A Still, Small Voice

My Bible reading this morning is from 1st Kings, and includes chapter 19, verses 11-12.  In the NIV (New International Version), it says:

"'The Lord said [to Elijah], "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by."'

"Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks 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 came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire.  And after the fire came a gentle whisper."

There is so much to unpack in this passage.  Some versions translate the first part to the effect of "I [the Lord] want you to see Me"; or "I want you to be there when I pass by."  I love the idea that God wanted Elijah to be close to Him.  So often we think of God being out there somewhere, in the heavens (which, of course, is in outer space).  Our idea is that "God is watching us from a distance" (© Julie Gold, 1985).  Or that He is on a golden throne and refuses to defile Himself by coming into contact with mere mortals.  God made us.  Of course he wants to be close to us.  God wants us to know Him, and He comes close to us so we can be close to Him.  Instead of watching us from a distance, He's the "stranger on the bus, trying to make His way home" (© Eric Bazilian, 1995).  We can choose whether or not to open a conversation with that stranger when He sits down next to us.

The next portion is the climax.  The natural disasters.  The activities attributed to the gods.  Even insurance companies call these events "acts of God" as they deny payouts on claims of trees falling on cars, fires burning down homes, and earthquakes leveling communities.  To make sense of the big tragedies in life, we blame God for their occurrence.  "It's God's will."  If anyone out there is actually comforted by that phrase at the low times in their life, please let me know.  It sure didn't comfort me when my dad died at the age of 48.  To me, calling natural disasters and sudden deaths and cancer "acts of God" or "God's will" indicates a pretty dim view of God.  If Christians supposedly believe what's in the Bible, why do they (we) always leave out this verse:  "the Lord was not in the wind . . . the earthquake . . . the fire"?  God is not in the natural disaster.  God is not in the cancer.  God in not in the sudden heart attack.

God is in the gentle whisper.  The still, small voice.  The silence after the wind, the earthquake, the fire.  The peace when suffering is over.  The quiet we can experience when everything around us is cacophony.  God is with us while the enormous, loud, catastrophic stuff is happening, but God Himself is not enormous, loud, or catastrophic (in fact, when I looked at a thesaurus for "big", one of its synonyms is "ungodly").  God is small enough to be next to us, but big enough to envelop us in His comforting arms.  

I did a "Turkey Trot" 5K last Thanksgiving in Paducah, KY.  The route was an out-and-back, away from the river for a mile and a half, and back down a parallel street to the finish line.  On the way out, there was a "street preacher," shouting hellfire and damnation; and on the way back, he had moved over to the parallel street and was shouting more of the same.  God was not in anything he had to say.  In fact, it so disturbed my spirit that it colored the whole race negatively for me, and I was sobbing as I walked across the finish line (I always run at the finish).  God is not in the angry shouting.  God is in the quiet words of a hospice nurse.  God is in the lullaby of an exhausted mother.  God is in peace between neighbors.  If we are to be like God, we need to speak in that same still, small voice, bringing peace to the world, harmony to dissonance, and quiet to the noise all around.  Let our song be "Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me" (©Harlene Wood, Sy Miller, 1955).

Peace to you, dear friend.

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