pity party

Sunday August 10^th, 1 Kings 19 : "What are you doing here, Elijah?" 10 Elijah replied, "I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken 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." 11 The LORD said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by." Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" When we run from the path the Lord has set before us, we are always called back unto that path.  We don’t always hear the call.  Sometimes we are too busy with our own noise to hear it.  Sometimes our noise comes in the form of a boast, sometimes a defense, and sometimes a pity party.  Elijah was having a pity party, and if one ever deserved a pity party, Elijah would fit the bill.  But God had other ideas in mind for Elijah, and God has other ideas in mind for us in this world.  Look at all I have done is all too often the cry, but it is not enough.  Look at what God has done and is calling us to do is more of the driving statement for the children of God.  It is also important that God does not always or often appear in the big and the mighty way.  God does not come to Elijah in the adrenalin pumping storms just as God does not always come to us in adrenalin pumping worship highs.  It is often the still small voice, and it is that voice that always sends us out into the world, away from our own pity party and into the lives of others.