Listening for the still small voice (2)
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· 17 viewsLearning to hear God’s voice and obey it is crucial for anyone to walk closely with God.
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And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah? And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away. And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah? And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away. And the Lord said unto him, Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus: and when thou comest, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria: And Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel: and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room. And it shall come to pass, that him that escapeth the sword of Hazael shall Jehu slay: and him that escapeth from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay. Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.
So he departed thence, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth: and Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle upon him. And he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, Let me, I pray thee, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee. And he said unto him, Go back again: for what have I done to thee? And he returned back from him, and took a yoke of oxen, and slew them, and boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen, and gave unto the people, and they did eat. Then he arose, and went after Elijah, and ministered unto him.
And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah? And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away. And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.
(KJV)
9And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah?
10And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.
Introduction:
Introduction:
If there is one thing I love doing, and absolutely hate going with out, it’s my devotions. Last year and so far this year there hasen’t a day gone by that I haven’t missed my devotions. Now sometimes my devotions are longer than other days due to life events but I strive to read my Bible and pray every day!
11And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake:
Why do I do this? Because I want to have a walk with Christ. I have a desire to know him more because I’m born again and one of his disciples!
12And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.
13And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah?
You see the Bible commands us, as Born Again Believers, to be filled with the Spirit.
And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;
And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;”
14And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.
We are filled with the Spirit by learning to hear God’s voice and obey it. This is crucial for anyone who wants to walk closely with God and if your a real Christian you should want to walk close to God.
15And the LORD said unto him, Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus: and when thou comest, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria:
16And Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel: and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room.
Leonard Ravenhill said “Smart men walked on the moon, daring men walked on the ocean floor, but wise men walk with God.”
Let’s take a look at this story of Elijah in this cave alone trying to hear from God and how we can apply it to our lives!
17And it shall come to pass, that him that escapeth the sword of Hazael shall Jehu slay: and him that escapeth from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay.
18Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.
1. We all wish that God would speak to us loudly and clearly.
1. We all wish that God would speak to us loudly and clearly.
19So he departed thence, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth: and Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle upon him.
20And he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, Let me, I pray thee, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee. And he said unto him, Go back again: for what have I done to thee?
Explanation:
21And he returned back from him, and took a yoke of oxen, and slew them, and boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen, and gave unto the people, and they did eat. Then he arose, and went after Elijah, and ministered unto him.
We all want God’s voice to thunder through the air with the answer to our problem.
We wish that God would:
– Rent a speaker and drive down our street, shouting the answer to our question so that we would have no doubt as to what we should do.
– Rent a big sign and post the instructions step by step that we need.
– Wish we would sit down at our computers one day and open our E-mail and see a message from God, simply entitled ANSWERS.
– Wish we could buy today’s newspaper and discover that God has taken out a full page with the directions for our life listed clearly and concisely.
We all wish that God would just bust into our world and give us some concrete answers to the nagging problems of life! Wouldn’t this be nice?
We wish that He would just tell us why:
· He has not chosen to heal us yet
· He has not chosen to meet the financial need yet
· He has not chosen to save our lost loved ones yet
· He does what He does!
We just wish there was no guesswork involved, we wish that He would just yell out the answers to us so that we could escape the cloud of confusion and doubt that surrounds us!
We think if He would only shout the answer out, then we would know what to do.
How many of you wish God would do this in your life? I know It would make my life so much easier!
Illustration
Many times we feel like Elijah. We just want to know what to do and we want to fix things now! We live in an instant culture. Nothing is more instant than the microwave. Food can go from frozen to ready within a minute or two. We are so used to instant communication that when someone doesn’t text us back right away we get frustrated! We are so used to instant entertainment that we need to be able to live stream games, movies, and TV shows from the comfort of our couch, whenever we want. We have become so accustomed to instant that we might wonder why the birth of Jesus didn’t happen immediately back in after the fall of Adam and Eve. But God is wise, and he wants to work his redemption throughout human history.
Application
There are no quick fixes. God is not a microwave God; he cooks a good home-cooked meal from scratch. Most people if they were given the choice between a TV dinner or a home-cooked meal would prefer the latter. Yes, it takes more time, more effort, and maybe more frustration, but in the end, it’s worth it (and it’s usually better for you).
Transition
However…
2. Many times we feel exactly like Job did.
2. Many times we feel exactly like Job did.
33
For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him,
And we should come together in judgment.
Neither is there any daysman betwixt us,
That might lay his hand upon us both.
Job 9:
Then would I speak, and not fear him;
But it is not so with me.
Explanation
In verse 33 the word daysmen means “Interpreter.”
