Whispering God

the voice of the cosmic God

The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord. Look, the Lord is ready to pass by.” A very powerful wind went before theLord, digging into the mountain and causing landslides, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the windstorm 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. After the fire, there was a soft whisper. When Elijah heard it, he covered his face with his robe and went out and stood at the entrance to the cave. All of a sudden a voice asked him, “Why are you here, Elijah?” - first kings nineteen eleven through thirteen

Elijah appeared to Ahab and instructed him to assemble the prophets of Baal and Asherah, the idols Israel was worshipping in place of YHWH. Elijah commanded the other prophets to pick a bull, slaughter it, and invoke their god to bring fire upon the offering. He said he’d do the same with the remaining bull. All morning and afternoon the prophets called to their gods, mutilating themselves in ecstatic frenzy, hoping for fire. No fire appeared. In the evening, Elijah took the remaining bull and had the other prophets drench it with water. Elijah petitioned YHWH to set a fire on the sacrifice. Fire appeared. The other prophets confessed Elijah’s God to be the true God but Elijah murdered them all.

Ahab told Jezebel, the prophet killer, what Elijah had done and she promised to slay him as a result of his murder. Deep fear drove Elijah to run far into the desert. “I’ve had enough! Now, O Lord, take my life. After all, I’m no better than my ancestors.” Elijah said this just days after declaring their ancestors as the ones who were bringing disaster upon Israel. Elijah fell into a deep depression after his zeal led him to kill repentant men.

YHWH met him in the desert, fed him, gave him drink and ushered him to Mount Horeb. God had plans for Elijah there.

God continues to gently and delicately speak to Elijah, “Why are you here?” Elijah’s answer was self-convicting and punctual; course in a way. God requested his presence near the edge of the cliff where he said He’ll pass by. A hurricane came and fragmented the mountain, an earthquake shook the rocks and a wildfire scorched the face of the stone, yet none of these contained the LORD. Then God appeared.

A whisper.

Like the pure hum of a violin being lightly evoked by the bow, tenderly rubbing among the string, is the voice of God gently uttering warm words drifting into his heart. Like the soothing harmony of a ravishing timbre encircling his soul is the expression from God’s mouth. Like a deep note resonating the unsearched corners, reverberating a vibrant power that elicts an unexpected yet welcomed rest.Like a curious mystery that both stirs intrigue but also settles peace beyond tranquility is the speech of Elijah’s Creator, Redeemer.

God whispered.

I can imagine Elijah’s tight throat jumping in relief and his crows-feet wrinkled eyes crashing closed from an overload of emotions. I can imagine his chapped lips cracking from his first smile in days. I can imagine his knees falling but his arms rising to greet the sound he immediately knew he needed to hear. I can imagine Elijah exhaling an anxiety-ridden breath only to gather in a crisp, new gallon of air teeming with life. I can imagine his depression cascading off his soul and spilling on the pebbles beneath him.

Elijah’s defenses crumbled more than the mountain before the hurricane. His despair shook more than the ground during the earthquake. His lies burned more than the foliage planted on the stone from the wildfire. The rock face was mutilated just like the late prophets, yet the face of Elijah was renewed and transformed. Perhaps the mountain’s fresh, pristine scars left by the landsides were symoblic of Elijah’s healing scars on his heart. These marks are a vestige to treasure and remember.

The whispers of our God are paradoxical. Only God could present before us a soft, calm, pastel secret and leave us with one of the most defining and powerful statements we’ve ever heard.

“All this is true only when the silence from which the word comes forth is not emptiness and absence but fullness and presence, not the human silence of embarrassment, shame, or guilt, but the divine silence in
which love rests secure.” -Henry Nouwen (on silence)

Over the past few months, I have been feeling mild attacks of depression seize my heart. I have been choosing to believe God doesn’t care for me as he once did. Lies have been sneaking in like little foxes in a vineyard. This week, I have been burning for a renewal with Jesus. I haven’t wanted something this bad in a very long time. I know Jesus whispers even today but I have been tuning my ears to the pitch of this world and not my Pursuer. Yesterday, I took multiple retreats with the attempt to hear his furiously quaint whispers. A dear friend of mine mercifully shepherded my heart yesterday evening with this first kings passage. She reminded me of Elijah and I decided to take the rest of the evening to mediate on Elijah’s story. She said,

“There is no place so low into which a man can crawl that God is not right there, ready to whisper His strength into him.” -Terrie Weibley

Last night, God met me too and whispered to me, renewing me and encouraging me with cosmic authority through a touching whisper.

May we be a people who tentatively and actively listen to our Lover’s whisper. May we crave and yearn for his voice. May we never settle for the cheap imitation of this world’s demands but always desire the eternal wooing of our Husband.

Whisper to us like you whispered to Elijah. Have mercy on us, Son of David. Amen.