[The Lord said [to Elijah], “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by." Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces 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 sound of sheer silence. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. (I Kings 19:11-13 NRSV)

Elijah rather liked the Lord who brought down fire on Mount Carmel then ended the three-year drought with a deluge that threatened to sweep them all away. A God who could be intensely present without the fireworks and flood, and at work even without immediately dethroning Jezebel, was not what Elijah had in mind. But that's the Lord who confronted him on Mount Horeb in the desert, hushed his whining, and sent him back to work.

How often it is that we meet God in the silence, in that time and space where we quiet our noise and wait for him.

The sound of silence.

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