1 Kings 19: At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there.

Transcription

1 1 Kings 19: At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there. Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, What are you doing here, Elijah? 10 He answered, I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away. 11 He said, Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by. Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; 12 and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. 13 When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, What are you doing here, Elijah? 14 He answered, I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away. 15 Then the LORD said to him, Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus; when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael as king over Aram. 16 Also you shall anoint Jehu son of Nimshi as king over Israel; and you shall anoint Elisha son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah as prophet in your place. 17 Whoever escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu shall kill; and whoever escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha shall kill. 18 Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him. 1

2 The Sound of Silence I share an office with three other pastors up on the fourth floor. We are well suited to sharing the space. We re all introverts, so the room is generally quiet, which is great for me because I need a quiet room to be able to write. In addition to similar personalities, we all like the room at a moderate temperature it s neither too hot nor too cold. We re considerate of one another, and we get along well. As far as roommates go, the four of us are a good match. All the other associate pastors all ten of them are located down the hall in a separate office. The atmosphere in that office is entirely different. For one, it s much louder, having more people in it. But there are some extroverts in there who keep things lively. And aside from the administrative assistant, it s an all-male office. Unsurprisingly, all that testosterone creates somewhat of a locker room atmosphere. Shirts get untucked, feet are placed up on the couch, and there is a lot of goodnatured joking that takes place. The first few months that I served this church my desk was located in that larger, louder office. While I enjoyed the camaraderie, getting work done was sometimes challenging. So when a space opened up in the other office and I was told that I would be moving there, I silently celebrated, knowing that I would enjoy the quiet. The office is quiet, and never more so than this past week. That s because the other three pastors were all either on vacation or out of the office for some other reason. I had the entire office to myself. While the office was quieter than usual, there were still numerous sounds that caught my ears attention. First of all, I became more aware of the air conditioner as cold air was constantly pushed through the vent in the ceiling. Since I was the only one there, I thought I would conserve energy, so I kept the air conditioner off for much of the day. 2

3 Then a funny thing happened. As soon as I turned off the air conditioner I became aware of the low, steady hum of my computer. It had always been there, but I never took note of it because I could never hear it above the sound of the air conditioner. As an experiment, I then put my computer into sleep mode. With the air conditioner and my computer both off, the room became even quieter, but it was still not silent. I took note of a new sound. I became aware of the constant rumble of traffic from the highway behind the church. It wasn t that loud, but it was definitely noticeable, even with the windows closed. Granted, this was the middle of the day, so human-created noise is to be expected. And, of course, this is Seoul, a city of 10 million people. With so many people, there is always activity happening somewhere. With those 10 million people going about their daily business, Seoul is much like New York, one of whose nicknames is The City That Never Sleeps. All this activity means that silence is rare here. Silence is like a precious commodity. There is an expression in English that speaks to this notion Silence is golden. Like any commodity, what makes silence valuable or golden is its scarcity. That s Economics 101 the less of something there is, the more valuable it becomes. So when we do finally experience a moment of genuine silence, it s instantly noticeable because it happens so rarely. In the scripture passage today Elijah experiences various kinds of noise and commotion a strong wind, an earthquake, and a fire but what ultimately gets his attention is not any of this commotion but silence, or what the NRSV translation calls a sheer silence [SLIDE] And about that translation the King James Bible famously translates the same phrase as a still small voice. That s a beautiful turn of phrase, and one that has inspired poets and songwriters over the years. The NIV Bible translates the phrase as a gentle whisper. The words voice and whisper add a degree of intimacy to the phrase, suggesting that actual words are being spoken. After all, a voice speaks, a whisper contains words. 3

