Elijah and the Still Small Voice

Dr. David Jeremiah looks at Elijah’s personal encounter with the Lord, and how it can make your quiet times more special.
“To persevere in an increasingly socialist culture, you’re going to have to decide whether to be a Christ-follower or merely a Christ-admirer. Søren Kierkegaard wrote something similar: “The admirer never makes any sacrifices. He always plays it safe. Though in words, phrases, songs, he is inexhaustible about how he praises Christ, he renounces nothing, will not reconstruct his life, and will not let his life express what he supposedly admires. Not so for the follower. No, no. The follower aspires with all his strength to be what he admires.”
― Dr. David Jeremiah, Where Do We Go from Here?: How Tomorrow’s Prophecies Foreshadow Today’s Problems

I want for us to focus on one main takeaway from this episode in the life of Elijah.
It’s an important one for this day and age. It’s one that I need to hear.
It’s one that you need to hear so often.
We think that God’s work is in the big things that we do in the big demonstrations that we create.
But the real effectiveness of what we do is not in the big demonstrations. That’s just the catalyst.
That’s how God gets our attention.
Instead, the real power is found in the one on one personal involvement that we have with each other and with God, we have no shortage of stories of ordinary people who changed the world.
People born of humble beginnings, who came out of obscurity, the unexpected, the unknowns, the unlikely heroes, the underdogs.
It’s hard to imagine lives so recognizable being anything like you or me.
But no matter the achievements, everyone is human and to some degree ordinary.
So the question then becomes, what can someone like you and I do to change the world even further?
What can someone like you and I do to impact the world for eternity?
Like those who have gone before us, regardless of age station stature passed or assumed future, when we offer God a life, no matter how ordinary God takes it and uses it for extraordinary impact.
That’s the story we find in the Bible again and again, God’s people, his profits, his apostles all appeared average and unexceptional until God worked in and through them.
So then someone like you can walk in the footsteps of the greats who have gone before like them, someone like you can live with purpose, meaning and intent, bearing witness to God’s extraordinary actions through you.
God was looking for someone like them and he is also looking for someone like you.

I’m David Jeremiah and welcome to Turning Point.
One of the things I love most about the Bible is its realistic portrayal of humanity, saints and sinners alike, especially the way God uses ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary things for Him.
Sometimes those people make poor choices.
Not only does the Bible show us human weakness, it also shows us God’s reassuring response and that’s just the encouragement that ordinary people like us really need.
Our current series of messages is called someone like you about the prophet Elijah.
Last time we saw how Elijah made some poor choices, but today, we’ll see how God met him and restored him.
The title of today’s message is one on one with God that’s coming up on today’s edition of Turning Point.
Dr Jeremiah first released understanding the 66 books of the Bible, helping thousands of Bible readers fully comprehend the place and purpose of every book in the Bible.
Now, Dr Jeremiah wants to help you live out the entire breadth and depth of scripture in his new companion volume, living the 66 books of the Bible in its pages, Dr Jeremiah identifies each book’s purpose theme, challenge, verse and prayer, which will help you learn and live all 66 books of the Bible too, put them into practice and to be a doer of the word request, living the 66 books of the Bible, when you give a gift of any amount in support of this program, and if you give $60 or more, Dr Jeremiah will also send you in appreciation the first companion volume, understanding the 66 books of the Bible and the Genesis through revelation.
In 66 scenes, DVD, understand the Bible and live the Bible with these resources from turning point, call or go online today.
Thank you for watching, turning point.
Now, here is Dr Jeremiah with his message, one on one with God Elijah was an extraordinary man, one of the greatest men in all of the Bible.
And we’ve stood with him in this series on Mount Carmel.
When in one 32nd prayer, he called down fire from heaven and proved beyond any shadow of a doubt that his God was the true and living God.
Elijah was also a patient man.
As we’ve discovered, he, he quietly stayed at the Brook Charity as God preserved his life from draught and famine.
The Bible tells us he was a man of like passions to us.
When we last left Elijah, he was worn out, Discouraged by all that had happened in his life and ministry.
He was running on empty. But one day as he lay sleeping under a broom tree in the desert.
In the wilderness, an angel appeared to him and ministered to his needs.
As you remember the story, the Angel told Elijah to eat a cake, drink a jar of water and then sent him on a journey of 40 days and 40 nights.
And the Bible says, for 40 days and 40 nights, Elijah wandered around in the wilderness and he lived off of that one meal.
And I’ve been doing all the research I can find to figure out what was in that meal, but I haven’t been able to find anything at all about it.
40 days and 40 nights. Isen’t that interesting? A significant period of time in the Bible?
Did you know that when God destroyed the earth with water?
He caused a terrain 40 days, 40 nights When moses interceded on Israel’s behalf.
It was for 40 days and 40 nights, The Israelite spies took 40 days to spy out the land of Calaan.
