Fifth of Five: but the LORD was not in the wind

Friday, December 5, 2014

but the LORD was not in the wind

#1 is so fond of this reading from 1 Kings 19

At the mountain of God, Horeb,
Elijah came to a cave where he took shelter.
Then the LORD said to him,
“Go outside and stand on the mountain before the LORD;
the LORD will be passing by.”
A strong and heavy wind was rending the mountains
and crushing 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.
After the earthquake there was fire—
but the LORD was not in the fire.
After the fire there was a tiny whispering sound.
When he heard this,
Elijah hid his face in his cloak
and went and stood at the entrance of the cave.

We were having a discussion just yesterday about this. Also that Monday with all the wind. We discuss it a lot.

Mainly I agree. God does more whispering than He does grand gestures. Most of the time we need to be quiet (actively seek it out in my case) in order to listen this way.

Sometimes, though, He needs to make a bigger statement. Like today. I know my phone is a useful tool but, truthfully, it also becomes an occasion of sin sometimes. I spend late nights looking up things that really don't matter (my current obsession is a house in the next town over that has a for sale sign but doesn't show up anywhere on a real estate site...see? meaningless). Email can sometimes send me into grumpy places that I should avoid whenever possible.

So, this morning, I tried to check my email and the whole app shut down. Poof. Now God knows me and He knows that I will not go to a mall or other "phone store" any time in the next month to get it fixed. Very loud, very clear.

That's a long way of saying, if you're trying to reach me, don't use email if it's urgent. I will probably end up checking it once or twice a day.