1 King 19:9-18, Matthew 14:23-33
August 9, 2026
1 Kings 19:9-18 NRSV
(and Matthew 14:23-33 NRSV)
By: John Gribas
[9] At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there. Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" [10] He answered, "I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away." [11] He said, "Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by." Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces 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; [12] and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. [13] When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" [14] He answered, "I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away." [15] Then the LORD said to him, "Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus; when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael as king over Aram. [16] Also you shall anoint Jehu son of Nimshi as king over Israel; and you shall anoint Elisha son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah as prophet in your place. [17] Whoever escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu shall kill; and whoever escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha shall kill. [18] Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him."
Transition
Holy God. I ask that the words I share today, and the thoughts and ponderings they prompt in all our hearts and minds, may be guided by your Holy Spirit. And may they reveal You and the good news of the kingdom of heaven.
Amen.
Sermon: Hearing from God Who Shows Up in the Silence
As I prepare for offering a message like this, I almost always bounce thoughts and ideas off of my wife, Lana. I did that very thing in preparation for today. In light of this particular excerpt from the life of the prophet Elijah, I knew that, in one way or another, my message was going to focus somehow on listening to and hearing the voice of God.
Lana almost immediately reminded me of a story that has become part of our ongoing family lore. I want to share that story with you now, because I think it really fits the theme.
This took place at our dinner table a long time ago. Our two boys, Adam and Levi, were quite young. As I recall, it had been a particularly busy, hectic, stressful day—at least for me. When it came time to bless our meal with a prayer, I felt a bit at a loss for words. So instead of just throwing something out there that sounded fatherly and hopefully a bit spiritual, I suggested that we all take a few moments to be quiet, close our eyes, and listen to what God might have to say.
I was happy that everyone seemed good with that—including both boys. Personally, I am a real fan of silence, so I may have held on to the quiet longer than the others at the table were comfortable with. But no one complained.
Eventually, I opened my eyes and said, “Amen.” My family followed suit. Before we all started digging in, I decided to ask, “Did anyone hear God say anything?”
Levi, who was four or five at the time, chimed in. “Yeah, I heard something,” he said rather matter-of-factly.
I’m not sure if I was surprised at that…or delighted…or amused. Maybe a combination of all of those. “Oh, really? What did you hear God say?” I asked.
Just as matter-of-factly came Levi’s response: “God said, ‘I love you forever, Levi.’”
What a direct and deeply personal message. Levi heard his creator say “I love you” and refer to him by name. Man. That was special.
I share this because I think there are some real parallels to the story of Elijah and his time in the cave. Most important of all, in both cases, it seems that God’s voice is often loudest and clearest when we take a little time for quiet. When we listen to the silence.
Consider Elijah’s story. He was very much in need of hearing from God. He was tired, disillusioned, alone, and afraid. People—powerful people—were seeking to kill him. In particular, Queen Jezebel. She was an avid worshipper of the Canaanite storm god Baal. Despite the fact that she found herself wife to the King of Israel, she was just as avid in her commitment to wipe out the worship of the Hebrew god Yahweh. One of her main strategies was hunting down and executing Hebrew prophets like Elijah.
And Elijah had given Jezebel particularly good reason to pursue and destroy. In the chapter just before our reading for today, we learn about how Elijah singlehandedly challenged 450 prophets of Baal to a “Who worships the real God?” competition. It is quite a story and includes altars and wood and sacrificial bulls and futile entreaties to Baal and pagan prophets engaging in limping processions and a little self-mutilation.
And, in the end, their humiliation. No surprise to the mocking Elijah, Baal is a no-show. Yahweh, on the other hand, shows up big time. Even though the wood on the altar Elijah built has been thoroughly soaked and surrounded by a water-filled moat, Yahweh sends fire from heaven so intense that it vaporizes everything: bull meat, wood, water, the stone altar itself.
As an exclamation point to this impressive display, Elijah executes the 450 defeated and humiliated prophets of Baal. Jezebel’s prophets. Jezebel is not impressed or amused. Oops.
So…Elijah runs and hides in a cave. And he finds himself in need of hearing from God. I suppose this makes sense. Who wouldn’t seek a little divine presence and intervention in such a situation?
Then again, it really doesn’t make sense. I mean, consider what just took place in this Elijah story. Elijah had just openly challenged 450 rival prophets. He taunted them publicly while watching them fail. Then Yahweh, Elijah’s God, showed up convincingly in an all-consuming fire from heaven. Now one angry queen—powerful for sure, but still—one angry queen makes Elijah her target, and Elijah ends up hiding in a cave, seeking the voice of God and finding it not in the great wind or the earthquake or the fire, but in, of all things, silence.
Why?
I might ask myself the same question. All those years ago on that particularly busy, hectic, stressful day, why did I find myself at a loss for words at the dinner table—instead inviting some time of listening to the silence? Why choose this approach, this act of quiet desperation, to seek the voice of the divine?
You might say, as I just did about Elijah, it makes sense. People sometimes have challenging, stressful days. On such days, who wouldn’t look for a little divine comfort?
