“And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces 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 Ki 19:11-12).
It isn’t that God never uses whirlwinds. He spoke to Job out of one, and Elijah himself was caught up by one into the Lord’s presence. But not here. Not now.
Elijah had been hoping for a spiritual earthquake, revival fire, the wind of God to sweep the land. It had seemed so at Carmel, but the response of the people had been superficial. Here now at the very mount where Moses had seen, heard, and felt “thunderings and lightnings,” Elijah needs to discover something else. The R.V. margin reads, “a sound of gentle stillness.” This was God’s whisper to Elijah’s soul.
“Lord, in the midst of a noisy world, attune our hearts today not to miss Your whispers!”