I Kings 19:9-21
“What are you doing here?” When it comes to things God might say to me, I can’t think of too many things I would like to hear less. When I finally get to heaven and look at the face of God and hear, “What are you doing here, Matt?” YIKES! Thankfully, I know, because of God’s grace, that that is NOT what I will hear. And thankfully also, when we hear this phrase in our Old Testament Reading, God isn’t talking to Elijah about getting into heaven. But it is still a challenging thing for him to hear from God.
This interaction between God and Elijah was a long time in the making. He had been a prophet in some very difficult times, and had seen the hand of the Lord at work in some amazing ways. He went to live in the home of the widow of Zarephath and had seen the Lord provide an unending supply of oil and flour, and had even been used by the Lord in the resurrection of her dead son. Her reply to him, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is the truth.” (1 Kings 17). But that was only the start. Soon after we read about how the Lord vanquished the hundreds of false prophets of Baal on Mt Carmel. How they cried out to their gods for hours to light their sacrifice and nothing happened. But then Elijah prayed once and fire rained down from heaven to burn the offering, and the altar, and even the water in the trenches around the altar. The people who had once disregarded God cried out in a loud voice, “The Lord he is God, the Lord he is God!” Not a bad start!
Where would things go from here? What miraculous and powerful thing would God do next to capitalize on this last big gain? At least these were the questions that Elijah was asking (wouldn’t you?). The answer was not at all to his liking. Instead of crushing all of his enemies in a demonstration of His power and might, it seemed like everything was returning to business as usual, that everything was going backwards all the sudden. Evil King Ahab told his (Eviler) wife Jezebel about what had happened, and she breathed out a murderous threat against Elijah (She was a Baal Worshipper). And instead of being on the “front of the spear” of God’s wrath and anger, “Elijah was afraid and ran for his life.”
But even in his running, God revealed his love for him. He sustained him miraculously for 40 days and nights until he reached the holy place, Mt. Horeb (Zion), where he figured he might get some answers from God. Have you ever been there, “God WHY is all this happening to me?! WHY are you not taking care of this?! So he gets there finally, and sleeps in a cave, and waits for God to give him an answer. But God doesn’t give him an answer, he gives him a question, “what are you doing here, Elijah.”
And Elijah is mad enough at God to give him an earful of an answer! He said, “I have been very jealous for the LORD, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.” What gives here God? What do you think you’re doing? These people have forsaken their promises to you, they have murdered your prophets, and now I am on the run! Come on God, when are you going to wake up and reveal yourself? When are you going to stop disappointing me? When are you going to reveal your power?
So God responds, And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the LORD.” And behold, the LORD passed by and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the LORD, (I’m sure Elijah was thinking, YES LORD, THIS IS WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT… POWER, STRENGTH, DESTRUCTION!) but the LORD was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, (OK, earthquakes, great) but the LORD was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, (Oh yeah, burn baby burn, burn the enemy down – Gospel Lesson “do you want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?) but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper. (a thin silence, a still, small voice, something so faint, so weak, so fragile, you might wonder if you had even heard it at all). This is how God chose to reveal himself.
The message was clear, not that it made Elijah happy. And I think that is just it, God didn’t really care if it made Elijah happy, or sad, or angry, or mad. God was God, and Elijah was not. And God has a plan to continue to reach out to his wayward people rather than destroy them. He has a plan to reveal himself, not in huge powerful events of wrath and destruction, but in still, humble, and gentle ways. And God would do exactly what he wanted to do. In the end he shows Elijah how he will keep the truth being preached (Elijah), how he will execute his justice (Hazael, Jehu), and how there WERE faithful people still praising God (7,000) even through Elijah felt all alone. God would reveal himself in humility, in seemingly small ways that were actually filled with power, in ways that seemed foolish to the world, but were filled with the wisdom of God.
In fact, this still small voice was just a foreshadowing of how God ultimately reveals himself, and his power, and his wisdom. Again in a way we might not expect, or frankly, even want him to. God reveals himself to us, ultimately, on the cross. It’s just what we read in 1 Corinthians 1 – “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” This is how God wants us to see him, in the suffering and death of his Son for our sins. This is how God brings us into a right relationship with Him, not through our own actions, or lifting ourselves up, or through demonstrations of our own goodness or power. No, not at all! God brings us to him through the humility of his Son, through a willingness to suffer mockery, and pain, and death. Not through a lightning strike upon his enemies, but rather through his own sacrifice.