But, as I also just said about Elijah, it really doesn’t make all that much sense. Okay, I had a tough day. But I also have led an amazingly blessed life. I am and always have been constantly surrounded by evidence and reminders of God’s goodness and faithfulness and strength. I’ve never successfully challenged hundreds of pagan prophets to a fire-from-heaven duel. But I experience so much on a regular basis that screams “God is here! God is good! God is mighty! God is for you!”
First and foremost, the daily experience of life with my loving family screams this. What a blessing and what a powerful, constant message of God’s goodness.
Similarly, I have always been blessed with the support of a loving faith community, like I am blessed by all of you now. I recognize the creator in those who are and those who have been fellow sojourners of the way of Christ.
Additionally, consider where we live. This amazing place. The clean air and big, beautiful, majestic sky with its color and clouds and sometimes storms and lightning and thunder and rainbows. The mountains and the wildlife and the access to all of it through a wonderful trail system. Scripture reminds us of how God is made evident through creation…
Psalm 19:1-4. “The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard; yet their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.”
Romans 1:20. “Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made.”
My life is consistently screaming “God is here! God is good! God is mighty! God is for you!” Isn’t that enough? More than enough? What was I seeking in the silence at that dinner table?
And for Elijah, why was the successful battle with the prophets of Baal not enough, and why did he not hear the Lord in the great wind or the earthquake or the fire, but instead, in “the sound of sheer silence”?
As a possible answer, I want to suggest that there is a difference between hearing ABOUT…and hearing FROM.
Consider this. There are some strange things here in 1 Kings 19. The passage begins by stating that “the word of the Lord came to” Elijah, asking him what he was doing hiding in the cave. But after offering a rather feeble answer—everyone hates me, I’m the only faithful one left—Elijah is then instructed to “stand on the mountain before the Lord” because “the Lord is about to pass by.”
What is going on here? If the word of the Lord came to Elijah in that cave, wouldn’t that mean that the Lord was there? Why would the Lord direct Elijah to go out to stand on the mountain where the Lord was about to pass by?
I’ve done enough looking to know that there are plenty of people much smarter than me who have compelling responses to this question—responses that are far more historically, linguistically, and theologically grounded than anything I could come up with. Even so, I want to offer something for your consideration.
As it says, the “word of the Lord” came to Elijah in that cave, but hearing the word of the Lord is not the same as a direct encounter with the Lord. Some kind of divine prompting, whatever it was, led Elijah to reflect on why he was in that cave. Then he responded to that prompting and stepped out and experienced…a great wind, an earthquake, and fire.
Things not unlike our vast Idaho mountains and sky and storms and thunder and lightning. Things that, as Psalm 19 reminds us, tell the glory of God and proclaim his handiwork, pouring forth speech and declaring knowledge and going out through all the earth to the end of the world.
Amazing and powerful things that tell us about the Lord.
But, I am suggesting, there is a difference between hearing ABOUT…and hearing FROM.
I think at that moment Elijah needed something more than a message ABOUT God’s presence. He needed to hear FROM the Lord. He needed God’s presence itself.
And it came. God came. In the silence.
Just as, for my young son Levi at the dinner table, it came. God came. In the silence.
Levi grew up in a Christian home and attended a Christian church and school. He knew and regularly heard a lot ABOUT God, and all of that was good and a blessing in his life. He grew up in a beautiful place of mountains and blue skies that daily proclaim the glory of the Lord. But in that silence at that table, I believe he heard what he needed to hear at that moment…FROM God. And the God who is agape itself said, “I love you.” And the God who is infinite said, “I love you forever.” And the God who made us and knows us personally and intimately said, “I love you forever, Levi.”
But for Levi and for Elijah, why in the silence? I don’t know that I have a good answer. In some ways, it seems kind of obvious. No distractions. Huge Idaho skies and mountains and thunder and lightning and consuming fire from heaven and great winds and earthquakes. These are impressive and certainly can reveal important things ABOUT God. But they are, at the same time, distractions. Distractions, at least, to the intimate “person-ness” of God. That dimension of God that knows us, by name, and wants to connect and commune.
Maybe silence isn’t absolutely necessary, but it sure seems to help. Those involved with many religious orders over the centuries have known this. Some have taken vows of silence for this very reason. Consider the following quotes from Mother Theresa…
“We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence.”
“In the silence of the heart God speaks. If you face God in prayer and silence, God will speak to you.”
May we all give thanks for the many ways we hear the message about God’s goodness. In the creation. In our families and friendships. In this fellowship of faith. In the scriptures that include stories like this one of Elijah.
But today I challenge you, I challenge myself, I challenge us all. Consider how our use of time provides opportunities to hear not only ABOUT God, but FROM God. I think many people of faith don’t even consider hearing FROM God a thing to be hoped for. That’s just for the prophets of old and maybe particularly “saintly” folks like Mother Theresa.
I don’t think so. Mother Theresa didn’t think so. My young son, Levi, didn’t think so.
So, I challenge us all. May we trust that God wants us to not only hear about but to hear from. And let us look for and embrace opportunities of quiet, waiting expectantly to hear from the God who shows up in the silence.
Amen.
Benediction
The Lord bless you and keep you.
The Lord make His face to shine upon you, and be gracious unto you.
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.
Charge
So let us go, listening expectantly to hear FROM the God who shows up in the silence.
Amen.