Job said, “Because God is not speaking very clearly to me right now, I am afraid I am misinterpreting some things He is saying!” “I wish someone could come down here who could hear God, and then tell me exactly what He is saying because right now, I don’t have a clue!”
If He would shout, I would understand!
If He would just come down and tell me face to face, then I would understand, but right now, I can’t hear, or understand what God is saying!
And, we find ourselves in that same situation so many times, wanting to hear God in the shout, the dance, the noise, and our busy lives, but, God sometimes whispers!
Elijah didn’t hear God in the storm, earthquake, or fire. God decided to speak in a whisper.
Illustration
The young man had lost his job and didn’t know which way to turn. So he went to see the old preacher. Walking about the preacher’s office, the young man ranted about his problem. Finally he clenched his fist and shouted, “I’ve begged God to say something to help me. Tell me, Preacher, why doesn’t God answer?”
The old preacher, who sat across the room, spoke something in reply — something so quiet it was indistinguishable.
The old preacher, who sat across the room, spoke something in reply — something so quiet it was indistinguishable.
The young man stepped across the room. “What did you say?” he asked.
The young man stepped across the room. “What did you say?” he asked.
The preacher repeated himself, but again in a tone as soft as a whisper. So the young man moved closer until he was leaning on the preacher’s chair. “Sorry,” he said. “I still didn’t hear you.”
The preacher repeated himself, but again in a tone as soft as a whisper. So the young man moved closer until he was leaning on the preacher’s chair. “Sorry,” he said. “I still didn’t hear you.”
With their heads bent together, the old preacher spoke once more and said: “God sometimes whispers, so we will move closer to hear Him.”
With their heads bent together, the old preacher spoke once more and said: “God sometimes whispers, so we will move closer to hear Him.”
Application
God’s ways are above our ways. His thoughts are above our thoughts. I don’t understand why God does certain things, and to be honest, sometimes it frustrates my flesh.
But this is when God strengthens our faith and draws his children closer to him.
Transition
Notice with me number three.
3. Elijah found himself in a cave one day, feeling very sorry for himself.
3. Elijah found himself in a cave one day, feeling very sorry for himself.
Explanation
Now, the interesting thing about this story is not so much that Elijah was having a pity party, because that’s human nature.
The amazing thing to me is that he is having this pity party after God had sent fire from heaven and destroyed 450 prophets of Baal.
In fact, the very day after this happened, and God had so miraculously opened up the blast furnace of heaven and consumed the saturated sacrifice, Jezebel heard of it and said, “Tomorrow you are dead, son!”
And, Elijah runs into the desert and says, “Oh God, take me now!”
And, an angel appears to him, feeds him, and sends him on a 40 day journey into Mt. Horeb.
And, it’s here that we find our lonely prophet.
And, it is here that God is about to teach Elijah a lesson.
See, Elijah had no problem understanding God when:
· The fire was falling!
· The earth was shaking!
· The wind was blowing!
But, the one place that Elijah had never learned to listen to God was in the “still small voice”.
And, God was teaching him this lesson:
· I am not always going to yell!
· I am not always going to send fire.
· I am not always going to shake the earth.
But sometimes I am going to take you to: A prison cell, to the wilderness, to a desert, to a cave. But, I am only doing it because I can see you drifting away from me, and I want to get close to you again!
Sometimes we program God and think that He has to move in the: Shout, in the hussle, in the dance. But, sometimes God whispers so that we will draw closer to Him!
“God has given us enough information to know, and be able to know who He is, and hidden enough of Himself for us to learn the balance between faith and reason.” Ravi Zacharias ,
Ravi Zacharias ,
Application
Elijah had just witnessed a huge miracle of fire falling from heaven at his command; yet here in the cave, the voice of the Lord was not in the fire. If Elijah had depended solely on his own reason to make sense of his encounter with God, if he had narrowed his expectation of what God can/will do or how God moves, he might have missed the still small voice.
4. Nothing draws human focus like a whisper
4. Nothing draws human focus like a whisper
Explanation
God’s whisper means I must stop my ranting and move close to Him until my head is bent together with His. And then, as I listen, I will find my answer. Better still, I find myself closer to God.
We live in a society that is filled with noise, clutter, and confusion. It’s an age of more information, but less communication.
I recently read a statistic that there has been more information produced in the last 30 years than was produced during the previous 5,000. I don’t know if we can verify that, but I do know that a weekday edition of the New York Times contains more information than the average person was likely to come across in a lifetime during the 17th century.
The first modern computer was built in 1944. It took up more space than a semi-truck, weighed more than 17 Chevrolet Camaros, and consumed 144,000 watts of electricity. It could execute no more that 5,000 basic arithmetic operations per second.
