A Gentle Whisper (1 Kings 19:9-18)

I find it fascinating to listen to the different ways that moviemakers represent the voice of God. For example, in Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments, when God speaks, he has a deep, booming, authoritative voice. In Bruce Almighty, Morgan Freeman’s portrayal of God has a warm, friendly, almost jovial tone. In Kevin Smith’s movie Dogma, God is played by Alanis Morissette and hardly talked at all, because, as one character explained, ‘were you to hear (God’s true voice), your mind would cave in and your heart would explode.’

What do you think the voice of God sounds like? What might that say about who we believe God to be? Do you think you would recognise God’s voice if you heard it…?

Elijah was one of the main prophets of the Old Testament. He lived about 3,000 years ago, just under 900 years before the birth of Jesus, when King Ahab and Queen Jezebel ruled the Northern Kingdom of Israel. We can read the stories of Elijah in 1 Kings 17 to 2 Kings 2. He is also mentioned in the New Testament as talking with Jesus and Moses on the mount of Transfiguration.

Leading up to this week’s Old Testament reading, 1 Kings 19:9-18, Elijah had challenged the prophets of Baal to a test. God showed himself to be the one true God by sending fire down to consume a sacrificed bull (1 Kings 18). After Elijah killed all the prophets of Baal, Queen Jezebel threatened to kill Elijah. He escaped and went to Mount Sinai, the same mountain where Moses and the Israelites had met with God after their exodus from Egypt. He spent the night in a cave, which is where this week’s Old Testament reading picks up the story.

While Elijah waited for God to speak to him, the story tells us that there was a windstorm, but God wasn’t in the windstorm. Then there was an earthquake, but God wasn’t in the earthquake. This was followed by a fire, possibly like bushfires which can sometimes devastate the Australian countryside or are currently doing massive damage to parts of Canada and some Southern European countries. However, God wasn’t in the wildfire either.

Then came what the NLT and NIV describe as ‘a gentle whisper’ (v12). The old King James and Revised Standard Versions of the Bible referred to it as ‘a still, small voice.’ It has also been described as ‘the sound of silence.’ When Elijah heard this ‘gentle whisper’ he covered his head and went to the entrance of the cave to listen to what God wanted to say to him…

God didn’t speak to Elijah through the big, strong, powerful forces of nature like a windstorm, earthquake or bushfire. These would be like God speaking to us from heaven in a deep, powerful, authoritative voice like in Cecil B. DeMille’s Ten Commandments. Instead, this story tells us that God can speak to us in ways that we don’t expect, don’t reflect our world’s preoccupation with strength and power, and can even go unnoticed if we’re not paying attention. God speaks to us in the still, small voice, through the gentle whisper of the good news of Jesus.

We can call the good news of Jesus a ‘gentle whisper’ because, from a worldly point of view, there was nothing that looked powerful or impressive about the Word of God who took on our human flesh and blood, made his home among us, and communicated the goodness of God to us. His birth at Bethlehem was humble and ordinary. Jesus spent his life serving the people around him and living in poverty as he proclaimed the good news of the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus died a shameful death and when he rose from the grave, he appeared only to those who followed him and trusted him. Even though he did amazing things and performed incredible miracles, Jesus’ life, death and resurrection lacked the worldly power or force of a windstorm, earthquake or wildfire. Instead, Jesus’ life, death and resurrection is more a gentle whisper of God’s love, grace, peace and hope to humanity. He continues to gently whisper his love, grace, peace and hope to us in the words of the gospel, a message Paul described as ‘foolishness’, ‘nonsense’ and ‘powerless’ to those who don’t believe it (1 Corinthians 1:18-29). Through the gentle whisper of the gospel, the Holy Spirit breathes God’s grace into us, uniting us with Jesus, giving us new life now and forever, and filling us with love that is stronger than death.

It can be easy to miss a gentle whisper or a still, small voice in the busyness and noise of this world. So many different voices are competing to be heard, trying to get our attention, shouting at us about what we should look like, who we should be or what we should own. In a noisy world, a gentle whisper or still small voice can get drowned out and its message can be overwhelmed. We might think that God should talk louder, speak in ways that are more powerful or noticeable, or that drown out the cacophony that surrounds us.

Maybe that’s why God still speaks to us in the gentle whisper of the gospel. Like Elijah, it’s possible that God wants us to make the time and space in our lives to listen for him. He doesn’t want to drown out the other noises around us, but for us to think about the noise in our lives, to discern what they are saying to us and about us, and to ask if they really are worth listening to. Then, maybe God wants us to make room in our lives to listen for the gentle whisper of this grace to us in Jesus. That doesn’t mean running off to a distant mountain and sitting in enforced silence until we hear him speak to us. What it might mean, however, is that we step away from the din that surrounds us for a while each week and practice listening for his still, small voice to gently whisper words of love, grace, peace and hope to us through the gospel. God might be speaking to us all the time, but with so much noise around us and in our lives, we just might not be hearing it. Maybe Elijah’s story is teaching us to find room in our lives to listen for his still, small voice in Scripture, so we can hear his gentle whisper of grace and love to us in Jesus and find our best life in him.

If you were making a movie in which God played a role, what would his voice be like? Would it be a deep, powerful, authoritative voice like in the Ten Commandments? Or a warm, friendly, jovial voice like Morgan Freeman? Or would God say nothing like Alanis Morissette in Dogma? The prophet Elijah didn’t hear God’s voice in strong, powerful forces of nature like a windstorm, earthquake or wildfire. Instead, he heard it in a gentle whisper, a still, small voice, the sound of silence. This same voice is gently whispering words of grace, love, peace, hope and life eternal to us through the good news of Jesus.

Are we listening…?

More to think about or discuss:

• What are some of the messages you hear from voices around you? Are they helpful, constructive or life-giving for you? Why or why not…?
• What are your thoughts about hearing God speak to you through the words of the Bible? Do you spend time listening for God’s voice? Why or why not?
• If listening for God’s gentle whisper in the words of the Bible is new for you, how can we help you to do that? If it is something you already do, how can you help someone else?