Not In The Fire

[00:00:00] Well, hey, friends, welcome back to Wednesday's edition of the Weekday Podcast. Super grateful you're with us. If you don't mind, would you share the weekday podcast with a friend? Maybe post it on social media or wherever you hang out? Just send people to weekdaypodcast.com weekdaypodcast.com, our hope is to encourage you and as many people as we can. [00:00:18] Well, today we're picking up the story of Elijah from 1st Kings 19. Elijah has walked 40 days to reach this mountain, the mountain of God. And when he gets there, here's what happens in First Kings 19, 11 and 12. It says, and behold, the Lord was passing by and a great and strong wind was rending the mountains and breaking 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 a fire, the sound of a gentle blowing. [00:00:52] Now think about what Elijah's ministry has run on up to this point. If you don't know the background, he's called down fire from heaven on Mount Carmel in front of a watching nation. If God's going to show up big for him now, surely it's going to look like that, right? I mean, he's seen big stuff. Wind strong enough to tear rocks apart, an earthquake, fire. All of it. Exactly the kind of display that Elijah knows. But it says, and God isn't in any of it. Then after all that, a sound of a gentle blowing. [00:01:21] A whisper. [00:01:23] Just a whisper. [00:01:24] This isn't really a story about listening harder. [00:01:27] It's God gently taking apart the idea that Elijah's strength was ever in the spectacle. His own track record, his own greatest hits. Your strength was never in the wind. It was never in the fire or what you've managed to pull off. It is in the Lord. Every single time. Now, we do this constantly, and it's usually not with earthquakes. It's with something smaller and more embarrassing. We pray about something, and then we wait for the answer to show up. Like a movie moment, a clear sign, something undeniable. Then we scroll right past the quiet nudge, the thought that won't leave you alone, the friend who says the exact thing you needed to hear because it doesn't feel dramatic enough to count as God. [00:02:14] So here's the question that I would invite you to sit with today. What if the answer already came and you missed it because you were watching for the earthquake? You're one small thing today. In one quiet moment today. Pause and ask, Is this the whisper? Is this the whisper? Not every quiet moment is God speaking. But if you never ask the question, you'll never notice when it is. Are you listening for the earthquake? Are you listening for the whisper? Have a great day. I'll see you back here tomorrow.