“The God Who Whispers”
Text: 1 Kings 19:9b-21
June 29, 2025
Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. It’s safe to say that just about everybody here today has felt all alone at some point in your life. You had a good plan to do something necessary or fun and you invite others to join you. But you soon find out that you’re all alone in your enthusiasm. For example, a child might invite his friends to meet at the ball field for a game of baseball. When he arrives, he’s the only one there. As an adult maybe you called a meeting or group project and you’re the only one to show up. Maybe you feel all alone if you’re the only one in your family who comes to church regularly. Maybe you’re the only one who supports a good idea at a meeting. On the other hand, you may be the only one who is opposing a new proposition that you disagree with. We can get to feeling lonely at times like this. And that “alone feeling” can depress us and even make us angry. Nobody else seems to care. We feel as if we’re the only one left who gives a hoot. We just want to quit and walk away from it all.
That’s certainly the way Elijah was feeling in the Old Testament lesson. He was feeling all alone and dejected. It seemed as though he was the only one left who cared. He was depressed and upset about it. It just goes to show you that even a mighty prophet, blessed by God, can be as confused and sinful as you or me. The problem was his lack of trust in God’s wisdom to accomplish His divine will in His own way and in His own time. Elijah expected God to act the way Elijah would if he were the King of the Universe. But God didn’t and that’s what led to Elijah’s depression.
If you look at what had just happened in Elijah’s life, you’ll see that he didn’t have a good reason for feeling this way. It was perhaps the most powerful experience of his career as a prophet. Elijah challenged the prophets of the false god Baal, to a contest on Mt. Carmel. There were 450 of them against one lonely prophet of the true God. This was the deal: They would both set up an altar and sacrifice a bull to their god and pray for that deity to send fire down to burn up the offering. Whichever god responded was the true God. Everyone agreed to the rules. Elijah let the prophets of Baal go first. They prayed all day but nothing happened. Their god was powerless, because he was just the figment of their imagination.
Then it was Elijah’s turn. And he did something really strange. He ordered that water be poured onto the altar, the wood, and the sacrifice. There was so much water that it filled the trench around the altar. Elijah did this to show that not only was his God alive, but also powerful. Elijah prayed fervently and God responded with a miraculous display of power. Fire came down from the sky and burnt up the meat, the wood, and evaporated all the water. Spectacular! The people were convinced. So, Elijah ordered them to kill all the false prophets of Baal, which they did.
God had responded in a mighty way, just as Elijah had hoped and prayed for. He was on cloud nine. But it didn’t last long. Even though he had successfully defeated and humiliated the prophets of Baal, Queen Jezebel was still in power. She was an avid worshiper of Baal, and Elijah had just killed off her prophets. In her anger she sent a death message to Elijah. It was almost as if Elijah had destroyed a bee’s nest, only to have the queen bee come chasing after him for it. Elijah ran for his life because he knew that Jezebel had the ability to carry out her threat. That’s how he ended up all alone on Mt. Horeb. And that’s exactly how he felt. Elijah had hoped for a different outcome. Maybe he secretly hoped that the Israelites would hoist him up on their shoulders like a hero and march off to dethrone Queen Jezebel and King Ahab. They’d storm the palace and kick the heathen bums out. And if anybody threatened to stop ‘em, well, God would just whip out another fireworks display and zap them too.
But that’s not what happened. Instead, the tables were turned and Elijah felt like a failure. He wasn’t surrounded by a crowd of supporters. He was all alone. Deep inside he wondered what had gone wrong. Things hadn’t turned out the way he had planned. And that was the crux of his problem. God’s will and plan was different than Elijah’s. Could God have used an awesome display of power to get rid of Jezebel? Sure, He could. He could’ve turned her into a pillar of salt like Lot’s wife or He could’ve killed her on the spot with a lightning bolt from heaven. But God chose not to. God could have done all kinds of awesome miracles to accomplish His goal. But He chose not to. And Elijah was struggling to understand why not.
