What Are You Doing Here?

There he came to a cave, where he spent the night. But the LORD said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” Elijah replied, “I have zealously served the LORD God Almighty. But the people of Israel have broken their covenant with You, torn down Your altars, and killed every one of Your prophets. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me, too.” “Go out and stand before Me on the mountain,” the LORD told him. And as Elijah stood there, the LORD passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And a voice said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” (1 Kings 19:9-13 NLT)

Elijah was depressed. He had just worked many miracles for God and the people still did not believe. He was exhausted and overwhelmed. God took care of him by feeding him and letting him sleep (v 3-9). Then God met him at Mount Horeb. Elijah was in the cave. When God said “What are you doing here?”, Elijah told him how hard it was to do the work God called him to do. God said, “Go out of the cave, I am going to pass by.” There was a great ruckus in the wind, the earthquake and the fire. Elijah couldn’t hear God in those. Maybe because he was so overwhelmed. But he did hear him in the whisper. God knew Elijah needed to hear the calm of his voice. He knew he had to meet Elijah where Elijah was – so He whispered. God always meets us where we are. He takes care of us when we need rest. He speaks to each of us in exactly the way we need to hear him.  Can you hear him whispering your name?

–Elaine Kapetanakis