Yesterday I began to share the story of how I had gone to sleep pondering the question of how it was ever going to be possible to find time to start the website and blog that I feel God is calling me to do.
I have discovered that as I meditate on God and experience him the gentle whisper he always answers the questions of my heart.
And so, as I meditated on God the following morning, focused on the beauty of his gentle whisper, I felt God lead me to the story of Elijah (1 Kings 19:9-13).
The story begins “There he (Elijah) went into a cave and spent the night (in meditation no doubt). And the word of the Lord came to him “What are you doing here Elijah”
“What are you doing here?”
Elijah replies “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left and now they are trying to kill me too”.
As we read yesterday, that is when God tells Elijah to go and stand on the mountain, where Elijah experiences God in the gentle whisper. God asks him again “What are you doing here?”
And here’s the amazing thing God showed me; the revelation…
Matthew Henry’s commentary says, “the question God asked “what are you doing here?” is a reproof. Matthew Henry says “it concerns us often to ask whether we are in our place and in the way of our duty. Am I where I should be? ie, where God calls me, where my business lies and where I may be useful? Elijah complained of the people, and their obstinacy in sin, I am the only one left. Despair of success hinders many a good enterprise”
I realized that God was asking me “what are you doing here?” and, like Elijah, I was complaining. Elijah complained that the people had sinned and this was his excuse for not being where God wanted him to be. I was complaining about how I would ever find the time to do the thing that God was calling me to do. This was my excuse.
Sometimes the thing that stops us from doing what God is calling us to do is not the actual problem; it is thinking that it’s a problem.
Even though the revelation was a reproof, it wasn’t condemning, rather, it was encouraging and inspiring. God had simply given me the answer to my problem. “What are you doing here… just get on with it. Don’t sit around wondering how you’re going to do it. Just get on and do it”.
You can tell from Elijah’s reply that he is “battle weary” and giving up hope. Yet, God refreshes him with a gentle whisper in a still quiet place.
It is after Elijah experiences God in the gentle whisper that God speaks to him again, and gives him both the answer to his prayers and an instruction of what He wanted Elijah to do and how to do it.
God provided what Elijah needed in order to do what God was calling him to do.
In my heart, I knew that God was saying to me “what are you doing here… complaining and worrying about all the reasons why you can’t do what I’ve called you to do”. I knew that God was saying to me “just get on with it”. He will provide the way, I just had to begin.
He answered the very question I had been pondering the night before as I sought Him in that still, quiet place.This is just one of the amazing things about God – when we seek Him, He answers the questions of our heart.
And so last night I was wondering how this could ever be possible but after spending time with God in that still quiet place and experiencing His gentle whisper, here it is; my very first blog post…..
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