We’ve all had bad days. Bad hair days, bad days at work, trouble with the kids; we’ve all had them. Sometimes, it is a cumulative effort that makes it a bad day, where many things have gone wrong in succession. Sometimes a day can become a bad day by one big thing going wrong.
Elijah was a man who was used to bad days. An evil King (Ahab) and an even more evil Queen (Jezebel) were in charge of his country. They had brought in false prophets for their false religion and had converted many people to their lies. Because of this, the Lord had punished the land for several years with a drought. Finally, God issued a challenge through Elijah to prove which God was the true God. God sent fire from heaven to prove that He was the real and only God. Jezebel was furious and promised to kill Elijah. Elijah was afraid, so he ran and hid in a cave. In Elijah’s mind: a bad day!
We are often like Elijah. We let something get us down, even when so much is going well for us. At times, it may even appear like an insurmountable challenge, something we can’t get past. Our sinful nature often causes us to doubt God’s promises to be with us and help us.
Instead of doing something "big" for Elijah, God came to him and comforted him. In a still, small voice God reminded Elijah he wasn’t alone, that God was protecting him and that nothing could hurt him.
Just like Elijah, God has done big things for us. Jesus paid for the sins of the world. He suffered and died so that we could go free. It is amazing how quickly this can seem unimportant to us in our daily lives and we focus only on the newest problem that we face.
God answers us in a still small voice: “I am with you.” “I have done all things for you.” “Behold, I make all things new.” He tells us that He is in charge and that Jesus has come to pay for sin by sacrificing Himself. Just listen.
“And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire, and after the fire, a still small voice.”
1 Kings 19: 12