1 Kings 19:12

Displays of power come from God, but we must not confuse them with God Himself. Elijah had seen His power at Carmel. Because he no longer saw such displays, it seemed hard for him to believe God was working at all. Yet he soon learned that a quiet, gracious work was going on in many hearts in Israel that he knew nothing about.

After the wind, the earthquake and the fire came "a still small voice." This impressed the prophet's soul far more than nature's terrifying violence. He was in God's presence. We must not measure God's power by what He does, but by what He is. He is beyond all His acts.

Wind, fire, earthquake — these announce the power of God to man. They would have suited Elijah's angry heart as instruments of divine power against Israel. But these displays of His power were not God Himself. The still small voice reveals His presence to Elijah. What would have satisfied his own will did not awaken his conscience. Nor did what might have been just toward others. But by the still small voice God reveals Himself. It pierces Elijah's heart, and he hides his face before the presence of the LORD.

By these solemn and varied displays of Himself and His wonderful workings, the Lord would teach His servant a deep lesson. He was not limited to one agent in carrying out His purposes. The wind was an agent, and a powerful one, yet it did not reach the goal. The same was true of the earthquake and the fire. Their sheer terror only paved the way for the last agent, the one that seemed weakest — the still small voice. Only God can make Himself heard, even when He speaks in a still small voice.

He had thought that these mighty displays of God's power would turn the whole nation to God in deep repentance. But no real revival had taken place. Elijah has to learn that wind and earthquake and fire may indeed be God's servants to wake men up. But no one is truly won for God unless he hears the "still small voice." The still small voice of grace must follow the thunder of Sinai to reach and win the heart of man.

The first three signs — the great strong wind, the earthquake, and the fire — were the kind Elijah would have expected to find the LORD in. But He was in none of them. This is not to say He will never act in judgment. He has fixed a day for that. Sadly, we tend to take that work out of His hands and do it too soon, and so spoil it all. Besides, before the day of judgment there was to be a day of grace; and it is grace that speaks in the fourth and last sign.

In it was the Lord. Elijah was conscious of it. This was the voice that drew him out of the cave and made him stand at the entrance, his face wrapped in his cloak. He was both subdued and attracted, but not yet in the secret of the Lord, for he repeats his complaint.

It is possible for us today to get discouraged if the work of God in our hands does not move in striking ways. When there are no visible signs, we tend to conclude that nothing is happening at all!