Crash the Chatterbox: Hearing God's Voice Above All Others (16 page)

And with both parties finally situated on the mountain, God asks Elijah a
second
time: “What are you doing here?”

The analogies and applications of this encounter are endless. The most beautiful part of this passage, to me, is that God proved His presence to Elijah on the mountain. I am deeply intrigued by
how
God spoke to Elijah. Once again, if I
were God (a possibility that is uncomfortable even to write), I would have handled the big reveal much differently. I imagine you would have too. If your mouth had the power to blast the surrounding mountains into rubble, wouldn’t you want recognition for it?

On this occasion God doesn’t. “The Lord was not in the wind.”

Likewise, if you could stomp your foot and make the earth quake, wouldn’t that be a suitable way to announce your arrival and reinforce your authority?

Yet Scripture says, “The L
ORD
was not in the earthquake.”

Even the fire is remarkable, considering no Duraflame logs or Zippos were involved. Making fire appear out of nowhere, without the necessary tools, is incredibly difficult. Haven’t you seen
Cast Away
? If you were God, wouldn’t you take credit for this feat in order to assure Elijah it was really you and to get his attention? You know, remind him about the fire on Mount Carmel, hit him with a little flashback?

Still, the biblical writer makes it clear, “The L
ORD
was not in the fire.”

Instead, God spoke to Elijah in what one English translation of the Bible calls a “gentle whisper.”
³
Another version calls it a “still small voice.”
⁴
The original Hebrew language carries this meaning: it was a
silence that can be heard
.

Regardless of how you render the phrase, it raises a question: If God possessed all these other, much more dramatic means of getting through to Elijah, why would He choose to call to him with something as common as a whisper?

“What are you doing here, Elijah?”

On a more personal note, why does He frequently do the same in our lives? When we’re overwhelmed by noise, assaulted by paranoia, and nauseous with anxiety, why does the sound of His voice seem so low that it almost gets buried? Why doesn’t God speak to us in ways that are more spectacular—and distinguishable—when we’re faced with obstacles that seem insurmountable? Why does the imminence of disaster and the possibility of dejection often seem much more present than the protective voice of God?

If God wants us to hear and know and obey His voice, why does He whisper?

I don’t know all the reasons, because God has never consulted me on His methods of communication. But here’s how I’ve come to understand it.

He whispers because He’s close
.

The Enemy has to shout his threats because, although he can distract and
disarm you, he knows he ultimately can’t destroy you. He can’t get to you. When you dwell in the secret place of the Most High, you rest in the shadow of the Almighty. He can’t touch you there. He can only forecast fear into your future. Yet God is your
very present
help in times of trouble, and each one of your days has been ordained.
⁵

Jezebel shouts her lies because she has no other weapon. It’s her last resort, because her doom is impending.

God whispers His truth because He has no need to shout.

In Jesus, our Emmanuel, God has come close, and fear has been conquered, along with death, hell, and the grave.

Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.
⁶
And the One within you doesn’t counterattack the foes around you by shouting louder but by drawing closer.

The psalmist spoke with this same confidence:

The key is training your mind to know the difference between the Enemy’s threats and God’s whispers—and conditioning your heart to respond accordingly.

The Enemy’s threats are embedded in lies.

God’s whispers are rooted in truth.

The Enemy’s threats are designed to paralyze.

God’s whispers are empowered to mobilize.

The Enemy’s threats condemn vaguely (a reality we’ll address in depth in the next section).

God’s whispers instruct specifically.

The Enemy’s threats conspire to diminish hope.

God’s whispers empower change.

The Enemy’s threats are aimed to take you out.

God’s whispers speak a better Word to keep you in and move you forward.

The secret to overpowering the spirit of fear is recovering the signal, then
attuning your spirit to the One who is always speaking. His voice resounds, not at 210 decibels like a blast of TNT, but in a silence that can be heard if you have ears to hear.

And He says things like,

I’ve got this one, just like the last one
.

Trust in Me with all your heart. Stop leaning on your own understanding
.

We’ll make it to the other side of this valley. We’re just passing through
.

You can carry on and rise again in My name
.

I have clothed you with strength, and I will never forsake you
.

I’ve numbered the very hairs on your head
.

That last one is quite an intimate image. You can’t number someone’s hairs, one by one, from a distance.

You have to be up close and personal to do that.

I wonder what things God wants to whisper to you right now that the noise in the cave has been causing you to miss.

