Beyond the Noise
Have you ever played the "telephone game" where everyone sits in a circle and whispers a message from person to person? By the time it reaches the last person, the message has usually transformed into something hilariously different from the original.
I was thinking about this recently while reading about Elijah in 1 Kings 19. Poor Elijah was having what we might call a spiritual breakdown. After his magnificent victory over the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, Queen Jezebel threatened his life, and suddenly our brave prophet was running for the hills—literally.
He ended up at Mount Horeb (also known as Sinai), exhausted, depressed, and feeling completely alone. "I, even I only, am left," he lamented to God, "and they seek my life, to take it away" (1 Kings 19:10).
God's response fascinates me. He didn't lecture Elijah or tell him to snap out of it. Instead, He told him to stand on the mountain because He was about to pass by.
What happened next was quite the divine sound and light show:
"And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake 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: And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice" (1 Kings 19:11-12).
Wind powerful enough to break rocks? Not God.
An earthquake? Not God.
Fire? Still not God.
A still small voice—or as some translations put it, "a gentle whisper"? There He was!
It makes me wonder: why would the Almighty Creator, who could speak with thunder and lightning (and often did), choose instead to whisper?
I believe God whispers because He wants to draw us closer.
Think about it, when someone whispers, what do you naturally do? You lean in. You get quiet. You focus intently on what they're saying. You eliminate distractions.
When God speaks in that still small voice, He's inviting intimacy. He's saying, "Come closer. Get quiet. Focus on Me."
In our noisy world of notifications, headlines, and constant chatter, God rarely shouts above the din. Instead, He invites us into the quiet, where we can actually hear Him. Perhaps that's why Jesus often withdrew to lonely places to pray and why the psalmist wrote, "Be still, and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10).
God could certainly command our attention with spectacular displays of power. After all, He's done it before. But I believe He prefers the whisper because it's not just about delivering a message; it's about developing a relationship.
So if you're feeling distant from God today, consider turning down the volume of your life. Create space for stillness. Lean in close.
The God of the universe is speaking—in a whisper—and He's waiting for you to draw near enough to hear.