The Good News – A Journey of a Lifetime Volume 2 No. 22

Welcome to this week's Bible lesson with The Good News - A Journey of a Lifetime Volume 2 No. 22. This week the lesson is on The Gentle Whisper and it comes from the book of 1 Kings in the Holy Bible.

1 Kings 19:11-12:

11 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:

12 And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.

The Gentle Whisper

Sometimes, when God wants to get our attention, he speaks to us in a gentle whisper.

Think about this, if you ever had a substitute teacher and the class wouldn't pay attention to the teacher and began to talk and then get louder and louder showing no respect to the substitute teacher. Now, as a adult teacher they had a problem. Sometimes, when the adult was talking to the class trying to teach them something that they need to know, the students wouldn't listen, the children talked amongst themselves instead of the adult.

When they started talking, the adult substitute found themselves finding themself talking louder and louder so that they can heard. But then the substitute teacher begins to understand, “Oh my, they’re still not listening! The only thing that’s happening is that my voice is starting to hurt! Now what do I do?”

The substitute teacher stops the class and says something like “Why am I shouting?”, or they might say “If you are talking while I’m talking, then you’re not being very respectful!” Sometimes, saying something like that helps, but most of the time it doesn’t. So the substitue teacher learned that there’s something that’s an even better thing to do.

Well, one day this substitute teacher did something to get the attention of the students. The teacher begins speaking softly in a very soft, quiet voice. And you know what, it works! Does anyone know why? Because the students have to get quiet in order to hear what the teacher was saying! Then, they finally really listen and paid attention! And when that happens, they learn what they’re supposed to learn and do the things that the substitute teacher ask them to do!

You know, the Bible tells us about a man named Elijah. Now Elijah was a prophet, a man who was chosen by God to tell the people God’s messages. He did some things sort of like what a pastor does nowadays.

Now Elijah ran away from the people that he was trying to help, and was hiding because an evil queen didn’t like it when Elijah gave the people God’s messages. He was hiding in a cave and trying to figure out what God wanted him to do next. So, God sent a strong windstorm, he sent an earthquake, and there was also a great fire.

Elijah thought that he would hear God’s voice in all of that bad weather, but he didn’t. And you’ll never guess how God finally spoke to him! Yes, he spoke to him in a (softly) gentle whisper. God told him what he should do, what he should say to the people, and promised that he would protect him from the evil queen. So Elijah did what God said and went back to the people and gave them God’s message.

Why do you think Elijah paid attention and did what God wanted him to do? Because when God spoke to him in a gentle whisper, just like those students, he had to listen and pay attention, so he could know what he was supposed to do and say!

Now, God may get our attention when there’s a really big storm, for a little while, at least. But the times when God speaks to us the most is when we read the Bible, or a teacher or pastor teaches us something and we just feel or know in our hearts that He is speaking to us, telling us what He wants us to do. So, next time, we read the Bible, or when a teacher or pastor at a church tells us something about God, let’s try to remember that, in a way, God is speaking to us, let’s try to listen, and let’s try to do what God wants us to do.