Satan roars like a lion, threatens like a bully, and shouts like a desperate waif! Satan screams. He hurls insults and burns with hatred—but our God whispers. The Great God of the Universe speaks soft as the coming of dawn, tender as a baby sleeps, and as gentle as the settling of dew. Satan, the enemy of the saint shouts—but our God whispers.
Though we have been told not to seek Him there, though we know better, it is in the powerful wind that we hope to see Him. We long to find him in the wind so powerful it tears mountains and shatters rocks. This, surely this is the voice of the Lord. Surely here we will find our God. But it is not so. Though we dream of hearing Him in this way what tears mountains would rend us, what shatters rocks would destroy us. He is not in the powerful winds after all.
Next, we find ourselves awaiting the earthquake. Surely, surely here in this mighty shaking of the earth we will hear the voice of God. And why not, He is a God of power and so surely it is in power He should reveal Himself. And yet, He continually confounds our suspicions, remakes our thinking, and reshapes our faith. The Lord is not in the earthquake.
But our search does not end there. Rather than admit the mistake we have made we turn to the fire with its ferocious appetite. There amidst the flames, with its pressing heat and luminous glow, surely God is there in the fire. Our longing has made us desperate but we have not heard His voice in the wind, nor the quake. At last we find He is not in the fire that consuming, raging, power which never says “Enough!”
The storms of life and the violence of the world have convinced us that God is silent. Or we have been duped into thinking He needs shout over the roar of an engine or the din of our daily lives. Surely if God is to speak to us He must transcend the deafening clamor that accompanies our bid for success. We have even come to believe it is the loudest voice that speaks for God. It may seem as though this is so, but it is not.
Our God whispers. He whispers because we are frail, because we are flesh. We would shatter like glass were He to shout. We would be utterly destroyed were He to raise His voice. No, it is His concern for us that leads Him to whisper. He desires that we draw near. He calls us near enough that He can whisper, near enough that He might touch us and heal us. It means we must listen carefully, painfully, because the wind, the earthquake, and the fire, will always be distractions.
1Kings 19:11-12, Prov. 30:16, Heb 13:5
Copyright(c)2006 Hudson Russell Davis