Wise King Solomon, by inspiration of God relates these words from God in one of his proverbs, “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” (Proverbs 46:10). How difficult it is for us in our fast paced world today to “be still.” Most of us believe we simply do not have enough time to “be still.” Anyone who has ever been laid up for medical reasons understands how difficult it is to “be still.” But, let me tell you this, if you take the time, if you make the time, if you will “be still,” you might be amazed at what you might see and hear and what might happen.
In order to best understand our text for this morning, we will need to make sure we hear it in its context, so let us go back a bit and review what had happened before we get to our text. In the chapter before our text we have Elijah’s challenge and defeat of the prophets of Baal. Now, personally, I believe this history is a very instructing history, both for us as individual Christians and as a church body. We live in a world that espouses what we call an ecumenical movement, that is a movement that would bring all the various denominations and even religions together suggesting that we all worship the same god, but call him different names. I believe Elijah’s response to the prophets of Baal is a good example of what should be our response to this movement. Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal to a sacrifice “throw down.” They, the prophets of Baal, would offer a bull as a sacrifice and so would Elijah, but neither would light their offering. The “winner” would be the one whose sacrifice the Lord God would light and consume. Now, notice that in the account, Elijah did not join the prophets of Baal in prayer, instead, he stood off and mocked them. He made fun of them. At no time did he even imply that the one true God was even close to being on the same level as the false god of Baal. Likewise, I believe as Christians, as worshipers and followers of the Only One True God, never should we give any indication that we believe that our God is the same as or equal to the false gods of the world.
After the prophets of Baal were unable to get their god, small “g,” or idol to wake up and accept their offering, Elijah made his offering, even pouring water on his offering and as the history goes, the Lord God, the one true God, took his offering and the water in the trenches. And notice that after he won the sacrifice “throw down,” Elijah did not evangelize the prophets of Baal, but he put them to death. God never wants us to put Him on an even par with any other false god or idol, but always to make sure that He is the exclusive God of all, which is why we Christians are hated, as we have said before.
So, after his victory, Jezebel threatens Elijah and he runs away. At this point, Elijah believes that he and he alone is the only person left in Israel who is faithful to the Lord. Elijah did not run away because he was afraid of Jezebel, because we know he was a great man of faith, look at what he had just accomplished, but he ran away because he believes that he has noone left in Israel to befriend and thus he has no reason to stay.
So, now we pick up at our text for today. God appears to Elijah, not to chastise him, but to ask him what is on his mind. We pick up at the second part of verse nine, “9bAnd behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said to him, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’ 10He said, ‘I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away’” (v. 9b-10). Elijah laments to the Lord that he believes that there are no longer any faithful believers left in Israel.
Which brings us to my words of introduction and how God speaks to us. As our text continues, God speaks to Elijah and notice how He speaks to Elijah, picking up at verse eleven, “11And he said, ‘Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.’ And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke 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. 12And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper. 13And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’ 14He said, ‘I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away’” (v. 11-14). Notice that God did not speak to Elijah in the loud rumble of the “great and strong wind,” nor in the earthquake or fire, but instead He spoke to Elijah in a still small voice, “the sound of a low whisper.”
And the Lord instructs Elijah in what to do, including naming and anointing his predecessor, Elisha, naming and anointing a new king over Syria, Hazael, and naming and anointing a new king over Israel, Jehu. Notice that God is still in control. God is still in charge. God continues to guide and work with His people, even His sinful fallen people, to work out the best for them. God is still with Elijah, guiding and directing him.
So, what does this mean? And what are we to do? First, I believe this narrative serves well to remind us that God’s desire is that we do not compromise our doctrine and faith. There are many in our world today who would suggest that we all believe in the same God, we simply call Him by different names. The problem with that suggestion is that these same people do not believe in a God who would die and rise again, instead, they believe in a god who insists that one is saved by one’s character, that is by how good a person can be. It all goes back to who is running the show, who is doing what. Do we worship a god who needs us to do for him, if we are, then we are worshiping a false god and an idol. Or, are we worshiping a God who does everything for us and gives everything to us, if we are, then we are worshiping the one true God.
It is God who gives us the victory. God created a perfect world into which man, namely Adam and Eve, brought sin, corruption and death. Yet, it was God who immediately promised to take care of their sin and the sin of all people, of all places, of all times. It was God who sent His Son, truly Himself in human flesh to live perfectly for us in our place because we cannot. It was God, in Jesus who took our sins upon Himself in order to pay the price for our sins. It was God in Jesus who suffered the eternal death penalty for us and died and rose so that we might have forgiveness of sins and eternal life. Notice how the one true God is the one who does for us, His people, not one who demands that we do for Him.
And our God continues to care for us so that we may lay our burdens on Him. Just as Elijah had his own down time and lamented to the Lord, so we may come to our Lord and lay on Him our troubles, our hardships, our heart aches and the like and He will lift us up and take care of us.
Just as Elijah was in conversation with the Lord, so today, we continue to be in conversation to the Lord. We speak to Him in prayer and He speaks to us through His Word. Very often, the reason we fail to hear God speak to us, is because we fail to make use of His Word, we fail to “be still” and listen to “the sound of a low whisper” through His Word. Or, if we do take the time to read and hear His Word, we fail to hear the Lord in His low whisper because we fail to believe His Word. Either way, the problem is not with the Lord, but with us.
The Lord our God is a jealous God, desiring that we have faith in and worship Him alone. It is through His Word that He instructs us, reminding us of the authority He has given us and the promise to be with us even to the end of the world.
So, what are we to do? First and foremost we are to be given to. We are to be still and know that the Lord is God. We are to be still and be given the gifts He has to give, and in particular to be loved by God. God created us to love us. God created us to lavish us with all the good gifts and blessing He has to give.
And so our Lord does love us and lavish us and He does so through the means He has given us to lavish us, His means of grace, His Holy Word, the Bible and His Sacraments, Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, along with Confession and Absolution. As we make regular and diligent use of His means of grace, our Lord comes to us through these means to give, strength and keep us in faith, to give us faith, forgiveness, life and salvation. Which reminds us that the opposite is also true, as we neglect to make use of the means of grace, so then we are refusing and rejecting the gifts God has to give, in essence we are rejecting His love and the gifts He desires to lavish on us.
As Christians, making regular and diligent use of the means of grace, being given to and lavished on by God, the good gifts and blessings He has to give, so He stirs in us and moves in us to live lives of faith, that is we live as priests in the priesthood of believers. As we work in the various vocations the Lord has given us so that we offer our lives through these vocations as living sacrifices for the Lord.
And ultimately, as God lives in us, lavishes us with all His good gifts and blessings, and stirs in us to live lives of faith, our lives bear witness of the faith that God has given to us and in so doing, give glory to the Lord. Notice, God is the prime mover. We love because He first loved us. And we know His love and we hear Him speak to us especially as we are still and as we listen to the whisper of His voice.
God never promised that life would be easy, as a matter of fact, a beautiful rose has painful thorns. God has promised that He will be with us, even to the end of the world. God has promised that He gives us His authority to boldly proclaim His Word and the exclusive nature that He is the Way, the only Way, the Truth, the only Truth, and the Life, the only Life so that no one can come to the Father, no one has eternal life except those He has called and given faith, forgiveness and life. So, I encourage and exhort you yet today, make regular and diligent use of the means of grace, be given the good gifts and blessings the Lord desires to lavish on you. And rejoice and give praise to the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy does endure for ever. To Him be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
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