4 But the NRSV is more true to the original Hebrew. In Hebrew the phrase a sound of sheer silence literally refers to pulverizing, i.e., grinding something down to a fine powder. It s what Moses does to the golden calves that the Israelites worship in the wilderness of Sinai before they arrive at the Promised Land. He grinds them down to a fine powder or dust. So the sound that Elijah hears is the sound of dust. It is silence a sheer silence. Before we see why this matters, let s first situate ourselves [SLIDE]. Elijah is a prophet. He lived in the early part of the ninth century BC. At this time, which is after Solomon, the kingdom of Israel was divided in two. The southern kingdom was called Judah and the northern kingdom was called Israel. Elijah lived in the northern kingdom, in Israel. He was a prophet during the reign of King Ahab the worst in a long line of bad kings who ruled Israel. What Ahab was most notorious for was replacing worship of YHWH, the God of the Israelites with worship of Baal, a Canaanite god. Ahab was heavily influenced in this by his wife Jezebel, who was herself a Canaanite. As a servant of the Lord, Elijah speaks truth to a king and queen who are drunk on their own power. As you might imagine, this didn t make him very popular with them. In fact, just before the passage that we read today, Jezebel learns that Elijah has killed all the prophets of Baal, who numbered about four hundred fifty. She then swears to do the same to him, even sending a messenger to him promising that she will kill him by the very next day. When Elijah learns of the threat, he flees to Beer-sheba [SLIDE]. Beer-sheba was as far as he could run and still remain in Judah. It was an outpost on the edge of the wilderness. But even Beer-sheba is not far enough away because Elijah then leaves his servant there while he journeys into the wilderness on his own. He is going there for one purpose to die [SLIDE]. It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors (1 Ki. 19:4). 4

5 Elijah has lost hope. He has lost the will to live. All his years of service to the Lord have come down to this: he is being hunted like an animal by an enemy of the Lord. Rather than die by the hand of Jezebel, however, he plans on starving himself to death. It will be his last act of defiance. But while Elijah may have given up on himself, God has not given up on Elijah. An angel comes to him and tells him to eat. Elijah looks and sees by his head a cake and a jar of water. He eats and drinks and falls back to sleep. The angel returns and again encourages him to eat and drink because he has a long journey ahead. Yes, as far as Elijah has come, he still has a ways to go. The angel tells him to journey to Mt. Horeb, also known as Mt. Sinai. After a forty-day journey Elijah arrives at Mt. Horeb and enters a cave. We may not have felt it to the extent that Elijah does, but I imagine that all of us have at some point felt that we ve reached the end of our ability to endure. It could be enduring grief after the death of a loved one, where we can t imagine life going on without them. Or perhaps, like Elijah, it could be enduring confusion, disillusionment, and even bitterness that a relationship that began so well could end so poorly. I m thinking not only of personal relationships but also our relationship with the body of Christ, i.e., with one another. Even people within the church must sometimes endure one another. The church is not immune to feelings of bitterness that arise when people feel unappreciated, or taken advantage of, or misunderstood. Elijah has reached the end of his capacity to endure. We can hear it in his words. When the word of the Lord comes to him, asking, What are you doing here, Elijah? (1 Ki. 19:9), he responds [SLIDE]: I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away (19:10). 5

6 Translation: I ve done everything you ve asked and this is the thanks I get persecution, isolation, and having my life threatened by the very people you called me to speak against? Where are you? Why are you at least not with me? I m in this cave in the middle of nowhere all by myself. I trusted you, but you ve let me down. Elijah wants an epiphany. He wants God to show himself. He wants to know that he is not alone. He wants to experience God in a powerful way. He wants to experience God in a mighty wind, a wind like the one God sent through Moses to part the waters of the Red Sea. He wants to experience God in the shaking of the earth s foundations, a shaking like the one God sent through Joshua to bring down the walls of Jericho. He wants to experience God in a great fire, a fire like the burning bush through which God spoke to Moses. In fact, Moses witnessed that fire on Mt. Horeb, the very place where Elijah now finds himself. If only God would speak to his servant Elijah as God spoke to his servant Moses. Come on, God! Do something Godly! Bring the wind, the rain, the earthquake, the fire all that Hollywood special effects magic! And showing yet again how well God listens to prayer, God does give Elijah exactly what he asks. God tells him, Get out of this cave and go stand on the mountain. I will pass by. Trust me. You will know that I am there [SLIDE]. When Elijah emerges on the face of the mountain, there is a great wind, a wind that splits mountains and breaks rocks, a wind like the one that parted the Red Sea. But despite the ferocity of the wind, God was not in the wind. After the wind dies down, suddenly there is an earthquake. The very foundation of the mountain trembles. The earth shakes just as it did when the walls of Jericho came tumbling down. But despite the power of the earthquake, God was not in the earthquake. 6

