“He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too. The Lord said to him, “Go back the way you came…”
1 Kings 19:14-15. (NIV)
When I am overwhelmed with fear, sorrow or discouragement, I have a tendency to retreat to a cave. I’m more of the withdrawing type, than the reaching out type, so I can relate to the story of Elijah. His enemies were trying to kill him, and when self pity overwhelmed him at the lowest point of his life, he hid himself in a cave. A silent gentle wind blew into the cave and the Lord was in the wind. Elijah heard a soft whispering voice asking him. “Why are you here, Elijah?” and after he expressed all his sorrows and woes, and how he was being hunted down, the same voice simply told him to get up and go back.
When we are spiritually depleted, with nothing left in us, the Spirit of God whispers gently to us in our secluded place. I call Him the Soul Whisperer. He whispered to me one day after months of taking care of my husband, who passed away. During most of that period, I never attended church or read my bible, and barely prayed. I was living on a spiritually empty tank.
Then one day I heard a soft voice within me, not audible, but the words within my soul were simple and clear, “I want you back.” The Soul whisperer came to me in my cave, calling me back. For me it meant to come back to prayer, reading scripture and be refilled with His Spirit. He began to refill me and now I try to start each day asking His Spirit to speak to me.
Caves and mountain tops were never meant to be our permanent dwelling places. The Soul whisperer will always lead you back to the real world, because He has a mission and purpose for each one of us. He comforts us in our place of isolation and then tells us to go back and walk the journey of faith. If you tell Him you cannot walk with the same vigor, He answers, “walk with whatever you have left, and I will help you.” He will refill whatever was depleted, and He has a surprising way of pouring out an abundance of new gifts. He always has more to give us even when we feel we cannot go any further.
He wants to refill you and send you back into the real world with the unique mission and gifts that only you can fulfill. He will equip you and lead you into new territory, and it all starts with His whisper, “Go back, I will be with you.”
Lord, help us to hear your whisper and draw us out of our cave, and fill us, Holy Spirit, with your love and gifts, to share with the world. Amen