Loading...
A Still, Small Voice – Mora and Chacon – June 24, 07
The Scripture Rdg for today’s sermon is 1 Kings 19.9-13. It is one incident in the exciting life of Elijah. Sometime, when you want to read an interesting story, read First Kings, or even the story of Elijah, which begins with Chapter 17. If you are not familiar with the story already, Elijah was a prophet in Israel, the Northern Kingdom, what you know as Samaria. Ahab was king at that time. Even though the country was nominally under his control, the people were largely Canaanites, and their God was called Baal.
The Hebrews were marrying Canaanite women, as did Ahab himself. Therefore, quite a few of the Hebrews began worshipping with their wives, the God of Baal. As the Hebrew priests always taught, ‘Yahweh is a jealous God,’ and he did not want his ‘chosen people’ whoring after other Gods. There may have been a little self-serving in this teaching, because the priests were quite powerful at that time, and they didn’t want to share any of that power with the Baal priests. As far as we know today, ‘El’ and ‘Baal’ may have been the same God, but with different names, just as the Muslims call God, ‘Allah’. We know that Allah is the same God as ours, because the Muslims use the same Hebrew scriptures that we do.
According to this story, both Gods had prophets, and these prophets were supposed to be ‘miracle workers’ – what we would call ‘magicians’ today. When the chips were down, Elijah was able to perform a greater miracle than the Baal prophets. This convinced a sizable contingent of Israelites, to seize the prophets of Baal, some 400 according to the story, and to hold them immobile while Elijah killed them with his sword.
Now when Jezebel, Ahab’s Canaanite wife, heard of this, she told Elijah, “I’m going to get you for this.” Elijah wisely fled the neighborhood. Beer-sheba is about as far from Samaria as you can get. And that’s where Elijah fled to. And there he took refuge in a cave. And here we pick up the story as found in 1 Kings 19.9-13. Listen for the word of God.
9: And there he came to a cave, and lodged there; and behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and he said to him, "What are you doing here, Eli'jah?"
10: He said, "I have been very jealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the people of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thy altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away."
11: And he said, "Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD." And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and broke 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;
12: and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.
13: And when Eli'jah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him, and said, "What are you doing here, Eli'jah?"
Here ends the reading from the Holy Scripture
In verse 9 it says that God (it says, ‘The word of the Lord) asks Elijah, “Why are you here? Why are you not back in Israel, doing what you were called to do?” Elijah then pours out his sad story: : He said, "I have worked hard for the LORD; but the people of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thy altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and now they seek my life, to take it away."
Now wait a minute; the narrator didn’t tell us that all this was happening. We suspect that Elijah is exaggerating a little here to impress the Lord. And he certainly doesn’t mention what he had done to the prophets of Baal.
Then the Lord said, “Go, stand on top of this mountain, and I will show you something.” Now the top of a mountain is the last place you would want to be in the case of a violent windstorm – a cyclone, a tornado, or a hurricane, but that was where Elijah was. Apparently, Elijah himself was not blown around, but he had a good view of the devastation that the windstorm caused. We have seen what such storms can do right here in Kansas. But suddenly, all was calm. Elijah was probably asking himself, “What was that all about?” Then without warning, the earth began to shake – a few trembles at first, and then vigorously. All the loose rocks began bounding down the mountainside. Then, after a few minutes, all was calm again. But still no explanation from the Lord. Not a word.
Then there was a raging forest fire. Fortunately, there was no vegetation on the crest of this mountain, so it didn’t harm Elijah, but he was fearful for his life, nonetheless. After the fire died down, and there were only a few burning embers left, Elijah probably said to himself, “What else can happen? What is the Lord telling me?”
Then he heard the ‘still, small voice’. We don’t know what the voice said All we know is that the Lord asked Elijah again, “Why are you here?” This implies that the Lord wants Elijah to go back to Israel, and become reconciled to those people there, and to reassure them that God had spoken to him – that he had a message for them. God was not happy with Elijah’s violence – God does not like violence of any kind. God has shown you how to get things done. Speak softly to people – lead them, don’t try to drive them – teach them – love them – encourage them.
Remember your experience on the mountain – violence destroys. Violence only frightens people. Nature’s violence can be avoided (if we have warning) – stay in the house or seek refuge in a storm cellar. It is human violence that you can and must constrain.
This is an Old Testament story. We must to read it today in the light of Jesus’ teachings. Jesus said, “I have overcome the world.” Meaning I have given you the tools to overcome the world. Turn the other cheek – Love one another – Love your enemies – bless those who persecute you – pray for those who despitefully use you. Carry these teachings to all the world and you will be amazed at the miracle that ensues. As disciples of our Lord, we are called to go fourth in peace – teaching peace – waging peace – living peace in our daily lives.
This month’s issue of Presbyterians Today (June 07) explores the problem of ‘domestic violence’, and the lead article is called, ‘Breaking the Silence’. It is by Eva Stimson, Editor of Presbyterians Today.
She opens with a report by Juli Owens, the daughter of a Presbyterian minister. Though this happened nearly 20 yrs ago, it is still fresh in her memory. She says of this incident, “He was threatening to hurt me if I yelled or screamed. He held me at knife point for hours.” After he fell asleep, she hid the knife. Next morning he said, “I should have killed you while I had the chance.”
The reason I bring this up is to illustrate a situation where it would be unwise to ‘turn the other cheek’. Jesus solution to violence will work 99% of the time, but the remaining 1% will require a different strategy. What would we recommend today, if we could counsel that woman whose life was threatened? We would all probably like to say to her, “Forget the knife. Get your baby, and get out of that house this instant.” This is partly hindsight, and partly knowledge acquired during the past 20 yrs. Her husband is a sick man. He needs psychiatric attention. Killing him, or putting him in prison is not going to solve his problems or ours. Even so, we must keep him away from other people lest he do harm to them.
Jesus would probably say to us, “You do not blame a person for being sick. Neither should you blame a person for being emotionally disturbed. Protect yourself from him, but see that he gets psychiatric care.”
In summary then, a still, small voice has spoken to Elijah. We don’t know exactly what it said. We only know the context. It says that the voice of the Lord was not in the windstorm – It was not in the earthquake, and it was not in the raging fire. The voice of the Lord was in that still, small voice. The voice of the Lord was not in the violence of nature. The message we get is that the Lord does not speak to us with violence. And by inference, the Lord does not want us to speak with violence.
The OT must always be interpreted in the light of Jesus’ teachings. Jesus is our ‘doorway’ to God. Basic to Jesus’ teachings was, ‘Avoid violence – love your enemy – pray for him – forgive him – comfort him.’ Jesus healed the ‘demoniacs’ – he healed the lepers – people who would have been frightening to us. He would have healed the crazy husband with the knife. I know that my own first reaction was, ‘Shoot that man. Shoot him right through the head.’ It is only when I back off, and seek counsel with the Lord, that I hear that still, small voice. The voice will say, ‘He is one of my sheep – I love him, and ask you to care of him. Feed my sheep – not only the white sheep, feed my black sheep as well.’
May God add his blessings to this message. Amen
Goto Chap 8
Recent Comments