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.
And it was so, when Elijah heard it,
that he wrapped his face in his mantle,
and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave.
And, behold, there came a voice unto him,
and said, What doest thou here, Elijah? 1 Kings 19:11-14
God showed Elijah His power, He walked by Elijah
and rent the mountain and brake the rocks in pieces before Himself.
Then, He caused an Earthquake, then a Fire…
and then…when Elijah was really listening, God asked him a question:
“What doest thou here, Elijah?”
God knew Elijah had been instructed to listen to the Lord.
He had been trying.
He had been waiting.
By the time that Elijah had heard the question from the Lord.
God knew the answer to that question.
The Lord also knew Elijah wasn’t quite ready to hear for his heart was heavy.
The Lord God knew everything Elijah had just been through,
that he had just fasted and been faithful to the Lord in many things,
but Elijah just had to tell Him and empty his heart and the Lord knew it.
God wanted Elijah to know He was really there and really listening.
God appreciated Elijah’s faithfulness to Him.
He had more for Elijah to do, so after Elijah told God what was in his heart, God gave him instructions to anoint another man to be a king
and that was also when Elijah was instructed
to anoint Elisha to soon take his place
because God was soon going to take Elijah to Heaven
without letting him first die a fleshly death.
And Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it together,
and smote the waters, and they were divided hither and thither,
so that they two went over on dry ground.
And it came to pass, when they were gone over,
that Elijah said unto Elisha,
Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee.
And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me.
And he said, Thou hast asked a hard thing: nevertheless,
if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee;
but if not, it shall not be so.
And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold,
there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire,
and parted them both asunder;
and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.
And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father,
the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof.
And he saw him no more: and he took hold of his own clothes,
and rent them in two pieces.
He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him,
and went back, and stood by the bank of Jordan;
And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him,
and smote the waters, and said,
Where is the Lord God of Elijah?
and when he also had smitten the waters,
they parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over. 2 Kings 2:8-14
Elisha was trained well by Elijah and grew to know the Lord as well.
Elisha received a double mantle
of what Elijah had received from the Lord.
This was ordained of the Lord, otherwise,
he would not have allowed Elisha to see Elijah leave.
The relationship that God had with both Elijah and Elisha was fascinating.
They served the Lord with all of their hearts
and encountered various dangers while the Lord took care of each situation.
Elijah’s example of the Still, Small Voice is still applicable to each of us.
We are to wait on the Lord to speak and sometimes,
it is not exactly how we expect Him to communicate to us.
That’s okay, God is multifaceted and very complex
and yet simple at the same time.
Getting to know Him and learning to listen to Him
allows us to experience great treasure in the Heavenly realm.
Who can compare to God?
Whose opinion would you rather hear?
Whose words are more powerful and important?
Listen to God, who often speaks in the still, small voice.