What does it mean that God speaks in a still small voice?

God spoke again to Elijah. "Go forth, and stand upon the mount before Jehovah." Great manifestations of divine power followed. "Jehovah passed by, and a great strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before Jehovah; but Jehovah was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake: but Jehovah was not in the earthquake, and after the earthquake a fire; but Jehovah was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice" (1 Kings 19:11-12). Manifestations of power are from God, but they must not be confounded with God himself. Elijah had witnessed His power at Carmel; but because he no longer beheld such displays, it seemed difficult for him to realize that God was working at all. But he presently learned that a quiet gracious work was proceeding in many hearts in Israel of which he was unaware. God had use for the whirlwind, for out of it He spoke in majesty to Job and his friends (Job 38:1; Job 40:6) and Nahum tells us "Jehovah has His way in the whirlwind and in the storm." He has use "for the earthquake": What blessed results followed the shaking at the midnight hour in Philippi (Acts 16). An earthquake was one of God's witnesses to His Son at the moment of His death (Matt 27:51). He has also use for the fire, as the people of Israel had so recently proved on Mount Carmel. But although Elijah witnessed at Horeb the great and strong wind, the earthquake, and the fire, it was the still small voice which made him feel that he was having to do with God.

It is possible for us today to get discouraged if the work of God in our hands does not move in striking ways. Persons of energetic disposition, such as Elijah certainly was, are more likely than others to feel thus. Where there are no visible manifestations we are apt to conclude that nothing is doing at all! The Book of the Acts is instructive in this connection. God used the violence of an earthquake to arouse the Philippian jailer, He opened the very heavens to reach and lay low Saul of Tarsus; but Timotheus and Lydia were reached by the quiet influence of the Word of God with nothing notable connected with their conversion. A prominent London business man in the last century, who was a lover of the Gospel (as we all should be) threw himself very zealously into the great inter-denominational campaigns of his day, but in the evening of life he said to me: "If I had my time over again, I would let all such movements alone. Enormous expenses were incurred, and I do not feel sure of the results. Upon mature reflection I think perhaps the best work is done in the constant plodding in modest halls." I replied "I told you that years ago." Those who want great things and who are filled with Elijah's zeal and energy, would do well to remember what the London merchant said. Too often the great things involve the use of worldly methods, and also the sacrifice of divine principles which we profess to hold dear. These remarks are not intended to discourage enterprise for God. Far from it. If there are no signs of blessing in connection with the work we are doing, let us get down before God about it, and ask Him why our labour appears to be in vain. But the comparatively few souls that we can show as the result of quiet Scriptural preaching may be worth more in the long run than the crowds who are registered as converts because they have signed "decision cards," or have shaken hands with the preacher! Some of these souls may possibly be injured for life by such flippant handling.

There were no great things to show in Jerusalem after the return from the captivity; but real solid work was wrought which delighted the heart of God. By the hand of Zechariah the prophet Jehovah sent this encouraging message to the leader of the people. "This is the word of Jehovah to Zerubbabel: not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, says Jehovah of hosts" (Zech. 4:6). Again we say it was the still small voice which made Elijah feel that he was having to do with God. It is the same today. God speaks now to consciences and hearts in the written Word. The band, the choir, the solo, and other forms of religious excitement are unlikely to lay bare the conscience, and create in the hearer a horror of sin and its eternal consequences; such unapostolic methods would rather tend to hinder the voice of God reaching the inner man at all.

Elijah goes on till he reaches Horeb. But coming before God to speak well of himself and ill of Israel is a very different thing from forgetting self through the power of the Lord's presence, and setting Him before the people in His power which is patient in mercy in spite of all their evil.* People sometimes come before God because they have forgotten Him in the place where they ought to have stood and borne testimony for Him. And thus God asks Elijah, "What doest thou here, Elijah? "Terrible question! like those addressed to Adam, to Cain, and now to the world with respect to Jesus. The answer does but betray (as is always the case) the sad and fatal position of one who has forgotten God. The voice was not a voice of thunder, but one that made Elijah feel it was the voice which he had forgotten. Wind, fire, earthquake, these heralds to man of the power of God, would have suited the angry heart of Elijah as instruments of divine power against Israel; but these manifestations of His power were not God Himself. The still small voice reveals His presence to Elijah. That which would have satisfied his will, and that which would perhaps have been just towards others, did not awaken his own conscience. But the still small voice by which God reveals Himself penetrates Elijah's heart, and he hides his face before the presence of Jehovah. Nevertheless the pride of his embittered heart is not yet subdued. He repeats his complaints, unsuitable as they were at the time when he had himself just destroyed all the prophets of Baal, and proving that his faith had not been able to find, by the light of his testimony, all that God saw of good in Israel.