That was the vivid message of God to Elijah there on Mt. Horeb. God unleashed His almighty power right before the prophet’s eyes. He sent a powerful wind that tore the rocks apart. He sent a terrifying earthquake that shook the earth to its foundations. He sent fire that could consume anything it got near. But after each of these displays of power, the Scripture says the Lord was not in the wind, or the earthquake, or the fire. No, after this magnificent show of force, it says God came to Elijah in a “low whisper.” God didn’t come to him with a thundering voice from the clouds but in a quiet and gentle way; a way that Elijah had not expected.
The reason why is God was showing His grace and mercy to Elijah. Elijah was very zealous for the Lord. He wanted God to bring changes and reform people’s hearts through dramatic displays of power. But God showed Elijah the gentle way in which He pursues the souls who have rejected Him. In this soft, gentle voice, God proclaimed His patient and tender nature. He showed that He’s not just a God of wrath who lashes out at anyone who opposes Him. He knows when to use His power to punish evil but He also knows when to use gentler ways to change the hearts of lost souls.
Why do we have such a hard time accepting that? So often we act like a child who saw her brother or sister misbehave and right away runs off to tell Daddy. And then she stands back, waiting impatiently for Dad to give their sibling the whipping they deserve. But if Dad chooses a gentler form of discipline—a gentler way to teach—the child feels like Dad’s not doing it right. She thinks, “If I were Dad, I’d really let ‘em have it!” Sadly, we do this with God too. People around us sin boldly and everybody can see the bad things they do. They mock God, and say, “If He’s really up there, then I dare Him to strike me dead right now.” And we stand back, waiting impatiently for God to give them what they deserve. But the powerful hand of God doesn’t come thundering down on them. So, we get disappointed and depressed. Like Elijah, we think we’re the only ones who have obeyed God. We want Him to act the way we would act. We want Him to send down the lightning bolts and the fire and the earthquakes. “Let ‘em have it God! Then people will start believing in You!” But God chooses not to and we don’t think He’s doing it right.
Like Elijah, we aren’t trusting in God’s wisdom to accomplish His divine will in His own way and in His own time. But God sees the whole picture and we only see one little piece of the puzzle. From Elijah’s limited perspective he thought he was the only one left who trusted in the Lord. But God said there were over 7,000 faithful believers in Israel that Elijah didn’t know about. See, the Lord had been busily working in people’s hearts, but not with scary lightning bolts or earthquakes. No, in a gentle way, God sustained the faith of those who also believed in Him.
That’s God’s preferred way. Yes, sometimes He deems it necessary to use a mighty show of force, but that’s rare. The way God finally revealed Himself to Elijah, in a gentle whisper, is the way He chooses to reveal Himself to all mankind. He sent His Son into the world, not with a sensational show of power or with a mighty army. Instead, God sent His Son as a gentle little baby. When it came time for Jesus to conquer His enemies He didn’t do it with powerful weapons of war. He quietly allowed Himself to be nailed to a cross for the sins of the world. When Jesus died and the victory was won, God certainly did display His power. The sun grew dark, there was an earthquake, and the thick Temple curtain was mysteriously ripped in two. Then on Easter morning, the earth shook again and rolled away the stone of Jesus’s grave to show that it was empty and He was risen. But those displays of power weren’t used to punish people. No, they were God’s victory announcement over sin, death, and the devil.
Still today, God comes to us in His gentle way, as gentle as a whisper. Through the gentle, soothing water of Baptism, God drives sin and Satan out of our hearts and claims us as His own. In His written word, the Bible, He gently speaks to us the way of salvation through Jesus Christ. Using the common, everyday voice of your Pastor, God speaks gentle words of forgiveness to repentant sinners. And in the simple elements of bread and wine in Holy Communion, Jesus Christ gently comes into our presence, whispering His forgiveness. That’s how our gentle and loving God accomplishes His will and changes our stubborn hearts. He gently pursues His rebellious children and draws them back to Him.
Make no mistake. Jesus does promise to return someday to this earth, and when He does it will be with a show of power and an army of angels. That’s something for all believers to look forward to, because it will be the beginning of our eternal victory celebration with Christ. Then, the unbelievers will finally see God use His mighty power and wrath. But for now, while there is still time to change hearts, He comes to us sinners in His gentle, persuasive way; as gentle and as soft as a whisper. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria!