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"Elijah found God in the quiet"
Thursday, 19 October 2017
1 Kings 19:9 There he went into a cave and spent the night. Then the word of Adonai came to him; he said to him, “What are you doing here, Eliyahu?” 10 He answered, “I have been very zealous for Adonai the God of armies, because the people of Isra’el have abandoned your covenant, broken down your altars and killed your prophets with the sword. Now I’m the only one left, and they’re coming after me to kill me too.” 11 He said, “Go outside, and stand on the mountain before Adonai”; and right then and there, Adonai went past. A mighty blast of wind tore the mountains apart and broke the rocks in pieces before Adonai, but Adonai was not in the wind. After the wind came an earthquake, but Adonai was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake, fire broke out; but Adonai was not in the fire. And after the fire came a quiet, subdued voice. 13 When Eliyahu heard it, he covered his face with his cloak, stepped out and stood at the entrance to the cave. Then a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Eliyahu?”
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God gave Elijah a great public victory (cf. 1 Kings 18:1-39). But Queen Jezebel was still in power. Angry about her “god” Baal’s defeat, she threatened to kill Elijah. Her defiance of him and God was too much for the “successful” prophet, the bold man of action. Tired, depressed and afraid, he ran. God cared gently for Elijah’s physical and mental fatigue. Then God spoke again to Elijah in his wilderness experience—perhaps in the way Elijah least expected.
Ø Archeologists have found Canaanite figurines showing Baal with fists full of thunderbolts. God had sent fire on Mt. Carmel, but not here. Scholar John Bimson said, “‘A gentle whisper’ and ‘a still small voice’ (RSV) do not do full justice to the enigmatic Hebrew, which may be better rendered ‘a brief sound of silence.’…it implies God was at last passing in the silence after the storm.” * When have you sensed God, not in sound and spectacle, but in small, quiet ways?
• Elijah didn’t just wander aimlessly in the wilderness. He went to Mount Horeb, also known as Mount Sinai—the very place where God made a covenant with the people of Israel in Moses’ day (cf. Deuteronomy 5:2). Are there sacred places that form the “fixed points” in your life’s journey with God? Do you ever return to any of them in times when difficulty or pain make you hungry for God’s presence?
Prayer: Lord God, this is a very noisy world. Guide me to the outer and inner places of silence that I sometimes need in order to hear your quiet, sustaining voice. Amen.
* John Bimson, comment on 1 Kings 19:12 in The New Bible Commentary, 21st Century Edition. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1994.
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Janelle Gregory
Janelle Gregory serves on the Resurrection staff as a Human Resources Specialist. Janelle finds that her heart is constantly wrestling with the truth that she needs a Savior, and the times when she's at her very best are when she's just too tired to put up a fight.
Do you want to know one of the most painful times for me? Picture this: you’re sitting at a dinner with a group of family or friends. The food is amazing, the ambiance is delightful, and the conversation is lively. You’re laughing, you’re discussing, and you’re engaging with one another. And then suddenly it happens – the talking stops. No one has anything to say. You’ve already talked about the weather, work, family, and the local sports team. All of the least common denominators of conversation have been covered. And now – nothing. You sit in silence, with just the sound of forks scraping against plates and people re-situating themselves in their chairs. The group handles it well, at first. Across the table someone smiles. You say, “Delish,” hoping it will carry you over to the next conversation. But the silence goes on and on. It’s probably just a few minutes, but it seems like hours! Everyone buries their heads in their meals. You briefly peel your eyes away from your dinner plate, hoping to see someone about to ask the next exhilarating question, yet all you see is that same, uncomfortable glance from others. The eye contact you make in the quiet is excruciating.
Okay, maybe this isn’t the most painful moment for me, but these awkward, silent times are certainly unnerving. I imagine you have experienced something similar. Perhaps you’re more comfortable with the lack of conversation than I am, but for how long? Could you go the rest of the meal, through dessert, and paying the check just sitting with a group of people who say nothing?