Try again
.

Don’t hold back
.

You’re closer than you think
.

Nothing is wasted
.

Or maybe this promise from the prophet Isaiah is what you need to hear at this moment to fortify your faith and stir your courage:

Of course the weapons will attack you—that’s what they’re designed to do. And Jezebel will shout louder. Her volume is compensating for the emptiness of her defiance. But one word from God, when whispered into your soul and received
with faith-filled resolve, crashes the chatterbox. God’s promise refutes the tongues that accuse you and vindicates you on the mountain, in the presence of a God who is
close
—and capable.

What do you do when the Jezebel Effect starts running your life—in the wrong direction?

Get up and eat God’s Word.

What do you do when the noise seems louder than the signal?

Go out and stand in God’s presence.

But don’t get too comfortable on the mountain, oohing and aahing at the fireworks, whispering sweet nothings back to God. This ain’t a romcom.

God’s final instruction to Elijah involves an about-face and a definitive course of action:

In other words,
Now that you’ve heard My voice, Elijah, and witnessed My presence and acknowledged your fears and fed your faith, it’s time for us to get back to work
.

Go back the way you came. Follow the instructions I laid out, step by step
.

I can imagine the conversation between Elijah and God as the Lord’s plan was more clearly revealed.

“Wait, Lord. You mean You already have a plan worked out for this situation I’m facing?”

Yep
.

“And You’ve already assigned a successor to carry on the work when my time is done?”

That’s right
.

“And You’ve already drawn up a strategy for the downfall of my enemies?”

Absolutely. Just like Carmel. Remember Mount Carmel, Elijah?

“Yep.”

Remember how I helped you single-handedly defeat eight hundred fifty false prophets on Mount Carmel?

“Absolutely.”

Well, I’m the same God on this mountain—Mount Horeb—as I was on that mountain, Mount Carmel
.

I was the same God while you were sleeping in the cave that I was while you were being sustained at the Kerith Ravine during the drought
.

Don’t let a battle that you are afraid to fight keep you from a victory that’s already won
.

Go back the way you came. Get back to work
.

I don’t change, and neither do My promises
.

“You mean, I have nothing to be afraid of?”

Not a thing
.

“You mean, I’m not alone?”

You never have been. You never will be
.

“Well, then … what am I doing here? I believe I’m running late for an appointment with Jezebel.”

In which we overpower

the lies of condemnation

with the truth

God says He has
.

If you had to describe the devil’s main activity in one word, what word would you use?
Temptation
? He certainly does plenty of that.

Earlier we looked in depth at how the serpent tempted Adam and Eve in the garden, successfully. We also saw how he tempted the Son of God in the wilderness, unsuccessfully. Yet I don’t think temptation is the devil’s main activity or his most deadly weapon.

In the last book of the Bible, the apostle John gives an eyewitness preview of the epic battle between good and evil. In that account he calls Satan by a name that isn’t found anywhere else in the Bible: the accuser.
¹
Packed tightly into that one-word title is a revelation of the most devastating game the Enemy plays with the hearts of God’s children.

Satan’s main job isn’t temptation. It’s
accusation
.

Now, of course, temptation and accusation operate in partnership. You might think of them as a diabolical tag team, hell’s rendition of Beautiful Bobby Eaton and Sweet Stan Lane—the Midnight Express. When the two work in tandem, the one-two punch they deliver can paralyze even the strongest saints.

At the beginning of this book, where we laid out the ways that chatter sabotages our lives with God, we established biblically that the Enemy of our souls is nothing if not a liar. If he’s talking, he’s lying—that’s the way I heard one country preacher put it. But there’s a nuance to this you should be aware of.

The Enemy’s lies are often powered by truth
.

And if we’re not conscious of this, we’ll misappropriate endless time and
energy internally arguing with the devil. And that never works. In fact, it usually backfires.

I used to try to argue with the devil when he started stacking thoughts of condemnation against me. But I found the arguments counterproductive. Anytime I’d start feeling a steady, toxic buildup of guilt about something, I’d try to minimize the guilt by rationalizing within myself how whatever it was wasn’t
that
bad. But that would only plunge me deeper into an abyss of accusation. Because for every excuse I could concoct about why my sin or shortcoming was justified, another valid source of shame would pop up in its place. The result was a never-ending downward spiral of internal dialogue. The chatterbox knows how to filibuster even a long-winded preacher like me.