Now I am going to go back to lessons learned in 1 Kings continuing with our story of Elijah.  In my previous blog "From the Mountain to the Valley," we learned that Elijah was depressed.  He was tired of fighting the good fight.  He was ready to throw in the towel.  Even though he had just experienced a huge victory, he had tumbled down the mountain and was in the valley.  In 1 Kings 19:7-15 it tells us:   
⁷ "The angel of the LORD came back a second time and touched him and said, "Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you." ⁸ So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. ⁹ There he went into a cave and spent the night. And the word of the LORD came to him: "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

    ¹⁰ He replied, "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."

    ¹¹ The LORD said, "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. ¹² After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. ¹³ When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.
      Then a voice said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

    ¹⁴ He replied, "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."

    ¹⁵ The LORD said to him, "Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram."

God made sure Elijah ate, rested, spent time with Him, and then He sent him right back to work.  In order to encourage Elijah God told him to go to the mountain and wait for His presence.  The presence of the Lord in our lives can sometimes be the only thing that will get us through certain circumstances. 

Notice though, Elijah did not find God in the wind, fire, or earthquake - he found God in the gentle whisper.  Sometimes we do not wait long enough or listen hard enough to hear the gently whisper of our Lord and Savior trying to encourage us on.  God did not tell Elijah He would make it all better.  Instead He sent Elijah right back to doing His will, but this time Elijah knew that he was not all alone. 

There are times in our lives that we may feel all alone, but we are not.  God is always with us, sometimes you just need to be quiet enough to hear the gentle whisper. There may be times we just want to quit, but we need to listen to the gentle whisper and keep our feet on His path. 

Exodus 14:14:
^''The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still."

Psalm 37:7:
"Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, 
when they carry out their wicked schemes."

Psalm 46:10:
 "Be still, and know that I am God; 
  I will be exalted among the nations, 
  I will be exalted in the earth."

Staying on the narrow path, have a blessed week.

It occurred to me the other night after a really long, tiresome day, that as our children get older they change our names.  We are no longer simply Daddy and Mommy; we are now DaddycanI and butMommmm.  The majority of the time my children are either asking for something, if they can do something, or arguing because the answer was no (I realize this is a training issue that I must deal with, but we will leave that for another blog).  Then a little unpleasant thought crept into my mind.  Does our Father in heaven feel the same way?  Have we changed His name to GodcanI or to a whiney butLorddddd.  Think about your last conversation with God.  What was the topic of discussion?  Was it a list of can-I-haves or a time of argument because you didn’t want to obey His latest command to you?

I’m sure most of you have heard a precious little toddler look at his mother and tell her emphatically “NO” when she told him to do something.  It is cute when they are 2, not so cute when they are 12.  I’m pretty sure God does not find it cute or amusing when He asks us to do something and we say “NO” or just choose to ignore it. Just like that toddler might get disciplined for that ‘no,’ we might also get disciplined by our Father for our no’s or disobedience.  It may be as simple as a missed blessing, which I know I have experienced.  The worst feeling for me is when God has told me to encourage someone and I ignore Him, then I find out how that person struggled or was hurting and really needed it.   

More and more I become sure that God gave me children to bring my sin to light.  When I see the sinful attitudes and actions of my children, I usually recognize where they came from.  Most of the time, He shows me how I need to change my conversation with others and really guard my tongue.  This time He showed me how I need to change my conversation with Him. He wants me to seek His face, to know Him, and not just always seek His hand.

Jesus said in Matthew 12:34 "...out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.”  The words we speak reveal the condition of our heart.  If our heart if full of the love and fear of God, then our words will not always be “May I, can I have, or no.”  A heart, mind, and soul overflowing with love for God will produce words like, “Your will be done, whatever you ask I will do, I praise You…”

Proverbs 16:24 “Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.”

Staying the narrow path – have a blessed week!