Goliath taunted Saul’s Army for 40 days before David arrived to take care of business In the New Testament.
Jesus was tempted for 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness And there were 40 days between his resurrection and his ascension.
I don’t know exactly why the number 40 is so significant, But maybe from God’s perspective, that’s how long it takes for us to get the message.
He’s trying to get into our hearts. Elijah wandered around in the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights.
And finally he arrived at his next God appointed destination.
We call this a new mountain and we read about it in first kings 19 verse eight.
So Elijah arose and ate and drank and he went in the strength of that food for 40 days and 40 nights.
As far as horrible, the mountain of God in the Bible, Mount Horeb is a very special place, especially for Moses because on this mountain, Moses saw the burning bush there.
He was called to serve the Lord.
On this mountain, the mountain of Moses struck the rock and water flowed out to provide the people of Israel with water as they walked through the wilderness.
This is the mountain where God’s glory passed by Moses as he stood in the cleft of the rock.
But most importantly, Mount Horeb is called Mount Sinai. Horeb and Sinai are the same place.
Did you realize that as you studied your Bible?
It’s the place where Moses twice received the law and the commandments.
Mount Horeb is the most important geographical location in Israel’s history and it was here that God was going to address his prophet Elijah on the very mountain that God gave Moses information for the formation of Israel.
He will give information to Elijah for the reformation of Israel in that very same place on that very same mountain.
Have you ever noticed how God has a special place for so many people in the Bible?
No places devoid of God’s presence.
But God often chooses special places to convey his purposes and his plans.
I’m tempted to ask you, but I won’t. How many of you have such a special place?
A place where you hear God speak a place where you are quiet and listen.
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we live in a noisy world, noise everywhere.
You’re tempted to acquiesce to that. You’re tempted to cooperate with that.
For instance, what is the first thing you do when you get in the car, you turn on the radio?
I’m trying to teach myself not to do that.
Not only because what I get when I get on the radio isn’t very encouraging, but we need some periods of silence in our life.
And God is about to teach this man that he loves so much and is useful to Him.
What it means to have a special place. There’s a significance in the word of God to special places.
And God brought Elijah to a special place, a mountain of great significance.
And he brought him to Mount Horeb holy place in the Old Testament.
When he got to the mountain, God had a new meeting with Elijah And the meeting began with the word of the Lord.
It says in verse nine and that Mount Horeb Elijah went into a cave and he spent the night in that place and behold the word of the Lord came to him.
Now throughout his life, as we have been discovering, Elijah has been guided by the word of the Lord.
At the very beginning of his story, the word of the Lord came to Elijah and said, go tell ahab that it’s not gonna rain.
Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah and told him to go and dwell by the brook and Elijah obeyed.
And when the brook dried up, the word of the Lord came to Elijah and told him to go to the widow at 0/5.
But if you’ll go back in your bibles to first kings, 19 3, you’ll notice that Elijah was not guided by the word of the Lord.
When he ran away from Queen Jezebel, instead, he was guided by his own fear.
What would have happened if Elijah had stayed and waited on the Lord’s provision?
He’d already watched the Lord provide for him in so many incredible ways.
Why would he not think that God after protecting him from 450 wild eyed radical bail priests?
Why would he think that God couldn’t preserve him from one crazy woman?
But Elijah was afraid he found himself in the wilderness because of his fear and because of his concern for his own safety, he wasn’t directed there by the Lord.
The word of the Lord didn’t come unto Elijah and say run from Jezebel yet in the midst of all of this, even when he was not following the word of the Lord, he finally because of the grace of God ends up where God wants him to be the word of the Lord.
Now comes to him again. Now notice the wisdom of the lord in verses nine and 10 throughout the Bible.
You will notice if you read carefully that God is a master question, ask er that may not be good grammar.
It just happens to be true in His wisdom.
God uses questions to get people to stop and think and evaluate their lives.
And Elijah huddled in the cave and the Lord asked him this question verse nine, what are you doing here, Elijah?
And I have to tell you that’s one question. I hope God never asks me.
It would mean that I have ended up in the wrong place.
If God Almighty ever has occasion to ask why we are, where we are, then we must not be where we ought to be.
If Elijah was completely honest, he would have answered the Lord’s question by saying uh Lord heard what Jezebel was up to and I’ve run for the last 40 days and I’m scared out of my skin.
Elijah had every reason to be scared because Jezebel was a formidable enemy.
Oswald Sanders said she was a woman with a face of flint and a heart of steel brought up a zealous worshiper of bail.
She slew the prophets of Jehovah and 450 prophets of bail ate at her table in the Capitol building every night.
Notice how Elijah responded to God’s question. This guy is really in a learning curve.
I gotta tell you that just, you know, you’re gonna feel so much better when you get done with today’s lesson.
