Richard Davenport
June 29, 2025 – Proper 8
1 Kings 19:9-21
The Old Testament reading for today is kind of a fun one. Elijah hides in a cave while he awaits God’s voice. There’s the great wind, but God doesn’t speak out of that. There’s a great fire, but God doesn’t speak out of that. There’s the earthquake, but God doesn’t speak out of that. Then there’s the sound of a low whisper. The old King James translates it as a “still, small voice.” Another translation describes it as a “sound of sheer silence.” It immediately makes me think of the old Simon and Garfunkel song, “The Sounds of Silence.”
It’s well-known that silence can speak volumes. Compared to the deafening clamor of earthquakes, fires, and wind, the silence alone would have said a lot. You don’t get the sense Elijah’s scared, though you’d think he would be with all of this going on around him. God questions him. Then all of the commotion comes. Then God questions him again. Elijah’s answer is the same.
Elijah is hiding here in this cave, clearly fearing for his life. It’s not surprising, since Queen Jezebel has made clear her intention to end him as soon as she finds him. So Elijah finds a hidey hole, waiting for the danger to pass by or waiting for God to save him. It’s not really clear what he thought was going to happen. You get the impression he thought he was just going to get discovered and that he’d die there. His life wouldn’t amount to anything and he’d die in the dark.
Put into context, this story changes dramatically. Chapter 18 tells us all about the big showdown with the prophets of Baal. There’s Elijah up on Mt. Carmel, facing down almost 1000 false prophets. God sent him to King Ahab to call out these false prophets and demonstrate once more who is God.
So Elijah is up there on the mountain confronting 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah by himself. The whole scene is pretty amusing. Elijah suggests each group taking a bull and preparing it for sacrifice. Already things are off kilter, since one group consists of the 450 prophets of Baal who are specifically on trial here, and other group consists of one man. Nevertheless, Elijah suggests taking the bulls each group sacrificing it to their respective god. The god that responds more powerfully must be the true God.
The Baal prophets go first, setting up the altar, sacrificing the bull, and calling on their god. The call on him all morning, even cutting themselves, offering their own blood to Baal. Around noon, Elijah suggests to them Baal might be asleep or one the toilet. They might need to work a little harder to get his attention. They try their best, but nothing happens.
Elijah takes his bull and places it on a stone altar he built. He digs a trench around it and then several big jars of water over the whole thing, enough to cover the altar and fill the trench. Then he offers a simple prayer, “O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. Answer me, O LORD, answer me, that this people may know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.” With that, fire comes down from heaven to burn up the bull, the water, and even the stones themselves, leaving nothing left. The people who had gathered to see the divine duel then slaughtered all the prophets of Baal at Elijah’s direction.
This is what gets Jezebel so upset. This is an affront that can’t be allowed to stand. She sees Elijah as an upstart and a troublemaker and won’t allow him to continue running around insulting her or her religion. So Elijah gets the idea he’s unwelcome and hoofs it on out of there.
Has that kind of fear ever struck you? Maybe you’ve never been afraid for your life, like someone’s out to kill you, but that fear that makes you want to run and hide away can come from any number of things. Fear of confronting your own death. Fear of living without someone in your life. Fear of living in a strange and unknown place. Fear of being forgotten by the world and left alone.
It makes you want to hide somewhere where you feel some semblance of safety and security, where you have some control over things. Even when you are afraid of being alone, retreating to that safe space provides comfort. It’s better than being out among people who might intentionally reject you and confirm your sense of isolation.
You want God to come in and fix everything, set everything back on the right course. You want him to come with power to right the wrongs and rally to your defense. Elijah was most assuredly looking for the same kind of response. God has something else in mind. He instructs Elijah to stand out at the mouth of the cave and watch. Fire scorches the ground. An earthquake cracks the earth apart. A gale force wind tears everything in its path. Make no mistake. God sent each of these things. They are all a part of the lesson. None happened without his directing and they all took place there in the sight of Elijah for a very important reason.
