A Gentle Friend

A Gentle Friend


I Kings 19: 11-12

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.

* * * * *

How did Elijah know that now was the time to come out from behind the rock where he was hiding and talk to the Lord? The Bible says, When Elijah heard it (the gentle whisper), he wrapped his face in his scarf and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.

Elijah knew God. He had seen his God perform in magnificent, powerful acts!It was Elijah who announced the awesome edict from God:. . . . surely there shall be neither dew nor rain these years . . . and there wasn’t. God followed through: He stopped the rain!

Elijah saw with his own eyes the bottomless flour canister and the oil pot that never ran dry. He was there when God breathed life back into the widow’s son.

God sent fire from heaven and burned up the saturated bullock and all of the wet wood and licked up all of the water out of the trenches that Elijah had filled–He even burned the rocks and the dust!Elijah was there. He saw God do it and heard the people yelling at the top of their voices, Jehovah is God! The Lord, He is God!

And when God decided that it was time for the rain to fall, He split open the heavens and the rain fell. Oh, yes. Elijah knew God to be a mighty God! Why did he feel safe, like it was all right now–to go out when he heard a gentle whisper?

I don’t know, but I wonder if it was because God wasn’t trying to impress anyone that day. It was just His friend, Elijah, and Himself. You’ll think I’m strange when I say that maybe–just maybe–God is like the great wizard in The Wizard of Oz. Oh, not that He is impotent or manipulative.He does a lot of impressive things, but when you get to know Him, one on one, He’s gentle.

A gentle person. When He touches you, His touch is gentle. When He speaks to you, His words are gentle. Gentle–as a dad with his newborn son. Gentle–as a little child reaching out to touch a butterfly. Gentle–as a soft, spring breeze. Gentle–like a mama dog with her litter of pups.

He doesn’t really want me to sit in the grandstand all of the time, watching His glorious acts of power and bragging on Him. He doesn’t want me to always be needing Him to change the water into wine or feed five thousand with five hard little loaves and two little fish. He simply wants to walk with me and talk with me. He wants us to be Friends. Friends! Incredible!

You don’t yell at me, God. You don’t get frustrated and stomp around in Heaven. Even when You scold me, You do it gently. You watch and You know when a tiny sparrow falls. You are a gentle Shepherd. You stooped down, picked up the dirty, frightened little lost lamb, carried him in Your arms–and he wasn’t afraid any longer. I can see that tiny animal snuggling down in Your cloak and Your strong arms holding him–gently. I wonder if You didn’t nuzzle Your chin in the heavy, curly wool on his head? Yes. You are a gentle God.

Oh, I thank You so much for Your gentleness. That takes away my fear–my hesitancy at being in Your presence. I’ve been guilty of putting the wrong inflection in Your voice–making You angry or judgmental. But, God, I know You better now. You didn’t shout at the fierce wind and the tumultuous waves of the raging sea. You spoke gently and said, “Peace. Be still.”You spoke gently to John about Your mother, gently to the lepers, gently even to the embarrassed harlot.

I have been so unfair to You. I have longed for gentleness. I have cried for gentleness–imagined gentleness–and You have been right here all the time. I should have known. Thank You, gentle Jesus, for being my Friend.

His voice is for the ear of love,

and love is intent upon hearing

even the faintest whispers.

- Anabel Gillham

Working for God

Are you busy “working for God” at your church, in your community, or with a ministry? If so, be careful not to let the work define you or become the source of your self-esteem. I’ve met many Believers who “work for God” and get their need for acceptance and self-acceptance met through their work. In fact, they need the work. Take the work away from them and they’ll become depressed. You see, Jesus wasn’t the source from whom they were generating esteem; it was the work.

Paul’s work was removed from him the last few years of his life. His goal for evangelizing Spain disappeared. He was a goal-oriented, hard worker, but he didn’t get depressed over the lost goal. He wrote his most encouraging letters from prison, a place of “no achievement.” He was able to do this because he wasn’t satisfying his need for self-esteem through achieving tangible goals. His overriding, major goal was “that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection” (Philippians 3:10). He drew even closer to this goal while experiencing the inactivity of prison life.

Again, I challenge you, Christian. What is the source of your acceptance of yourself — your self-esteem? How are you getting your needs satisfied on earth? What or who is the source of your purpose in life? How much can the Lord remove from you and you’ll continue to praise Him and rest in the passionate acceptance that is yours in Christ?

Why are you here? Some say it’s to “work for God.” Consider what my friend Tom Grady asks,

“Is that the reason you and your spouse had kids? So they could shoulder part of the work around the house? I imagine you planned for children so you could experience the joy of loving them and receiving love from them in return. To delight in them and in their victories, and to comfort them in their defeats. In short, to develop an intimate relationship with them.”

That’s the kind of relationship God wants with you!

The notion that God recreated you in Christ to get more work out of you is such a low view of our Father. God wants you to adopt Paul’s life verse: “that I may know Him [Christ]” (Philippians 3:10). As you pursue that goal, spiritual fruit will begin to drop off of you to the glory of Christ. Men asked Jesus, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” Jesus answered, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent” (John 6:28,29).

- Bill Gillham

Lost Sting

No Other Way

Grapes