1 Kings 19: 11-13,  And He said, “go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.”  And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke 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 the sound of a low whisper.  And when  Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.  And behold, there came a voice to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

How many times have you read over those verses and you just skimmed over the fact that there was a wind that was like a tornado that was even breaking rocks outside that cave and then an earthquake which shook up Elijah’s world?  We hear so many teachings about the fact that God showed up in the still quiet voice and we overlook everything else Elijah was experiencing at the time.  Elijah had already been through so much who knows what his reaction was to all of those frightful things, he may have sat there hoping it would all kill him, who knows?  The point here is the fact that everything going on was dramatically messing with his cave and the world surrounding his cave, if he thought it looked hopeless because Jezebel threatened to kill him, well the wind (who knows how long that lasted other than God and Elijah) and then the earthquake and then a fire, were certainly not encouraging.  

Maybe your personal life isn’t overwhelming you right now, but when you take a look around at all of the violence, illness, and tragedies going on around the world it can be intimidating if you don’t focus on God.  God has not given us a spirit of fear as it says in 2 Timothy 1:7, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”  He wants to fill you with His confidence through His Spirit, that if you have accepted Him as your Savior, lives inside of you.  God sees everything going on and He is still in control and still has a plan.  We may not fully understand His plan while we are living on this earth, but you must keep in mind that He is looking at everything and everyone so there are bound to be things that go on here on earth that we don’t understand, but we are called to focus on Him and what He is guiding us to do.  Let Him take care of everything and everyone else and seek His face.  You are called to do what He has put in front of you to do, you cannot control everything and everyone else.  That is where prayer comes in!  Are you praying like you should?  Pray for your loved ones, pray for your pastor and your government leaders, and by all means, pour your heart out to Him about all that you are facing and then trust Him to do what is best and right because that is who He is!  He loves you more than you can possibly comprehend and He is faithful!

As you watch all that is going on around you, listen for His voice.  He is there, right by your side.  He has promised that if you don’t abandon Him, He will not abandon you.  If for some reason you are just coming back to Him after having wandered know that He is right there by your side.  He is so excited to have you back!  He wants to guide you into all He created you to be!  Dig into the Word of God!  Draw close to Him! 
“Be still and know that He is (still) God”  Psalm 46:10. Rest in the comfort that no matter what may be going on out there, God is by your side if you are following Him!

Quote:  “When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don’t throw away the ticket and jump off.  You sit still and trust the engineer.”  ~ Corrie ten Boom