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Written by Chuck Durham
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 Do you ever find yourself thinking, “If only I could have seen Jesus heal the lepers; if only I could have seen the parting of the Red Sea; if only I could have been at the tomb when Lazarus came forth! - What a fully convinced, on-fire-for-the-Lord Christian I would be!”
Do we realize in Scripture how seldom God went about His work by means of awe-inspiring miracles? There are only three great epochs of miracles in the entire biblical record: (1) the ongoing saga of deliverance from Egypt to conquering of Canaan; (2) the days of Elijah and Elisha; (3)Jesus and His apostles. The service of the vast majority of God’s people has been rendered without being eye-witnesses of His miracles, signs, and wonders. Even in the ministries of Elijah-Elisha and the Apostles, most Israelites and Gentiles were not privileged to see the miracles performed by them. To use a statement from the book of 1 Kings—“the LORD was not in the wind, nor the earthquake, nor the fire.”
The text (19:11) says the wind tore into Mount Sinai shattering some of it into pieces. I suspect the same type of power was manifested in the earthquake and the fire. But all three times it says the LORD was not in their awe-inspiring deeds. Rather He was announced by a quiet, low whisper of a voice. I know the Hebrew word can be rendered “sound,” but it is the “word of the LORD” that takes center stage.
God works through His word. The power to change the hearts of sinful man is inherent in its seed planted in the mind (cf. James 1:21; 1 Peter 1:23-25). It is the kingdom of God in its mustard-seed mode. God comes in the awe-full-inspiring means of His word for most of His servants. We should be moved by it, as we would be by the effects of wind, earthquake, and fire; but, alas, He knows of what poor stuff we are made. We are more impressed with miracles than with His words. I take it that God restrained Himself in the Elijah incident—for Elijah’s sake. If wind can blast mountain to pieces, what would it do to flesh? He whispers faintly (Elijah heard it [v.13]) and Elijah wrapped his face to go meet the LORD. We would do well to mentally prepare ourselves with the background of this text each time we open the Bible and read. If we think miracles are more important than words, we would do well to remember how many Israelites witnessed the mighty deliverance from Egypt and how few of them entered the promised land!
“Speak LORD, thy servant heareth. Command and I will obey (1 Sam. 3:9).” |
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