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In the Silence

1 Kings 19:11-13

The tornado-like wind that Elijah experienced blew with such force and violence that it must have ripped rocks from their natural ledges and tossed them to the valley floor as if they were mere seeds being blown in the wind. God was not in this awesome demonstration of power. Following the wind was an earthquake. The earth moved in convulsion, slicing the valley floor open, then slamming shut with a shudder that surely was terrifying enough to be a definite sign that God was present. But He was not there. Finally, fire came crashing like lightning and rain pellets all around the mountain. God often revealed Himself in fire (i.e., Moses and the burning bush, which occurred at the same place where God consumed the altar on Mount Carmel). But once again God was not present. God may have been behind these events, but He was not in them. Elijah was learning that God, who had spoken by fire in Elijah's recent history, a fire that consumed a soaked altar and sacrifice, does not always reveal Himself in powerful, miraculous ways. Sometimes He speaks in the still, small voice.

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