So far we have the preparation of the prophet for what was to follow. Having arrived at Horeb, and taken up his lodging in a cave, he is instantly encountered by the word of the Lord, putting the searching question, "What doest thou here, Elijah?" There are seasons when the Lord says to His servants, "Come … apart into a desert place, and rest a while"; but if they betake themselves into the desert, without a word of command from their Master, they must expect to be challenged. The whole question raised is this: Is apparent want of success a justification for abandoning the post of duty? The answer is: The Lord alone has the title to determine the place of service and the time of the servant's withdrawal. It is helpful to remember this, as it aids in keeping the eye of the servant "unto the hand" of his Lord. Elijah, no longer "standing before" the Lord God of Israel, had forgotten this principle, and consequently he pleaded his failure in service, as sufficiently accounting for his presence at Horeb. He had been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts; the children of Israel were all transgressors, had cast down Jehovah's altars and slain His prophets, and Elijah only was left, and his life was now in danger! What a picture of despondency and unbelief! In his darkness of soul he had forgotten that the mighty power of God had so wrought with him that he had slain Baal's prophets, and that the people, awed if not convinced, had confessed that Jehovah was the God. When doubt and fear master the soul every ray of light is extinguished, and difficulties are magnified a thousandfold.

The Lord alone knew how to reach the root of His servant's failure and state. He therefore commanded him, first of all, to "go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord." Then, "behold, Jehovah passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind"; nor, as we read, in the earthquake and the fire which followed. All these three things - the strong wind, the earthquake, and the fire - are symbols of the power of God displayed in devouring and destructive judgment; and they were evidently exhibited before Elijah because he had been longing for the interposition of God in this judicial way in the midst of Israel, to back up his own mission and to vindicate the name and authority of Jehovah. But he was now to learn that the Lord was not in these things, and thus that he in his zeal (which so easily becomes carnal) had drifted away from communion with the Lord's mind and heart. The moment this happens (and how often it does!) the servant becomes totally disqualified for his work.

But this is more fully brought out by the "still small voice" which came after the fire. It does not say that the Lord was not in it; on the other hand, the effect on Elijah proved that the Lord was there, and that the still small voice was His. When Elijah heard it, "he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave." Unmoved in the presence of the displays of God's mighty power, because they were in harmony with his own mood of soul, he was evidently touched by, and brought under the constraint of, the grace exemplified in the tender and gentle voice he had heard. Again, therefore, the question is borne in upon his inmost soul, "What doest thou here, Elijah?" Once more he was thus invited to challenge the cause of his flight, and to discover the root of his desertion of his field of service. True, he answers the question in the same words as before, but assuredly not in the same tone, for light from God had entered and disclosed to him the unbelieving workings of his own heart. He could scarcely have failed to learn from what had passed before him, that instead of counting upon God for His people, and of understanding that grace was still waiting upon them in longsuffering mercy, he had been looking for some fiery judgment to consume his adversaries. He knew now that he had been out of communion with God's mind and heart.

So the Lord again speaks to Elijah, "Go forth, and stand upon the Mount before the Lord." These words disclose the secret of his failure. Elijah may give many plausible reasons for fleeing to the cave, but the true reason is that he had failed to keep the Lord before him. The secret of the bold witness before Ahab, his power to raise the widow's son, the power to bring down fire from heaven and command the rain, was simply that he moved and acted in faith before the living God. The secret of his flight, on the other hand, was that he acted in fear before a dying woman. When addressing the apostate king he can say, "The Lord before whom I stand;" when he contemplates the wicked queen it is rather, Jezebel before whom I flee.

