1 Kings 19:11-12 The LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.
Let this be a lesson to you. When your pastor reads a scripture that touches your heart, be sure to write down the address. I just spent about 25 minutes trying to locate the above verse in Isaiah. Silly me. This verse isn’t about Isaiah – it’s about Elijah. Duh. Oh well.
These verses were brought to my attention a couple weeks ago by someone in my small group, but for some reason they didn’t have the same impact as when I heard them yesterday. After being up half the night listening to the raging wind tearing up the trees around my house, these verses were absolutely imprinted on my mind. With each gust, I remembered that my pastor mentioned in his sermon yesterday and this morning, I was on a mission to locate the passage. Ironically, I spent a considerable amount of time searching in the wrong place, for verses referencing our tendency to make the same mistake when looking for God. And people say the Lord doesn’t have a sense of humor. Ha!
I find it easy to see God in the major events of life. The windstorms that rip apart my world bring me searching for the meaning the Lord has in the destruction. When my foundation is broken by a sudden financial or emotional earthquake, I turn to God expecting answers to come from the rubble. When fires rage, I sense God’s purifying heat in the flames. I have a much more difficult time with God’s quiet whisper.
Perhaps I’ve allowed my life to become too loud for God. Even in my quiet morning moments with Him, I struggle to keep my mind still. I know that Jesus could yell to me over the din of my children, music at the gym, phone ringing, laundry machine whirring and vacuüm cleaner humming- but He chooses to wait for me to come to Him, seeking that still, small voice.
God, please help me today to allow the noisy distractions of my day to remind me to carve out time to sit silently. Help me to sprinkle my prayers with minutes of meditation, expecting answers. Lord, I want to see you in the quiet whispers of my life, not searching without purpose in the passing wind.
Dissonant Symphony 
Bakerlady,
How very true that we need to sit silently to hear what God has to say and teach us….. I’m not sure how you went about searching for the verse you wanted, but there are a number of web sites that can help you….. One is blueletterbible.org and another is bible.crosswalk.com….. All you have to do is type into the search box a word or two that you remember…. It will bring up all the verses that contain those words…. It’s a wonderful way to find in depth information.
I’ve been enjoying reading your posts…. Thank you for posting.
Margaret
Margaret,
I use biblegateway.com. The problem is, when I was pulling up results, I was paying attention only to the ones from Isaiah – because that’s where I thought the passage was located. 🙂 I think God was just trying to drive home the point for me.
Bakerlady,
Aha!…. I’ve done the very same thing!…. Frustrating, isn’t it?…. Just think of how difficult things were before we had computers…. I had to resort to my “Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance” and laboriously search….. Old as it is, I still turn to that, especially when comparing how these web sites define the Greek and Hebrew — and how the old hardcopy of Strong’s defines them. 🙂
Margaret