The Still, Small Whisper of God's Love - 1 Kings 19:8-19

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. The text is the Old Testament lesson, 1 Kings 19:9-21.

Do you ever feel like you've got God all figured out? I not asking if you comprehend the deep mystery of the Trinity or if you can fathom how it is that God is without beginning or end. No, I'm asking if there are times in your life when you're sure you know what God is going to say or do next - like the way spouses or best friends can sometimes predict each other's thoughts or words?

There was a time when the Prophet Elijah was pretty certain that he could predict God's next move. Elijah was riding the greatest high of his ministry. Through him God had just brought about the defeat of hundreds and hundreds of false prophets, the prophets of Baal - a false god that had stolen the hearts of minds of all Israel. In a very public ceremony at the top of Mount Carmel, Elijah had proven that Baal doesn't exist. At God's command, 850 false prophets were put to death that day. After that event, everything made sense to Elijah. He was sure he knew were God was going with this. In the spiritual vacuum created by Baal's defeat, God, by default, would recapture the adoration of every man, woman and child in Israel, including the heart of Israel's ungodly king and queen - Ahab and Jezebel. It all made perfect sense.  

Not all surprises in life are pleasant ones. For example, you go to the dentist for a cleaning, only to discover two cavities. Or, a Sheriff’s deputy knocks on your door to inform you that a drunk driver plowed through your yard, took out a hundred feet of chain link, and wiped out your custom John Deere mailbox.  Those are merely unpleasant. Now, imagine how surprised Elijah was to discover that Baal's defeat had only deepened Queen Jezebel's hatred of the one true God. Rather than send Elijah news of her repentance, she told the prophet that he had less than twenty-four hours to live. Rather than thanking him for pointing out her damning sin, she declared Elijah, "Public Enemy Number One" and ordered his picture to be hung in every post office in Israel.

As Israel's most wanted criminal, Elijah saw no other choice but to flee. He went south, stopping in Judah just long enough to pray, "I have had enough, LORD. Take my life;" (1 Kings 19:4). But instead of bringing Elijah's earthly life to an end, God told him to head for Mount Horeb - the same mountain where 600 years earlier Moses had seen God's glory, first in a burning bush, and then again on the mountain's peak where he received the Ten Commandments. Elijah traveled to Horeb as God had ordered. When he arrived God asked him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" That question may seem odd since it was God who told him to go to the mountain. But God was really asking the prophet why he had run away from his home, from his life as God's spokesman.

"I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken 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."

Did you count how many times Elijah referred to himself:  "I have been very zealous. I am the only one left...now they are trying to kill me too." This is all about me…poor, pitiful me. Now, don't misunderstand me, he was right – he had indeed been zealous for the Lord. No prophet during his time had worked harder. But to what end? He had fought the fight and was now on the run for his life because he was God’s prophet. From Elijah's perspective all his work had been a gigantic waste of time.

Have you ever felt like Elijah? Have you ever worked hard in the Lord's name, raising your children, working on your marriage, sharing your faith, trying to live God's will, but no good seemed to come of it, or worse it all seemed to go wrong? You keep trying but the harder you try, the harder it gets. Have you ever felt like just giving up, telling the Lord, “It’s not fair” or "I quit"?  I have. I’m not proud of it, but I’ve had my own Elijah moments. “God – I’ve tried this and I’ve done that; I’ve preached to the congregation and talked to individuals but it’s not enough. I must be a failure. I let you down.”

There’s a certain, simple human element to this, feeling disappointment and frustration. But, if we’re honest, it’s also our sinful nature talking - that selfish nature of pride, self-worth, that’s within us and simply not having a clue as to what it really means to serve the Lord. Serving our God isn't about us and how much we accomplish. It isn't about getting the credit for hard work or even about enjoying the fruits of our labor. If that's what we're looking for to get some blessing or benefit from our service to the Lord then we're worshiping ourselves, not God. And when that happens, only misery can follow - earthly misery and eternal misery in hell. That's the penalty for idolatry.

