“And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks 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: And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.” (1 Kings 19:11-12). The Prophet Elijah witnesses a great and strong wind, an earthquake, and a fire, but we are told the Lord was not in these things. But is it the case that the Lord was not there, or that because of all of the noise and tumult and bright lights and fearing for his life that in the midst of the wind and the earthquake and the fire Elijah could not perceive or comprehend the still small voice that was the Lord. It is easy when we are in the middle of the hurricane to lose our head and forget what matters most. When Elijah was being buffeted about by a wind so strong that it was breaking rocks, it is understandable that he might forget to listen for that still small voice, or struggle to hear it even if he had the presence of mind to listen for it. Consider the story of Jesus and His disciples getting caught in a similarly violent wind on the Sea of Galilee. They were all so scared that they forgot that the Messiah, the very Creator of the Heavens and the Earth, was in the boat with them. Although they forgot for a moment, the Lord was with them in the wind, and He spoke in a still small voice and the winds and the waves obeyed Him. When the brothers Nephi and Lehi were in prison with three hundred dissenters and they all experienced an earthquake so strong that the strong walls of the prison almost shook apart, on that occasion too the Lord was there in the earthquake. And when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were thrust into the fire, the Lord was with them too. Just because we are in a frightening and intense situation and we feel as though the Lord has abandoned us because we cannot see His light or hear His voice because of all of the noise and confusion and darkness around us, it does not mean that the Lord is not right there with us. We can find all kinds of stories in the scriptures of faithful men and women finding the Lord where they would least expect Him to be. He is with His servants on land and on sea, at the top of the highest mountains and at the bottom of the deepest pits. He is with them in palaces and deserts, on the battlefield or in the belly of a whale, and yes, He is with them in the wind and in the earthquake and in the fire. The power of the still small voice of the Lord is that even though it is not loud, it can pierce us to our very souls. Everyone can be screaming around us, but we can even then still remember to listen for that still small voice. It is hard to remember when the wind is breaking rocks in half or the earthquake is shaking our house to pieces or we are on fire, but the Lord is there with us, ready to help us in ways we can't even imagine if only we will ask.
