Whisper

When I say whisper, what do you think of?

Telling secrets?

It makes me think of the game we used to play in youth group. Sometimes it’s called gossip or telephone. You sit in a circle and someone starts by whispering a phrase to the person next to them, and then they whisper to the person next to them, and so on. By the time it has made its way around the circle the message has lost something in the translation. It usually ends with the original message horribly butchered. Usually the only person who gets the message completely is the person who hears it first from the source.

I talk to a lot of people who have simply adopted the message they have heard about God,  but have not heard God themselves. They have distorted messages that have been passed down and twisted from the original message.

Eventually you need to experience God’s voice for yourself.

So what really keeps us from doing this?

Noise.

God can speak to you in broad strokes through other people or in songs or messages, but God wants to speak to us in much more definition and detail. He wants to meet us in our daily lives. He desires to speak directly to your heart.

In 1 Kings 19 the prophet Elijah has had a pretty rough couple of days. You should read all of the chapter to get the details, but I’ll sum up. He experienced a great miracle when God sent fire from heaven to his altar and the prophets of Baal were defeated. Then Elijah asks God for rain ( it hadn’t rained in a really long time). God answers and sends a huge storm. Fast forward like a day and an evil queen is after him to kill him for the whole prophets of Baal thing. Talk about a rollercoaster of circumstances and emotions!

Instead of confronting all of the circumstances with God and listening for next steps, Elijah runs, not like to clear his head, like to save his life.

At this point Elijah just wants to hear from God. Even though God had just done some amazing miracles and answered amazing prayers, Elijah needed to heart the whisper. He needed to know in his heart that God was still with him; and would He stay with him?

Elijah was hiding in a cave when God’s word came to him.

First a great wind came and tore the mountain in front of him,

but the Lord was not in the wind.

Then there is an earthquake,

but the Lord was not in the earthquake.

Then a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire.

Then came a whisper, and that’s when Elijah heard God.

It was personal and close.

Elijah waited through the wind, earthquake, and fire so that he could hear the whisper. He was desperate for it. He remained through the noise waiting for the whisper.

Have you ever felt desperate to hear from God?

When Jesus came to represent God to the world, he made relationships with individuals. He made disciples. It was personal. That plan hasn’t changed. He wants to do the same thing now; it’s why He sent the Holy Spirit so that He could be with more than 12 of us at a time and still be personal.

You can know about God or you can know God. Which category are you in?

God has secrets to tell us. He wants to whisper His reassuring and steadfast love to us. He wants a relationship with us. He has time for us, but he has trouble finding people who will give time to Him.

God has plans and details for our everyday lives, but we don’t get close enough and still enough to hear them. A lot of the time, we assume our ideas are His.

What have you asked God lately?

 Have you waited for an answer?

Will you recognize His voice?

Have you gotten close enough and quiet enough to hear Him?