Take a minute right now, wherever you are, whatever you’re doing. Stop, and listen. What do you hear?
Have you ever taken the time to really listen? Not just to the obvious noise that surrounds us every day all day long, but do you ever allow (or force, depending on your situation) yourself to listen to the details? Do you ever draw the blinds to all the external stimuli that berates your senses every day and steal yourself away into a quiet space where you can focus on the little things? The details?
Do you ever listen to yourself breathe? Have you ever gotten so still that you can hear your heart beat? Are you able to position yourself in such a way that you can hear your most quiet thoughts? Can you silence the noise in your life enough to hear a still, small Voice.
Our lives are bombarded with so much stimuli. Every day our senses are pushed to the maximum. There is so much that screams for our attention to the point where many times the important things that should have our full attention get drowned out and lost in the mayhem.
Often the first sound we lose is the Voice that should be first sound that we seek. We can miss it because either we are not allowing ourselves to listen, or we are listening not for the still, small voice, but rather for the big, loud boom.
The prophet Elijah had a good day when he went up against Ahab with the challenge to find out who’s God was real. God rained fire down on the alter that was soaked with water and showed everyone who was Boss. You would think that Elijah would have been feeling pretty good after that, but having received threats against his life from Jezebel, he went out into the desert and wanted to die.
He was very discouraged. All he wanted to do was serve God but the people of Israel kept turning their backs on Him. He felt alone, and he knew his life was in danger. He needed to hear God.
In I Kings 19:11-12, we read what happened.
“Then he was told, ‘Go, stand on the mountain at attention before God. God will pass by.’ A hurricane wind ripped through the mountains and shattered the rocks before God, but God wasn’t to be found in the wind; after the wind an earthquake, but God wasn’t in the earthquake; and after the earthquake fire, but God wasn’t in the fire; and after the fire a gentle and quiet whisper.” (MSG)
God wasn’t in the big, loud boom. He came to Elijah in a whisper. Had he not been off in the desert alone, listening, he might have missed it.
I’ll end where I started… Take a minute right now, wherever you are, whatever you’re doing. Stop, and listen. What do you hear?
