I got to thinking today about the still small voice or gentle whisper that scripture ascribes to how God usually speaks to us. He spoke to Elijah that way in 1 Kings 19:12-13.
But consider this, how can you hear such a quiet thing unless you quiet the cacophony around you and stop talking yourself? It takes at least two skills that most of us moderns have lost: waiting and listening.
That is really hard for us these days. We fill every moment with something, almost as if we fear silence. We are in such a hurry to get somewhere to do something. We feel we need to fill the void with something, when God is waiting for us to just listen, so we can hear when he quietly speaks to us. Do we really want Him to have to yell at us to get our attention?
In 1882, Charles Spurgeon, one of history’s greatest preachers, used Elijah’s encounter with God as the text for one of his best sermons: The Still Small Voice. He pointed out how God conquered the broken heart of Elijah, who had defeated the prophets of Baal, yet still lost the fight for Israel’s soul, not with a great wind or thunder or lightning, all mighty displays of power, but with a whisper, His quiet, comforting word. Interestingly, that approach requires us to focus, to listen. It is a mutual interaction. Both we and God make the effort. It is intimate and personal and maybe that is the point.
If we want to be personal with God, I think he is telling us we need listen for His still small voice. When God is personal, he is quiet. Think on that.