Thought for the Day 10/4/2024

 Friday Tale - A Gentle Whisper 

"A still small voice" (AV, RSV), "a gentle breeze" (LXX). 1 Kings 19:12 

The judgments of God (strong wind, earthquake, fire) are actually manifestations of His mercy. They are the prelude, and preparation, for the still small voice calling the nation to repent. 

Elijah is being shown that the LORD God -- or Yahweh -- is, of course, the God of the strong wind, the earthquake, fire -- all these were presumed by the pagans to be manifestations of the great "god" Baal, but this was utterly false! 

But not only was Yahweh the true and only God of these great and frightening aspects of nature, in contrast to Baal. He was, ESPECIALLY, the God who revealed Himself through the quiet, still, small, and gentle voice speaking to the individual conscience. 

An old preacher spoke something in reply to a question from a young man, something so hushed it could not be discerned. 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." With their heads bent together, the old preacher spoke once more. "God sometimes whispers," he said, "so we will move closer to hear Him." 

We all want God's voice to thunder through the air with the answer to our own particular problem. But God's is the still, small voice... the gentle whisper. Perhaps there's a reason. Nothing draws human focus quite like a whisper. 

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. And there is no better place to be. 

Are you close enough to God that you can hear Him whisper? Or are you so far away that you would barely hear Him if His voice boomed like thunder? 

Sometimes we say we are believers, residents in God's house, but we expect to feel close to Him by yelling down the hall or using an intercom. The only way to have the BEST relationship with God is to live where He lives... not just in the same house, but in the same room; side by side. We need to draw close to Him... "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you" (James 4:8). There is no better way to do this than to read His Word, prayerfully and quietly and in a spirit of contemplation, EVERY DAY. 

Let's be so close to the LORD that we can feel His presence and hear Him whisper His Word to us.
~ Jim Gentile 

Incline your ear, and come to me:
hear, that you may live;
and I will make you an everlasting covenant.
~ Isaiah 55:3 (ESV)