Elijah has to learn another lesson if he is to be consciously brought into the presence of the Lord. He had seen the fire descend on Carmel, he had seen the heavens "black with clouds and wind" at the coming of the rain, and Elijah had connected the presence of the Lord with these terrifying manifestations of nature. He had thought that, as a result of these mighty displays of the power of God, the whole nation would turn to God in deep repentance, and for the moment, indeed, they did fall upon their faces and own, "The Lord, He is the God." But no real revival had taken place. Elijah has to learn that wind and earthquake and fire may indeed be God's servants to awaken men, but unless the "still small voice" is heard, no man is really won for God. The thunder of Sinai must be followed by the still small voice of grace, if the heart of man is to be reached and won. God was not in the wind, the earthquake, or the fire, but in the still small voice.

Our prophet was not so strong in the Lord and in the power of His might as was the apostle; nevertheless, the Lord is mindful of his integrity and of his devotedness, and He does not wait until His servant has ascended the mount to come near him: He passes by, but not without leaving impressive signs of His presence. We, in our hard-heartedness, would have said, I can have nothing to do with you as long as you lodge in that cave. The Lord, on the contrary, does something, the effect of which is to draw Elijah out. The first three signs — the great and strong wind, the earthquake, and the fire — were such as Elijah would have expected to find the Lord in, but He was in none of them. Not that He will never deal in judgment, but He has fixed a day for that, and alas, we are prone to take that work out of His hands and do it prematurely, whereby we spoil it all. Besides, before the day of judgment there was to be a day of grace; and grace it is that speaks in the fourth and last sign.

"And after the fire a still small voice." 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 mantle. He was both subdued and attracted, but not yet in the secret of the Lord, for he repeats his complaint, "I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts," etc. It takes a long time to bring us to understand the forbearance of God, and yet are we not all the time ourselves the subjects of it?

Happily, God will not be turned from His purpose by reason of our not understanding Him. He would speak with the still small voice, and with it He has spoken most distinctly for now nearly two thousand years. It came from heaven with Him who could say, "The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to the weary one; he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth my ear to hear as the learned." And thus He spoke to the weary and heavy laden in Matt. 11:28-30. Thus He speaks to His sheep from the moment they follow Him, the Good Shepherd; and though, alas, they may be dull of hearing, yet will He say in His untiring grace, "They follow him: for they know his voice." It is not usual that a shepherd speaks to his flock. This tells of intimacy, "and he calleth them by name." How sweet the still small voice that says to one who stood, bereaved and broken-hearted, by His empty grave, "Mary!" and how quickly she heard and how well she knew the voice that thus called her by her name. Such is the manner of His love. His voice gladdens the heart that knows that love. And it is now as it was then. The sorrowing soul that seeks His companionship He will minister to in the words of the "still small voice." "O patient, spotless One, Our hearts in meekness train, To bear Thy yoke and learn of Thee, That we may rest obtain. O Lord, Thou art enough The mind and heart to fill; Thy life to calm the troubled soul; Thy love — its fear dispel. P.C.

In 1 Kings 17 God was leading Elijah and telling him where to go, and Elijah obeyed. But in 1 Kings 19 Elijah, fearing Jezebel, flees away and does not wait for the Lord's commandment to go into the wilderness. See therefore what a sad message is sent to him, as recorded in verse 13, "What doest thou here, Elijah?" In verses 11 and 12 we read that a wind, an earthquake, and a fire are sent; but Elijah did not find. the Lord in these things, and they could not bring comfort nor strength to his soul. God was appearing in His grandeur and power; but what Elijah needed was the still small voice, what he wanted was the manifestation of grace and communion with his God. When, therefore, Elijah had heard the still small voice, he wrapped his face in his mantle and stood ready to obey the Lord. By the power and strength that he had found in this voice he was once again enabled to obey the commandment of the Lord.

THE "STILL SMALL VOICE" (vs.11-18)

When Elijah spoke to the Lord with such a discouraged attitude, the Lord told him, "Go and stand on the mountain before the Lord." Then the Lord passed by, going before three great manifestations of His power, first, a great and strong wind breaking the rocks of the mountain apart, "but the Lord was not in the wind." "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" (vs.11-12). These three manifestations of the great power of God did not reveal God as He is. Elijah thought that since God had shown His power in sending fire to consume Elijah's offering, this ought to have had a good effect in turning Israel's hearts to Him. but these great works of God do not accomplish real results in the hearts of people.

