I just finished reading an excellent book by Josh Pinkston titled, A Gentle Whisper. It’s a meditation on 1 Kings 19:11-12 in which Elijah the Prophet is called to climb a mountain and wait for God’s presence to pass by. While waiting, he experiences a powerful wind, an earthquake, and a raging fire. Of all these things, Elijah said, “The Lord was not in them.” Lastly, after all these experiences, came a gentle whisper.

Through Josh’s book I was reminded that God is not the source of these calamities, nor is God represented by them. Rather, God is with us as we experience them and with us as we await his revelation. It is in these times, especially, that we must trust God. We must recognize that God’s presence is relational, not destructive, that God’s gentle whisper is both toward us and within us and is the source of life, life abundant.

It is not to say that these experiences won’t or shouldn’t affect you, because they will. They affected Elijah. But, even as these experiences are painful, they afford you the opportunity to plumb the depths of your trust in God, discovering that God’s presence is ever with you, holding you, healing you, and leading you on.

I know, “easier said than done.” As I read this book, I was deeply challenged to trust God in the events that I experience as wind, earthquake, and fire. Sometimes it is really hard. But I find that in the moments when I confess that I have nothing left to trust God with, God is already there as a gentle whisper. I am not alone.

I pray that wherever you are in your walk with God, that you too would know God’s presence as a gentle whisper.

Grace and peace,

Brook