“Can you hear me now?” One cell phone company’s advertising slogan has gotten to me! But instead of reception maps, I’m thinking more of how sensitive I am to hearing the quiet voice of God.I’m afraid I’m a lot like the prophet Elijah, thinking God needs to amp the volume to get my attention. After Elijah’s headline showdown with the prophets of Baal at Mount Carmel, he ran for his life from a nasty Queen Jezebel and ended up in the wilderness. Now, that’s a place where modern-day cell phone reception would be iffy! But it was no problem for God. He grabbed Elijah’s attention with the big stuff: a ferocious wind, a shattering earthquake, and a horrific fire. But when God finally spoke, it was in a gentle whisper (1 Kings 19:12).
Whooooooooooooooooooooo.
I thought of that when my husband and I traveled about a hundred miles to see a 90-year-old friend, who recently moved to be nearer her son. Our route included passing through an area notorious for unending wind. At the top of the hill, dozens of ghost-white, 400-feet-high wind turbines came into view, their propellers turning steadily in the unseen wind. I learned that nearly fifty are spread out over 5,400 acres in this area. One claim is that the electricity they generate could power 28,000 average homes for a year. And while the props emit a whine, there’s also the mystery of the silence of wind.
Whooooooooooooooooooooooo.
But I had thoughts other than energy conservation. One was a bit silly. What if the comical Don Quixote of Cervantes’ ancient satire had come upon these instead of windmills, whom he thought to be ferocious giants? Maybe like an ant encountering an elephant?
My other thought was of the Bible’s use of wind as a symbol. Jesus noted that the wind blows where it wishes and we hear it blowing, but we don’t know where it’s coming from or where it’s going. He said the Holy Spirit is like that in the new birth of salvation (John 3:8). It’s also how God’s Spirit still speaks to us-—in that still, small voice that says “do this.” In writing about the “whispers of God” in Sanctuary of the Soul (IVP Books, 2011, p. 84), Richard Foster says he once sensed a distinct pull to call someone. It turned out that the person had deep and pressing needs, making his surprise phone call very timely. Foster added that the “whisper” will often be to do ordinary things, like taking a bouquet to someone who’s “out of sorts,” shoveling a disabled neighbor’s snow, or rising before a spouse to fix them morning coffee. Foster remarked: “We should not be surprised when the whisper of God leads us into simple acts of service and kindness.”
Before I’d even read this in Foster’s book, for several days that “still, small voice” was telling me to take flowers and a note to a friend who has faced many challenges in the aftermath of her parents’ year-apart deaths. Finally, I arranged a bouquet from the best of my fading roses and took it along with the note to her home. It appeared that nobody was home, so I left them by her door. A few hours later she called and expressed her gratitude and sharing prayer needs. She added, “I really wanted someone to bring me flowers today.”
Whoooooooooooooooooooooo.
Is a spirit-directed wind blowing in your heart?
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