But "after the fire a still, small voice." It is God speaking, however quietly, directly to the people's hearts that has true spiritual effect in changing them. It is by the Word of God that people are born again (1 Pet.1:23). God may use great public signs to warn or to awaken people, but such signs do not save them: they need to hear the voice of God. Some individuals will hear it, others will ignore it.

All this has been written "for our admonition." God afterwards honoured His faithful prophet. Like Enoch, he did not see death, being caught up to heaven in the fiery chariot. But before that he had to learn a humbling yet blessed lesson on Horeb, the same "mount of God," at whose foot the "God of glory and grace" had appeared to His servant Moses in the "burning," yet not "burnt," bush. God, Who on Sinai, the mount of the law, had caused "all His goodness" to pass before Moses, when Moses asked to see His glory, causes on Horeb, the "mount of God," the heralds of His power — the "great and mighty wind," the "earthquake," and the "fire" — to pass before the terrified prophet, who was glad "in the crushing sense of his nothingness" to hide himself in the farthest corner of a cavern before the terrible effect of the power of these mere heralds of divine majesty. But God Himself was neither in the wind, nor in the earthquake, nor in the fire. But after the fire there came a "still small voice," the voice of God's grace. "The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." "No man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, Which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him." No sooner does the terrified prophet hear that "still small voice," than he wraps his face in his mantle, and comes to the entrance of the cave, to approach God.

Is it not the same tender voice that speaks to the sinner penitent and crushed, but believing, "Your sins will I remember no more," after this world had rejected and crucified Him, Who in His own Person was that "still small voice" when "God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing trespasses?" And does not the same "still small voice" bid the once rebellious sinner, but now worshipper and saint, who, through the blood of Jesus has liberty to enter the holiest, to "draw nigh with a true heart?" Blessed be His glorious and gracious name!

But the full grace of God in Christ was unknown to Elijah, though he felt the sweet attraction of that gracious voice, and, in an outward way, approached God, freed from fear. Again, that voice of longsuffering grace spoke, "What doest thou here, Elijah?" It was the same voice that said in Paradise, "Adam, where art thou?" Alas! Elijah's heart had been only delivered from fear, but not softened, by that "still small voice." Again we hear the same lamentable reply, "I have been very zealous," etc. The prophet had learnt little or nothing. He could make the fire come down from heaven upon the enemies of God and of His truth, but had not yet understood that after the fire comes the "still small voice" of grace, and that judgment is God's "strange work," but grace His "natural work." Alas! how much does the religious natural heart in its graceless Jehu-zeal resemble that of Elijah, even in the two brothers Boanerges, the "sons of thunder!" (Luke 9:54.) No sooner has the same answer the second time escaped Elijah's lips, than Jehovah commands him to return on his way to the wilderness of Damascus, and anoint not only two kings for Syria and Israel, but also another prophet in his (Elijah's) stead. Like Moses, the founder of the law, so Elijah, the restorer of the law, had fallen short of the glory of God and of His grace. Like Moses, Elijah was no longer to remain in his office, but had to transfer it to a successor, who better knew how to enter upon the grace of God and to act in the spirit of it.

After the wind, and earthquake, and fire, “a still small voice” was heard, And this impressed the prophet’s soul far more than the terrifying convulsions of nature. He was in God’s presence. In fear and reverence he wrapped his face in his mantle and stood in the entering in of the cave. God’s power is not to be measured by what He does, but by what He is. He is beyond all His acts.

What took place with Elijah at Horeb is very instructive. He goes into a cave, and the Lord comes and says to him, 'What doest thou here, Elijah?" (1 Kings 19:9). He ought to have been standing in Israel, still witnessing for God, instead of hiding himself. "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 brake 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 a still small voice" (1 Kings 19:11-12). It is the still small voice that touches him. When he hears it he hides his face in his mantle and comes forth. There usually comes the moment, if a servant of God has got a little bit away, when the Lord speaks to him, in a still small voice, and he is restored. So was it in this case.