Even if we’re alone, oftentimes silence seems unnatural. There should be noise of some sort – a nearby conversation, a song playing overhead, a television, kids screaming, something or someone making noise. There are times when the noise is too much. It becomes agitating and overwhelming. But have you noticed that an extended lack of noise can be unsettling? Silence is difficult, because it exposes us to ourselves. There is a vulnerability to silence. There is nowhere to run, no noise to distract.
It’s in this quiet, vulnerable position where we are often most open to hearing God. Sometimes he whispers, “Remember you are loved.” Other times it might be, “Why do you continue down this painful path?” or “I’m asking you to trust me.” And even other times he may just be there, sitting with us in the silence, holding us close to him.
When we are unwilling to let ourselves be quiet we miss these whispers. We drown them out with our busyness and distractions. We must be intentional about silencing ourselves and our lives. We must go where it is uncomfortable, to where nothing is heard. It’s in the openness and awkwardness of the silence where we hear the whispers of the One who is quietly calling to us, longing for us to hear him say, “Child, I am here. I am always with you.”
Janelle GregoryJanelle Gregory serves on the Resurrection staff as a Human Resources Specialist. Janelle finds that her heart is constantly wrestling with the truth that she needs a Savior, and the times when she's at her very best are when she's just too tired to put up a fight.
Do you want to know one of the most painful times for me? Picture this: you’re sitting at a dinner with a group of family or friends. The food is amazing, the ambiance is delightful, and the conversation is lively. You’re laughing, you’re discussing, and you’re engaging with one another. And then suddenly it happens – the talking stops. No one has anything to say. You’ve already talked about the weather, work, family, and the local sports team. All of the least common denominators of conversation have been covered. And now – nothing. You sit in silence, with just the sound of forks scraping against plates and people re-situating themselves in their chairs. The group handles it well, at first. Across the table someone smiles. You say, “Delish,” hoping it will carry you over to the next conversation. But the silence goes on and on. It’s probably just a few minutes, but it seems like hours! Everyone buries their heads in their meals. You briefly peel your eyes away from your dinner plate, hoping to see someone about to ask the next exhilarating question, yet all you see is that same, uncomfortable glance from others. The eye contact you make in the quiet is excruciating.
Okay, maybe this isn’t the most painful moment for me, but these awkward, silent times are certainly unnerving. I imagine you have experienced something similar. Perhaps you’re more comfortable with the lack of conversation than I am, but for how long? Could you go the rest of the meal, through dessert, and paying the check just sitting with a group of people who say nothing?
Even if we’re alone, oftentimes silence seems unnatural. There should be noise of some sort – a nearby conversation, a song playing overhead, a television, kids screaming, something or someone making noise. There are times when the noise is too much. It becomes agitating and overwhelming. But have you noticed that an extended lack of noise can be unsettling? Silence is difficult, because it exposes us to ourselves. There is a vulnerability to silence. There is nowhere to run, no noise to distract.
It’s in this quiet, vulnerable position where we are often most open to hearing God. Sometimes he whispers, “Remember you are loved.” Other times it might be, “Why do you continue down this painful path?” or “I’m asking you to trust me.” And even other times he may just be there, sitting with us in the silence, holding us close to him.
When we are unwilling to let ourselves be quiet we miss these whispers. We drown them out with our busyness and distractions. We must be intentional about silencing ourselves and our lives. We must go where it is uncomfortable, to where nothing is heard. It’s in the openness and awkwardness of the silence where we hear the whispers of the One who is quietly calling to us, longing for us to hear him say, “Child, I am here. I am always with you.”
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“Examine yourselves…test yourselves”
Friday, 20 October 2017
2 Corinthians 13:3 since you are looking for proof of the Messiah speaking in me. He is not weak in dealing with you, but he is powerful among you. 4 For although he was executed on a stake in weakness, now he lives by God’s power. And we too are weak in union with him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by God’s power.
5 Examine yourselves to see whether you are living the life of trust. Test yourselves. Don’t you realize that Yeshua the Messiah is in you? — unless you fail to pass the test.