Elijah was getting a taste of such misery. His zeal was gone, replaced by self-pity and fear, fear that came from failing to trust that the same God who had destroyed the prophets of Baal could just as easily protect him from Jezebel's murderous threats. Elijah couldn't see that because he was focused on himself rather than on God. How often we have suffered from that same kind of blindness! How miserable we make ourselves because we do not trust our God as we should!

The LORD said [to Elijah], "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, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave" (vv. 11-13).

We self-absorbed sinners may well expect a word of anger from God. We deserve no less. How easily God could use the forces of nature - wind, earthquake and fire to forever remove us from his presence. But though they are all at his command, he speaks to us through none of them. Rather than treating us as our sins deserve, he speaks to us in ways we don't expect. He speaks in tones of love through the gentle whisper of his gospel. On every page of Scripture Jesus whispers, "I love you. I love you so that I've taken your sins of idolatry, your doubts and despair, your self-pity and fear, I've taken and claimed all your sin as my very own and I've paid the price for all of it by facing the blast of God's anger and the fires of his judgment in hell in your place. Your sins are forgiven!" So that we may never forget it, Jesus whispers this same good news to us and our children in the waters of Baptism as he gently washes away our sin. And so that we might know the intimacy of his love for us, he speaks to us in the bread and wine of Holy Communion as he feeds our souls the very body and blood he gave and shed to make you and me his dearly loved children forever.

Wouldn't you agree - God speaks to us words of love we don't deserve in ways we don't expect? But the wonder of God's love doesn't end there. Although we have often failed to serve our God as we should, doubting his promises to help and quitting when things don't go our way, still with his forgiveness in Christ, God wipes our slate clean and gives us a new opportunity to serve him in a spirit of thankfulness and praise. Now we might imagine that God would send us out on our own as people who have something to prove to him. But that is never the case. No, our God is full of surprises! When we serve him, we are never alone. He goes with us everywhere and according to his own promise he works through us in ways we can't imagine.

After gently whispering to Elijah the news of his love and forgiveness, God once again invites his prophet to speak what's been placed into his heart. Elijah does so, but now, having been renewed in spirit by God's grace, God has made him ready for service. He tells Elijah, "Go back the way you came..." (v.15). God has work for Elijah to do, but God assures him that he will not have to do it all by himself. He is to appoint kings to help, and also a prophet, his own successor, Elisha. God would use these men in his service too. At times he would use their swords to drive home the preaching of his law, and with it bring sinners to their knees. But the law's thunderous threats would not turn hearts away from Baal or any other sin. Only the gospel can accomplish that, because it alone is the power of God for the salvation of sinners. Working through his gospel God had already accomplished more than Elijah could have ever imagined. In his despair Elijah thought he was the last believer on earth. How wrong he was! His service to the Lord had not been in vain. He just couldn't see what God can accomplish through a gentle whisper. So God tells him, "Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel--all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him" (v. 18).

Here is what this means for you.  As you fulfill your vocations as mother, father; husband, wife; child; neighbor; employee or employer; family or friend - as you serve your neighbors as the voice, hands and feet of Christ, God is working through you in ways you can't possibly imagine, in ways you may never know until you reach heaven above. So don't despair. Your efforts are not in vain. As you work on your marriage, as you train your children to know Jesus, as you share him with others through your words and actions, he is pleased with your service whether you see its results or not. He regards all you do in his name as an act of worship, and he accepts that worship as a fragrant offering of thanks from you a redeemed sinner to himself, your loving Savior.

Should all this surprise us? Our God has pledged to show us unconditional love. He never changes. But we do. Sin keeps changing us, ruining our thinking and spoiling our actions on a daily basis. Yet in his constant love for us, God chooses to keep calling us back to his grace-grace so refreshing that it seems brand new to us every time we experience it. So is God really full of surprises? No. It just seems that way to us sinners whom God keeps loving for Jesus' sake. Amen.