And the 486 processor, which is now outdated, was built on a tiny piece of silicon about the size of a peso, weighed less than a packet of artificial sugar, and used less than two watts of electricity. This amazing machine executed up to 54,000,000 instructions per second.
If you have a digital watch, you wear more technology on your wrist than existed in the entire world before 1961.
Now, how has all this technology shaped our thinking?
1) We are used to having what we want when we want it.
2) We are used to receiving any piece of information we need when we need it.
3) We want to treat God like the internet, just open a heavenly search engine, type in our question, push the button and get the answer.
But, sometimes God doesn’t respond immediately. Sometimes, God still chooses to whisper. Sometimes God still speaks in the still, small voice!
That’s why David said in:
Be still, and know that I am God:
I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.
Paul makes an interesting appeal to the Thessalonian church in:
And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you;
“And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you;”
What Paul is saying here is that we need to study to be quiet!
I had never seen this scripture before, but Paul said, we need to study to be quiet!
Why? Because, when we are ranting and raving, shouting, yelling, moving about, lost in a bustle of activity, we can’t hear what God is saying to us.
Application
Elijah had to escape to a cave to be able to have this life-altering conversation with God. Minimizing distractions, helps us focus on God’s voice and presence. What distractions may be keeping you from hearing clearly?
5. I don't have the answer for you, but God does!
5. I don't have the answer for you, but God does!
Explanation
And, I don’t know why, but He hasn’t chosen to reveal them to us through the fire, the wind, or the earthquake. But, if you will listen closely, and draw near to Him, get very close then I know that you will hear what God is saying!
Illustration
God desires to have a friendship with us.
Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
“Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.”
Dr. Thomas Constable said: “What then is the difference between a servant of God and an intimate friend of God? Jesus proved to His disciples that they were His ‘friends’ as well as His servants, but He pointed out that a master shares his plans with his friends but not with his slaves. He had told them what was coming and thereby was treating them as His friends. Abraham and Moses, the only Old Testament characters whom God called His friends, also received revelations of God’s plans from Him.”
Application
How do we view God? Do we expect Him to share with us or to just demand things from us—our tithe, our time of worship, our obedience? As Christians, are we seeking a relationship with God or only seeking what he can do for us? Are we listening for that still small voice?
Conclusion
Learning to hear God’s voice and obey it is crucial for anyone to walk closely with God.
“A woman who had made rapid progress in her understanding of the Lord was once asked the secret of her seemingly easy growth. Her brief response was, ‘Mind the checks.’ The reason many of us to not know and understand God better is that we do not heed His gentle ‘checks’—His delicate restraints and constraints. His voice is a ‘gentle whisper.’ A whisper can hardly be heard, so it must be felt as a faint and steady pressure upon the heart and mind, like the touch of a morning breeze calmly moving across the soul. And when it is heeded, it quietly grows clearer in the inner ear of the heart.”
Elijah’s conversation with God here covers many points, but his raw honesty with God stands out as the basis for the conversation. Elijah is upset and he isn’t hiding it; he is laying out his real feelings—even if he was kind of feeling sorry for himself—before God. God’s solution: to bring Elijah relief in the form of a disciple, who would eventually take Elijah’s place. Elijah’s humility is seen here again in his willingness to 1) be honest and vulnerable before God and 2) to accept without question or protest God’s plan to replace him.
Friend, If you have never been born again than the call of God for your life is salvation.
If you have ever lied your a lier.
If you have ever stole anything, regardless of the value, your a thief.
If you ever lusted after another person your an adulterer.
And by your own admission, you are a lying, thief, and an adulterer at heart and you are guilty of breaking the law of God. according to your guilty verdict, God will have to serve justice on you and send you to Hell because the bible says “and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone”.
But friends, God has good news for you.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
This is the gospel, that God gave his only son to become sin for you on the cross to cleanse you of those sins and set you free from the punishment of Hell and give you a home in Heaven. The only thing you must do is repent of your sins (That is to turn from your sins to God) and trust in Christ alone to save you.
You can do that right there where you are before you leave by simply whispering a repentant prayer to him, maybe something like this; “Lord I know I have violated your law and that the punishment for this is Hell. I know there is nothing I can do to save my self. I am repenting of my sins and trusting in you alone to save me. Please forgive me of my sins and cleanse me with the blood of your Holy Son.”
Friend if you will repent of your sins and trust in Christ alone to save you then he will. It is one of his promises!
Christian, remember what Leonard Ravenhill said
“Smart men walked on the moon, daring men walked on the ocean floor, but wise men walk with God.”