And this understanding of God is what Luther called, “The theology of the cross.” That the sacrifice of Jesus for our sins is the pivotal way in which God reveals himself to us. That the cross is the central part of our relationship with God, and the way in which we see God’s TRUE power, and strength, and love. But too often, we don’t approach God this way. Too often we want God to be something else, to do something more powerful in the world’s eyes, frankly, too often we want God to stop acting so much like God, and to start acting more like us.
You can see yourself doing this can’t you? You can see yourself right along-side Elijah thinking, “God if only…” If only you would send a rock-breaking wind to show your power, then people would believe in you, maybe I would even believe a little stronger. If only you would destroy your enemies, or at least scare the pants off them with a fire and an earthquake, THEN we would be in business. And let’s not limit ourselves to these things. Our list of “if only’s can get pretty long. God if only… You would cure my loved one of this disease, give me more money, have this person realize what a jerk they are and apologize to me, keep me from getting laid off, and on, and on, and on. God if only you would do something GREAT, if only you would do something SIGNIFICANT, if only you would DO I WANT. When is it my turn God? When are you going to glorify me? I’m tired of waiting.
A still small voice, a thin silence, a low whisper. This is still how God answers us. Not according to our demands, or our designs, but according to his will, and his love, and his plans. Make no mistake about it. In the midst of a still small whisper, God can demonstrate unparalleled power, and unmistakable love.
Did you come here today wishing God would do something miraculous? Did you come here hoping God would show you his power and glory? He has, and he will. There will be no wind that tears the roof off this place this morning. But already you have experienced the miracle of Christ’s death for your sins (in the stead and by the command of my Lord, Jesus Christ, I forgive you all of your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen). There will be no earthquake to reveal that God is here and powerful. But he reveals himself plainly, and accomplishes thing for you that no earthquake every could (Take and eat the true body of Christ broken for you for the forgiveness of you sins, take and drink the true blood of Christ shed for you for the forgiveness of all your sins). There will be no consuming fire to show us God’s wrath and to scare the life out of us. No, we have heard the word of God, read from human lips, and have been touched by the fire of the Spirit, the breath of God, to work in us love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
God has, and does, and will reveal to you his power, and his glory. Maybe not in the ways you want him to, but always in the ways you need him to. When will God glorify you? Hasn’t he already lifted you up from sin, and death, and the grip of Satan to make you washed in the Blood of Christ, given you life and faith through the Holy Spirit, made you a child and an heir of God the Father Almighty? What more is there? What else matters when compared to this? When will God do what you want him to? Maybe never. But hasn’t he already done more than you need him to? Hasn’t he already won for you that which you could never win for yourself? When will God finally show up? Hasn’t he already revealed himself in his Word, in his Sacraments, in ways so real, and so powerful? What more can we want other than the cross and the empty tomb?
We will struggle with exactly what Elijah struggled with until we go to be with the Lord. I remember getting a call from my mom a few years back, when I lived in St. Louis. “Your uncle just found your grandfather dead in his home, can you go over there?” I wasn’t surprised, he was riddled with cancer and we knew this day was coming. But I was mad. Mad at God. “God if you can’t take care of Grandpa, who can you take care of!” He was a great man, a great Christian, a great husband, and father, and pastor. He was a great Grandpa (literally). And yet he suffered, and now he was dead. And I couldn’t understand as I drove over to his house.
It’s hard when one of your heroes dies. And it was hard to see his body in his room. No life in his eyes, no sound, not even the faintest breath. Why couldn’t God have done something? Why couldn’t God have done what I wanted him to do? Why was I standing here in front of a dead body, and not in front of my Grandpa? How could God let him down. It wasn’t till much later that I realized that in that silence, I was actually hearing the still, small, voice of God, the Godly thin silence. It wasn’t till years later that I realized what had not left that room. That in that silence, in that sadness, there was still hope. Hope sure and certain. Hope in the wisdom of the cross. Hope in the love of God that has defeated every enemy, even death. Hope that this was not the end for my Grandfather. Hope that no fire, or earthquake, or wind could ever give me. There was hope nourished in the blood of Jesus, and built up in the Word. Hope that came from a still small voice of a dying Christ on the cross. A voice that cried out, “It is finished,” so many centuries ago.
God doesn’t always do what we want him to. But he always does more than we can imagine. He always loves us more than we can understand. He always does more for us then we sinners could ever deserve. He brings to us life, and forgiveness, and salvation through his Son. It looks so humble, it looks like a cross, it looks like bread and wine, it looks like water in a font, it looks like a book being read, but there is no strength or power, or glory like it found anywhere else in all creation.
And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore 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. And after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper.
AMEN
