Oohs and Aahs – Part 2
(The Lord said to Elijah), “Go forth and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” 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. After the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of a gentle blowing [1 Kings 19:11-12].
Yesterday we gave the background information to our text. Now let’s get to the point of the text, shall we? We now come to the two verses we quoted as a kick-off to this study.
On Mount Horeb Elijah threw himself a pity party and invited the Lord. The main course was an Elijah specialty named The Grouse Gourmet. Seems Elijah thought he had done so much good for the Lord, but the Lord didn’t appreciate him. Why, he alone in all Israel still served the Lord…at least according to old Elijah.
As a suitable payment for his services, Elijah wanted to see the Lord in person. And that is where the two quoted verses come in. Notice the contrast. On the one hand Elijah experienced:
• a great and strong wind...rending the mountains and breaking in pieces the rocks
• after the wind an earthquake
• after the earthquake a fire
In contrast to all that Elijah lastly experienced a sound of a gentle blowing. To put this contrast into context, remember what Elijah had just gone through before fleeing from Jezebel. All by himself he performed a most impressive mighty miracle against 850 opponents. In fact Elijah’s ministry from the Lord was one of performing mighty miracles, awesome deeds, eye-opening feats.
Atop Mount Horeb the “strong wind” and the “earthquake” and the “fire” were meant to impress Elijah, just as his mighty miracles impressed others. Elijah saw God in terms of mighty miracles, you see. He was dumbfounded because the Lord didn’t perform mighty miracles on his behalf against Jezebel. Apart from mighty miracles Elijah couldn’t get a handle on the Lord.
Ah, but after the “strong wind” and the “earthquake” and the “fire”, on each occasion we are told that the Lord was not in those mighty miracles. The Lord did perform the mighty miracles, to be sure. But the mighty miracles were not the Lord.
This is a serious problem in some Christian circles today. Some Christians are so busy wanting to see the sign gifts (e.g., tongues, miracles, healings), that they lose sight of the Lord. It saddens me to see some Christians exude so much enthusiasm and gullible excitement, believing they are honored by the Holy Spirit with the sign gifts.
Their church is alive, you see, while those who don’t focus on tongues and miracles and healings are filled with half-dead, hybrid Christians, most certainly inferior to them, the present-day “super apostles”. They are like Elijah on Mount Horeb. They can only envision God in terms of outward, flamboyant power.
But this is precisely the stuff from which the Lord wanted to wean Elijah. After all the outward powerful signs were over, the Lord finally met with Elijah personally. He revealed Himself as a sound of a gentle blowing.
The Lord is omnipotent, all-powerful. He can manifest more power than any man can even imagine. But He wants to have a personal relationship with us, not frighten us into submission by impersonal force!
When we interact favorably with others, we communicate in a still, small voice. We talk kindly and respectfully. We respect the other person’s feelings, not try to intimidate him.
It is the same with the Lord Jesus and our personal relationship with Him. He wants to visit with us in the garden in the cool of the day. When He does He speaks softly and gently, so we can enjoy His company and come to know Him all the better. What He has to say is spoken in intelligible words we can understand, and those words come from His written Word.
Let’s take this under advisement in our quite time with the Lord now. We can learn a lot from Him, if we truly want to. He even makes it fun. Let’s go. I’ll race you to Him.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 2 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Yesterday we gave the background information to our text. Now let’s get to the point of the text, shall we? We now come to the two verses we quoted as a kick-off to this study.
On Mount Horeb Elijah threw himself a pity party and invited the Lord. The main course was an Elijah specialty named The Grouse Gourmet. Seems Elijah thought he had done so much good for the Lord, but the Lord didn’t appreciate him. Why, he alone in all Israel still served the Lord…at least according to old Elijah.
As a suitable payment for his services, Elijah wanted to see the Lord in person. And that is where the two quoted verses come in. Notice the contrast. On the one hand Elijah experienced:
• a great and strong wind...rending the mountains and breaking in pieces the rocks
• after the wind an earthquake
• after the earthquake a fire
In contrast to all that Elijah lastly experienced a sound of a gentle blowing. To put this contrast into context, remember what Elijah had just gone through before fleeing from Jezebel. All by himself he performed a most impressive mighty miracle against 850 opponents. In fact Elijah’s ministry from the Lord was one of performing mighty miracles, awesome deeds, eye-opening feats.
Atop Mount Horeb the “strong wind” and the “earthquake” and the “fire” were meant to impress Elijah, just as his mighty miracles impressed others. Elijah saw God in terms of mighty miracles, you see. He was dumbfounded because the Lord didn’t perform mighty miracles on his behalf against Jezebel. Apart from mighty miracles Elijah couldn’t get a handle on the Lord.
Ah, but after the “strong wind” and the “earthquake” and the “fire”, on each occasion we are told that the Lord was not in those mighty miracles. The Lord did perform the mighty miracles, to be sure. But the mighty miracles were not the Lord.
This is a serious problem in some Christian circles today. Some Christians are so busy wanting to see the sign gifts (e.g., tongues, miracles, healings), that they lose sight of the Lord. It saddens me to see some Christians exude so much enthusiasm and gullible excitement, believing they are honored by the Holy Spirit with the sign gifts.
Their church is alive, you see, while those who don’t focus on tongues and miracles and healings are filled with half-dead, hybrid Christians, most certainly inferior to them, the present-day “super apostles”. They are like Elijah on Mount Horeb. They can only envision God in terms of outward, flamboyant power.
But this is precisely the stuff from which the Lord wanted to wean Elijah. After all the outward powerful signs were over, the Lord finally met with Elijah personally. He revealed Himself as a sound of a gentle blowing.
The Lord is omnipotent, all-powerful. He can manifest more power than any man can even imagine. But He wants to have a personal relationship with us, not frighten us into submission by impersonal force!
When we interact favorably with others, we communicate in a still, small voice. We talk kindly and respectfully. We respect the other person’s feelings, not try to intimidate him.
It is the same with the Lord Jesus and our personal relationship with Him. He wants to visit with us in the garden in the cool of the day. When He does He speaks softly and gently, so we can enjoy His company and come to know Him all the better. What He has to say is spoken in intelligible words we can understand, and those words come from His written Word.
Let’s take this under advisement in our quite time with the Lord now. We can learn a lot from Him, if we truly want to. He even makes it fun. Let’s go. I’ll race you to Him.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 2 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
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