After the earthquake there came fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. and after the fire a still small voice. 1 Kings 19:12

…28 Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and He brought them out of their distress. 29 He calmed the storm to a whisper, and the waves of the sea were hushed. 30 They rejoiced in the silence, and He guided them to the harbor they desired.…Psalm 107

Praying for the still small voice, the whisper of God to speak and be heard by your spouse is something very powerful and not to be underestimated. The words God speaks in a whisper are influential because according to the origin of the word, it means they are ARTICULATE words!

Articulate words are not only coherent and clear, but they can also form a connection, a joint. Which means a spoken word can form a PHYSICAL, visible change. That is shown here…….

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Hebrews 4:12

Articulated words have the power to bend and reshape a persons thinking because it is clear, coherent, and spoken in a way that can be understood. It has the power to change the situation! In a  moment, a heart can change and be brought from confusion into clarity. From the darkness into light, with just ONE soft, still spoken whisper……..the whisper of God!

 

God’s words, His voice, His whisper commands change. He speaks life, death, conviction, direction. We often look to the physical as to where the power comes. We look at what we can see, feel, touch and believe that is where the real power lies.

Elijah was looking in the roar of the wind that came and shattered the rocks as it ripped through the mountain, He was looking for direction in the earthquake that was shaking the earth, he was looking for God’s guidance in the fire. But God was not in any of that, He came in the way we didn’t expect.

Is that not like Him? Always surprising our human self?
He sets Himself apart this way, and that is the example that we should be following. To look for Him in ways that is unexpected and divine.

At that time in Elijah’s life, things were already pretty crazy and hectic and his nerves where shot. He was afraid and hiding in a cave, fearing for his life. God comes and shows him His great power, but remains silent through it. The atmosphere around him changes, and things are blowing, shaking, and on fire. But God doesn’t speak to him during any of it.

It was in the quiet that it came. We don’t know what God said to Elijah, but he heard it and hid his face. He had an encounter with God.

Many times in my storm, there was something that happened that I was absolutely certain God would use to speak to my spouse. But it didn’t come. The roar, the fire, the shaking that I was seeing around us, and that we were both going through in our circumstances were NOT speaking to my spouse. Why? Because God was not using them to talk to him. But just like Elijah, I was looking, and sure He would be.

Those were the times I got the most frustrated and upset with my spouse. To me, it was plain as day what was happening, but I could not understand why he was not hearing, not seeing, and not getting it. That was my fault for leaning upon my own understanding and assuming things.

God will come to our spouses and speak in the way He knows they need. That whisper that articulates and has the power to clearly change and bend their direction is what we are after, but it doesn’t come how we expect. It comes when the soul is quiet and able to hear and OBEY.

You stilled the roaring of the seas, the pounding of their waves, and the tumult of the nations. Psalm 65:7

When my storm was over, I learned this was true. God came in the night, when the world was quiet. When the bars had closed, the party had died, the phone was off, and it was silent. God came when it was just the two of them. I also learned that things that were personally used to draw Him back to God and his family were unimportant things that meant nothing to me, and why should they? It was exactly what my husband needed to hear and feel from His Father, not what I needed. Our assumptions and expectations really can set us up for great disappointments.

This is a season of the still small voice where God is going to come and speak when we are in a quiet place to hear. When we are able to get our eyes off the storm and start to look for Him in the secret places.

Standing with you, 
Sheila Hollinger