their terrible behavior and challenges 450 priests of Baal to a competition. You offer a sacrifice and I'll offer a sacrifice. Whichever sacrifice is supernaturally "accepted" will prove which god is the true god. For hours, 450 priests cry, pray, slash their arms, and offer other displays of devotion to Baal. At noon, after nothing had happened, Elijah starts flat-out making fun of them (verse 27). Absolute "boss" move. Then, just to be a jerk about it, he has buckets of water dumped on his altar before praying to the true God. The Lord ignites the soaking wet altar and the prophets of Baal quiver with fear.
There is a phrase the kids use here and it would be that Elijah was an absolute "chad"... he knew what was true, saw ridiculousness for what it was, and confidently moved out on faith. If they made posters of Elijah, I'd have it hanging on the wall of my office.
Despite his great confidence, just 1 chapter later we see Elijah at his worst. He is being pursued by the corrupt king of Israel and has no place to hide. In his despair, he seeks a place where he asks God to just let him die. From living on a spiritual high to contemplating suicide. I'll say this again... I have seen myself in Elijah's shoes.
God shows us his love and confidence in many ways. For Elijah, it was to show him where the power of God lays.
[...] At that moment, the Lord passed by. A great and mighty wind was tearing at the mountains and was shattering cliffs before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was a still, small voice. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. (1 Kings 19:11-13)
In his despair, Elijah found the comfort and shelter of God in a still, small voice. It wasn't in all the ruckus and chaos surrounding him; it was in the thing he had to be listening for.
God often reveals himself to us in the same way. In life, there is never a shortage of arguments, hate, drama, and every other manner of sinful and tempting things. Even within the church, some of these nasty tendencies are likely to pop up. It is easy, even as born-again believers, to get wrapped up in whatever controversy you are being invited to. In those moments, it is important to remember that God is often contained in something much quieter, speaking to your heart.
God does not need to compete with the noise of this fallen world to be heard; those who seek his voice will hear it. This is the mantra that we are all charged to hold in our own lives. When confronted with a choice between the noise of the world and the still, small voice of the Lord, will we listen to the wind, the tremors, and the fire or will we listen to a God so powerful that he has no need to compete for anyone's affection? When things seem the most confusing and the most chaotic, it may be time to simply stop and meditate on exactly how great, how wonderful, and how peaceful a Lord we serve.
DEVOTIONAL PRAYER
A Prayer for Attentiveness to the Spirit
God, today we pray for two things. First, we pray that as individuals caught in many storms that we would have the patience and the discernment to hear your voice through all the noise. Give us the sense of discipline so that we could ignore the things Satan would use to focus on what "we" can do. Second, we pray that you would help us to avoid being the noise in someone else's life. Give us the faith that allows us to step back and let your spirit work where it needs to work instead of filling the air with more noise, arguments, or thoughts. Allow us to hear you and let your voice be heard in our interactions with all around us. In your son's name, Amen.
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