In my daily reading plan (which I’m almost a month behind in) I recently came across the story of 1 Kings 19. A sobering story to put all the various troubles my life has had in perspective. I’ve always wondered whether my faith would receive a boost should God do something visible or audible for me that was unmistakably him, whether the spectacular signs shown to Moses and his followers in the desert or the “gentle whisper” given to Elijah. Then, coincidentally (or not?), a in a book I’ve been reading recently, I came across a suggestion that the real translation of what Elijah heard should in fact be “silence”, which is interesting given that’s what I pretty much hear every time I pray and listen for him too, but there must have been something tremendously encouraging for the faith of the prophet in what happened there. What does this say to me? Maybe that the things I might expect to see God in, are things he is not necessarily in or saying anything to me with – like Elijah’s fire, wind and earthquake. Maybe it’s that God and his plan will really only be found with dedicated and earnest seeking by faith. Also maybe (and this is the part I really don’t like) it is saying that by human nature this kind of seeking mostly tends to come as a result of crisis and despair in life. I’m not really comfortable with this, since it would appear to give some purpose and legitimacy to suffering (certainly I hope to never be in a position like Elijah found himself in!), but maybe it’s at least legitimate to say that seeking God is a far better response to it than running from him and abandoning faith. I’ve been trying to listen hard lately, time will tell where this goes.
Astro's random writings 