But God doesn’t speak out of any of those mighty and powerful works. He certainly could have, but he chose not to. He speaks out of a gentle whisper, a soft voice carried on the wind that you would lose if you weren’t listening for it. It’s a voice that requires you to be quiet if you want to hear it at all. It’s here that God speaks to Elijah. It’s probably not the method Elijah wanted, not if God were serious about saving his people, delivering them, rebuilding them, helping them to prosper. No, this isn’t what needs to happen if God’s people are to survive. A whisper isn’t going to save anything or anyone. We need God’s power now. We need it big and loud. We need the world to see. We need things to change right now.
God doesn’t unleash his wrath on a pagan world for Elijah. God doesn’t give a great barbaric yawp and go on the warpath, dropping fire and brimstone on them all. Instead he asks a curious question. “What are you doing here Elijah?” The implication is that Elijah isn’t where he should be. He isn’t doing what he’s supposed to be doing. Elijah thinks he sees everything and understands everything that’s going on around him. Unfortunately, his perspective is a lot more limited than he thinks. God has been very active in the world around him. Elijah thinks he’s the end, when he’s gone there’ll be nothing left and they’re coming to get him even now.
God doesn’t really have an interest in enabling his self pity. Instead, he tells Elijah to get to work. Rather than hang around in the cave moping and waiting to die, he’s got a job to do. God doesn’t spare much comfort. He doesn’t really try to console Elijah at all. God merely sends him off again while reminding him of the other things he’s been up to while Elijah’s been sulking. 7000 others who have remained faithful, all while Elijah has been somewhat self-centeredly thinking of himself as the last faithful man in Israel.
God’s commands, do they save Elijah? Do God’s commands save us? Strictly speaking, no. God doesn’t talk about salvation here. God doesn’t enumerate all of the things he’s going to do to help Elijah or keep him safe. He doesn’t talk about forgiveness or eternal life here, or even peace and rest.
The only way any of this can be understood is in relation to the previous chapter. God’s power to save is self-evident as he demonstrates that power before the assembled crowd. He shows what real divine power looks like while Baal fails to answer. God demonstrates his judgment against unbelief by directing the execution of the prophets of Baal while keeping a single man safe in the midst of all of the unbelievers. God had already shown Elijah what he could do and what he had done. Elijah had already been saved by God and God had confirmed Elijah’s salvation by confirming his prophetic call and sending him to do righteous work.
Hiding in the dark in our cave, wondering where God is what he’s going to do for us often comes when we forget what has come before. Are you not a part of God’s salvation? Did Christ pass you by when he died for the sins of the world? Has he left you to die after helping you so often in the past? Is the only solution to your problems to have God rain fire and brimstone down on it all? It’s possible God may do that. But it’s even more likely, as it was for Elijah, that God is already at work, quietly seeing to your needs, not with fire and wrath, but with humble care.
When Jesus came to earth to bring salvation, it wasn’t through power and destruction, but quietly, humbly doing the work he was sent to do. Through him, you have forgiveness and life. Through his humble sacrifice you are saved from your enemies. God stands behind his promise to protect and provide, whether you see him actively at work or not. That promise already stood before Elijah, who had also seen God’s power at work and should have known better that God had the power to save.
We have also see God’s power to save. He has shown us his strength in humility as he comes to earth to die, and then shows his power by rising again. The greatest enemy in creation has been defeated as death fails to hold Jesus. So when you find yourself cowering in the dark and hoping it all blows over, God speaks to you. “What are you doing here? Have you forgotten I am always with you? Have I ever failed to save you? Have I not promised to give you eternal life? Go and tell others what you have been given. Go with confidence and know I am and always have been at work to help and strengthen you. You are never out of my sight. Go, knowing his quiet power is working through you to bless the world around as you share his message of promise. God is with you and will not fail you.