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The apostle Paul learned, with sadness, that some Corinthian Christians, people he had personally brought to faith in Jesus, now thought badly of him and his message. A group of “super apostles” had turned their hearts and their faith in a different direction (cf. 2 Corinthians 11:4-6). Verse 3 in today’s passage showed their desire to “test” Paul. But he asked them to take a hard look at themselves, to make sure their motives and attitudes were in tune with Christ’s.
• Scholar N. T. Wright suggested some self-test questions that may supplement those you received in church. “When you look at yourself in the mirror, do you see someone in whom King Jesus is living and active, or someone who once knew him but now seems not to? When you listen to the sort of things you yourself say, does it sound like words that might have come from King Jesus himself, or are you simply talking the same way everyone else does?” *
• Wright went on, “And when you settle down and quieten your mind and heart, to pray and wait for God, do you know and sense the presence, the life and the love of King Jesus close to you, within you, warming and sustaining, guarding and guiding, checking and directing you? These are searching tests, but they are the kind of thing Paul has in mind.” *
Prayer: King Jesus, it’s rather scary to search my life and heart. Give me the courage to test myself, to find the good you’ve already grown in my life, and to discover what is still missing that you wish to give me. Amen.
* N. T. Wright, Paul for Everyone: 2 Corinthians. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004, page 144.
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“Each person should test their own work”
Saturday, 21 October 2017
Galatians 6:1 Brothers, suppose someone is caught doing something wrong. You who have the Spirit should set him right, but in a spirit of humility, keeping an eye on yourselves so that you won’t be tempted too. 2 Bear one another’s burdens — in this way you will be fulfilling the Torah’s true meaning, which the Messiah upholds. 3 For if anyone thinks he is something when he is really nothing, he is fooling himself. 4 So let each of you scrutinize his own actions. Then if you do find something to boast about, at least the boasting will be based on what you have actually done and not merely on a judgment that you are better than someone else; 5 for each person will carry his own load.
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The apostle Paul pictured lots of interdependence and interaction when he described the living Christian community to the Christians in Galatia. But even as he called them (and us) to support, and even correct, one another, one of the most common ways of reacting to others was specifically ruled out: “not compare themselves with others,” said verse 4. As we grow in the discipline of examining ourselves each day, one unhelpful answer is, “Well, I’m better than ____________________.”
Ø What inner factors tempt you to compare yourself with others? How does God’s love and grace empower you to gradually erode the negative, competitive, comparative patterns taught by a culture whose values are not the same as God’s? What steps can you take toward living into the freedom to which God invites you, basking in the light of God’s favor and approval without fearing what others will think or how your path will “stack up” against someone else’s?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, teach me how to be happy with doing a good job without worrying about how my life and work compare with someone else’s. Remind me that you, and only you, are the master and Lord I ultimately aim to please. Amen.
Family Activity: This simple activity may help even smaller children begin forming the habit of examining their way of life. Read Matthew 7:12(Matthew 7:“Always treat others as you would like them to treat you; that sums up the teaching of the Torah and the Prophets.), the Golden Rule. Give each person in your family an index card. Have each person write, “I did or said something kind” on one side of the card. On the other side write, “I did or said something hurtful.” Ask each person to pay attention to their words and actions each day. Encourage them to place a mark on the appropriate side of the card each time they do something kind or hurtful. No one else needs to see the cards. These are for each individual and God. Each day, work towards having fewer marks on the “hurtful” side and more marks on the “kind” side. Pray for God’s help to treat others kindly.
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Prayer Requests – cor.org/prayer Prayers for Peace & Comfort for:
• Larry and Sharon Forbach and family on the death of their son Rick Heinitz, 10/10
• Janine McPhee and family on the death of her sister Judy Jackson, 10/10
• Christine Polo and family on the death of her husband Joe Polo, 10/6
• Loryn and Sydney Polo on the death of their father Joe Polo, 10/6
•Patsy Shipley and family on the death of her mother Mary Stockard, 10/5
• Christal Heier and family on the death of her grandmother Mary Stockard, 10/5
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©2017 Church of the Resurrection. All Rights Reserved.
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
Leawood, Kansas 66224, United States
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©2017 Church of the Resurrection. All Rights Reserved.
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
Leawood, Kansas 66224, United States
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