Maybe you think you’re hardheaded and God’s been working on you for a long time.
But Elijah man, I’m telling you that God had to work overtime with this boy.
Notice how he responded to the question when God said to Elijah, what are you doing here?
Elijah Verse 10, he said, I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts, for the Children of Israel, forsaken your covenant, torn down your altars, kill your prophets with the sword and I alone am left and they’re trying to kill me.
Here’s something I learned.
It’s very helpful to me because one of the things that Satan can use in my life, I’m sure he does it for you is once in a while, he can get me discouraged and in his discouragement.
Elijah answered God’s question selectively. He answered it selectively and therefore he answered it untruthfully.
Anything other than the total truth is untruth.
So Elijah is sort of lying to God here, he carefully included the facts that made his situation look worse than it actually was.
We have to understand that in the backdrop of all this pessimism and negativism in Elijah’s life, he actually had a lot that he could have been excited.
About 100 profits were safely hidden by Obadiah.
450 false profits would no longer terrorize him because they were buried six ft in the earth.
And a revival was breaking out in Israel as the result of the miracle that took place on the mountain.
But when you read Elijah’s statement, you discover that discouragement has turned Elijah into a professional pessimist.
God isn’t gonna leave him there.
Thank the Lord that He understands that we are dust. We are human.
He often sees us in our problems and the struggles that we have.
And you would, you know, have you ever thought God if I were you?
I would have left me alone a long time ago. I would have said Jeremiah, that’s enough.
I’ve given you enough problem solving techniques and you’re still, but God never gives up on us. Hallelujah.
I want to stand up and have a worship service when I think about that, God didn’t give up on Elijah and he’s going to deal with his profit.
And you’re going to be reminded of this story again and again, in the days ahead, we’ve listened to the word of the Lord.
We’ve seen the wisdom of the Lord.
I want you to listen carefully to the whisper of the Lord verses 11 to 14.
And the Lord said to Elijah, go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord and behold, the Lord passed by and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks and pieces.
Before the Lord. 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 is still small voice.
If you read the text carefully, you will realize that Elijah went back into the cave at some point.
And while he was sitting in the cave, he heard Verse 12 Chapter 19, a still small voice.
The E S V calls it a low whisper.
The N A S B calls it a gentle blowing.
Our translation is the one I like the best. A still small voice. A whisper.
Elijah didn’t see God in the fire. He didn’t see God in the earthquake.
He didn’t see God in the tornado.
But then God whispered, he whispered in that cave.
Elijah was probably trying to sort out all that had just happened.
He’d seen the wind the earthquake and the fire.
And then he heard a small voice, a gentle whisper and there was something special about that whisper.
So it was verse 13 when Elijah heard it that he wrapped his face in his mantle and he went out and he stood in the entrance of the cave.
Elijah obviously realized that he had heard the voice of God and he knew that he could not look upon God’s face.
So he took his mantle, the mantle that he had and he wrapped it around his face.
And he walked out to the opening of the cave and the picture I have is there’s this cave and there’s kind of like a little platform out in front.
And when Elijah heard the voice, he knew it was God and he was so impressed that it was God that he took his mantle and he went out and stood at the entrance of the cave waiting to see what was gonna happen next.
Maybe he thought part two of the fireworks show was coming.
And once again, the Lord spoke to him directly and he asked Elijah get this the same question that he asked him before.
Suddenly a voice came to him and said, what are you doing here, Elijah?
You would think that after Elijah saw the wind and felt the earthquake and saw the fire, did he have a new answer to that question?
But his answer is word for word the same as it was before.
That’s why if you look into your Bibles, you will notice that chapter 19 verse 14 in chapter 19 verse 10 look like they have been copied accidentally into the text.
There’s the same verse he said, Lord, I, Ben zealous, the Children of Israel forsaken your covenant, torn down your altars, killed your prophets with the sword alone.
I am left and they seek to take my life. What does that tell us? It tells us.
He didn’t get one thing out of the fire. He didn’t get one thing out of the wind.
He didn’t get one thing out of the earthquake. Not one blessed thing, just like some of my sermons, right?
The wind in the earthquake and the fire did not change Elijah’s life.
He still worry was before, but God is going to do two things to bring him out of his discouragement.
First of all this new mission that he gives him includes a new assignment.
Sometimes when you’re feeling discouraged and sorry for yourself, you just need to get going again.
How many of you are thankful that God has given you a job that you have work.
Sometimes when I’m feeling a little blue about something, I don’t have time to do it for very long because Sunday’s coming, you know, and so you just get back to work and when you get back to work all of a sudden in the process, you begin to sense some equilibrium coming back into your life.
So here’s what God said to Elijah in verse 15, he said, go return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus when you arrive anoint Hazel as king over Syria, and you shall anoint Jay Hue the son of Nim Shy as king over Israel and Elisha, the son of a fat of a Bilma Hola.