7 After the earthquake, a great fire rages. The flames crackle and pop, almost as if they are speaking, as they consume everything they touch. But yet again, God was not in the fire. And after the fire died down, when the last ember had burned out silence. There is an expression in English that describes the most absolute silence: It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Elijah hears the pin drop. He hears the sound of dust floating in the air. When he hears this sheer silence, he wraps his face and finally stands at the entrance of the cave, as God told him to do. The wind, the earthquake, and the fire were not enough to arouse Elijah to investigate, but this silence is different. He is curious about the silence and goes out to investigate. Elijah had been looking for God in all the usual places in all the places God had appeared before in the wind, in earthquakes, and in fire [SLIDE]. These are the places where God s power is shown, as Psalm 18 describes in dramatic detail: Then the earth reeled and rocked; the foundations also of the mountains trembled and quaked, because he was angry. He rode on a cherub, and flew; he came swiftly upon the wings of the wind. Out of the brightness before him there broke through his clouds hailstones and coals of fire. (Ps. 18:7,10,12) Earthquake, wind, and fire these are the usual suspects as far as God s presence is concerned. But the writer of today s passage goes out of his way to emphasize that, for Elijah at least, God was not in any of these elements. What calls Elijah out of the cave where he s been hiding is God s silence. 7

8 This past week we started our English camp, so maybe it s fitting that I make a theological point using English grammar. God has a wide-ranging vocabulary that God uses to communicate with us, and God does not punctuate every sentence with an exclamation point. If he did, eventually he would lose our attention. If someone shouts at you all the time, you eventually tune them out. So rather than always using exclamation points, sometimes God uses an ellipsis [SLIDE]. In grammar, an ellipsis indicates a pause, a silence. It s often used for dramatic effect. It makes us pause and wonder what will follow. Elijah emerges from the cave wondering what will follow the sheer silence that he has heard. He won t have to wait long. The voice of God asks him, What are you doing here, Elijah? Yes, it s the same question that God asked Elijah in verse 9. God repeats the question because Elijah hasn t been paying attention. He even responds by giving the exact same answer that he did in verse 10. He has memorized his speech but he hasn t given it much thought. He s not really listening to what God is saying. God has been trying to get his attention, but Elijah is too distracted by his own plight. He can t take his eye off his own suffering. In this way he s no different than any of us. When tragedy strikes, we tend to focus on, or obsess even, over what has happened to us. Now, of course, pain is real, God certainly knows and understands that. But what happens when we focus our attention solely inward, dwelling only on what has happened to us, we miss what God may be trying to say to us. Like Elijah we run off into a cave and contemplate our own misery. Why me? Have you ever shouted in a cave? All you hear is the sound of your own voice echoing back to you. Why me? Why me? Why me? For a more amusing example of this, I m going to show a short clip. It s from the film Bruce Almighty, which came out about ten years ago. [BRUCE ALMIGHTY CLIP] 8

9 Jim Carrey s character, Bruce, is looking for a sign from God. He s looking for something dramatic, something obvious, something that will get his attention. Why can t God just send one sign to show that he is listening? Is that too much to ask? Of course, Bruce was so busy looking for a sign that he missed all the signs. He missed the subtle way that God was speaking to him. As with Elijah, God was speaking to Bruce, but Bruce could not recognize God s voice. It wasn t what he was expecting. God speaks to us in many different ways. Yes, sometimes God uses exclamation points to get our attention. God shouts in our face in unmistakable fashion. Sometimes God uses a question mark to make us reconsider our preoccupation with ourselves. God asks, What are you doing here, hidden away in this cave listening to the sound of your own echo? And sometimes God uses an ellipsis, a silent pause, to speak truth into our lives. God is continually speaking to us, even and perhaps especially in the silence. Let s make sure that we re listening. 9

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