Where Are They Now? a Sequel: Just the Whisper of His Name
the heart of Biblical Greats
October 14th, 2021
Romans 8:3-4, ‘God went for the jugular when He sent His own Son. He didn’t deal with the problem as something remote and unimportant. In His Son, Jesus, He personally took on the human condition, entered into the disorderly mess of struggling humanity in order to set it right once and for all. The law code, weakened as it always was by fractured human nature, could never have done that. The law always ended up being used as a Band-Aid on sin instead of a deep healing of it. And now what the law code asked for but we couldn’t deliver is accomplished as we, instead of redoubling our own efforts, simply embrace what the Spirit is doing in us.’ (the MESSAGE)
Just the Whisper of His Name
1 Kings 19:9-13, ‘There he went into a cave and spent the night. And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and put Your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.” 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. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
Have you ever felt so overcome with defeat and so disrespected and beaten down that you wanted to crawl in a cave and die? That’s where we find the great Man of God, the great prophet Elijah, on the day of his greatest defeat, the one that caused him to flee and hide. This is the man who held back the rain for three years by the cry of his heart to an Almighty God. This is the man who defeated four-hundred-fifty Baal false worshippers by the cry of his heart to an Almighty God. This is the man who sent the drought into remission and called back the rain again by the cry of his heart to an Almighty God. This is the man who outran the chariot as the droplets turned to drizzle which transformed into a steady downpour after months of drought by the cry of his heart to an Almighty God.
The same man who had the power to commandeer the forces of man and nature through his connection with Almighty God is the one we find hidden at the back of a cave, pleading for death and destruction for himself. And we have a mighty God who could throw His hands up in frustration toward his servant for running from victory to defeat, from sustenance to suicide, from communion to disconnection. But instead, He shows up! Almighty God shows up! He comes Himself even and passes by. He can cause many things to occur but all He needs do is whisper because the closeness of Himself in proximity to us and the situations we face or the caves we find ourselves buried in.
I don’t have to wonder where this great Man of God is today. Because I know when he saw the presence of Almighty God pass by and found himself outside of the wind and earthquake and fire, that he truly heard the whisper of a close God who desired the pliability of his spirit and the obedience of his heart. That is what Elijah chose; I just know it! and so when I get to heaven, I can’t wait to ask him ‘Questions About the Cave’.
John 3:16-17, ‘”For here is the way God loved the world—He gave His only, unique Son as a gift. So now everyone who believes in Him will never perish but experience everlasting life. God did not send His Son into the world to judge and condemn the world, but to be its Savior and rescue it!”’ (TPT)