You shall anoint as prophet in your place and it shall be that whoever escapes the sort of hazel J you will kill and whoever escapes the sort of Jay Hue Elisha will kill.
Now, Elijah’s probably, I’m trying to figure out what he would feel like at this moment in time.
He’s still kind of spaced out trying to figure out what’s going on and he may have felt defeated.
He may have felt like, you know, I thought I knocked bail is um out, but it’s still alive.
But the Lord was determined to wipe out this disease from the land of Israel and he had three secret weapons.
The king of Syria, a budding prophet named Elisha and a king named Jay Hue.
And Elijah was the one who would light the fuse on all three of these guys.
And the Lord wasn’t finished with Elijah and he isn’t finished with you or with me.
As long as we are on this earth, God will have a work for us to do in extending his kingdom.
You and I have a purpose you and I have a calling.
Then he gave him a new assurance and this is kind of the P S I love you from God to his prophet.
And he said verse 18, Elijah, I have reserved 7000 in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to bail and every mouth that has not kissed him.
God assured Elijah that his ministry hadn’t been a failure.
There were 7000 people in the land of Israel who were still faithful to Jehovah God.
Whenever you get discouraged, let me tell you something to watch out for two things you will be tempted to do, you will magnify the bad and minimize the good.
And Elijah did both. He overestimated the strength of the enemy and he underestimated the strength of God.
But God ministered to Elijah through the demonstration of His glory, through the still small voice, through the new assignment and through the assurance that there were still many just like Him in Israel.
We come to the end of this section of this story.
I want for us to focus on one main takeaway from this episode in the life of Elijah.
It’s an important one for this day and age. It’s one that I need to hear.
It’s one that you need to hear so often we think that God’s work is in the big things that we do in the big demonstrations that we create.
But the real effectiveness of what we do is not in the big demonstrations. That’s just the catalyst.
That’s how God gets our attention.
Instead, the real power is found in the one on one personal involvement that we have with each other and with God, we need the wind and we need the earthquake and we need the fire.
We need all of those. But we also need to listen to the voice of God.
How many of, you know, when somebody whispers, if you really want to hear, you have to lean into it.
When was the last time you leaned in to the whisper of God to hear what he says?
Listen to the still small voice of the gentle Jesus and listen carefully and this is what you will hear.
Are you listening? Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest, take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls.
You say pastor, I don’t know how to listen to God.
I have to admit it’s one of the subjects that we talked very little about in our churches, how to hear the voice of God.
But here’s what I do know.
In order to hear the voice of God, you have to proactively want to.
And in order to hear the voice of God, you’re probably going to have to get some of the noise out of your life.
Turn off some things and turned down some things.
I frankly worry about the generation that’s coming up after us who looked like they were born with earbuds in their head.
Where do they find any peace and quiet for the Lord to speak? Here’s what I know.
I can’t explain it. There’s a sense of mystery in this and frankly, if I could explain to God that I love and worship, he wouldn’t be worth my love or my worship.
His ways are so far beyond my ways. But here’s what I do know God loves us.
He loves you. And if you want to hear his voice, you can hear it.
If you want to hear his voice, his whisper in your heart. God is too good not to respond.
And then here’s the secret when he whispers to you, whatever he says, do it, do it lean in to his voice, listen to what he says and then do it.
Hallelujah. Dr Jeremiah will return to close today’s program right after this.
Dr Jeremiah would like to offer you living the 66 books of the Bible to help you put the entire breadth and depth of scripture into action and live out every book in God’s word.
Yours, an appreciation of your gift of any amount in support of this program and for a gift of $60 or more, Dr Jeremiah will also send His first companion volume, understanding the 66 books of the Bible, beloved by many readers to help you journey through God’s word and comprehend the place and purpose of each book.
Plus the genesis through revelation. In 66 scenes DVD.
Thank you for your support of turning point call or go online today.
Each of us can easily identify with Elijah’s fall into despair.
The more important question is, can we identify with how God met with him and restore Him to service?
It’s one thing to fall or fail.
It’s another to allow God to build us up again and to use us in his service.
The Bible says that God treats us like his Children. He always loves us.
Are you a child of God?
You can be sure you are by committing your life to Jesus Christ through faith in Him and to help you take that step.
I’d like to send you two free gifts.
One is our booklet called Your Greatest Turning Point and the other is our monthly devotional magazine called Turning Points.
We’ll gladly send these both to you free of charge if you will contact us here at turning point today, next time on Turning point, God will repay and one day, the injustice of this world will meet its master and God will have control.
In the meantime, I must allow God to do His work and not take it on myself.
For when we allow the spirit of vengeance to get into our hearts, it can destroy our lives and keep us from the joy of the Lord.
Thank you for being with us today. Join Dr Jeremiah next time for his message.
Vengeance here on turning point.