The Quiet Road

Hello!

Welcome to our new home!  Make yourself comfortable.  I pray you’ll find a quiet place here to rest with the Lord.  And I pray you find His riches for your journey.

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“And there he (Elijah) went into a cave, and spent the night in that place; and behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and He said to him, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’

So he said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.’

Then He said, ‘Go out, and stand on the mountain before the Lord.’ And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the 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; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.” 1 Kings 19:9-12

Elijah’s having a bad day.  Well, it started out good.  With a miracle, in fact.  He’d faced the evil king of Israel, Ahab, and the false prophets of Baal.  He’d put their god to the test.  Of course, Baal never showed up. But God did, and in a big way.  And Ahab wasn’t happy.

Now Elijah was running for his life, and he desperately needed wisdom from the Lord.

Like Elijah, each of us is on a journey.  To walk it successfully, we must walk it with the Lord. We need to hear Him tell us which way to turn, when to wait, and what decisions to make along the way.

I’m convinced that one of the greatest weapons the enemy uses to keep us from hearing from God is the noise of the world.

Seems we can’t get through a day without being bombarded with news that can’t be more depressing, reading through a constant feed of what our friends are doing on social media, and exercising our texting thumbs.  And the media feels the need to keep us constantly apprised of Snooki’s life.  We watch to see who’s been voted off the island, picked as the next voice and what one housewife is saying about another. We Pinterest and Reddit and Tumblr. We email and online shop.  iPhones and iPads.  I, I, I. Our ears are constantly filled with the noise of the world.

And the words we need to hear most, the words God longs to speak to us, go unheard.

Because God’s is a still small voice.

None of those “noisy” things are bad in and of themselves (well, maybe the Snooki thing), but if we’re not careful, we can use them to fill the emptiness and loneliness of our hearts that only God can fill.

They can become our Baals.

The road walked with God is a quiet one. Quiet enough to hear His voice.  It’s the eye in the middle of the storm.  It’s the road off the beaten path.  It’s just you and Him, kicking up the dusty road as you share your hearts with one another.

That’s where the real treasure is found.

You share your worries with Him, He gives you wisdom.  You confess your unforgiveness and anger.  He gives you forgiveness and hope.  You praise Him and He holds you tight.

We need that in the middle of this lost and dying world.  We need direction and discernment. We need peace.

What’s more, the world needs us to have it.  It needs to see what a life walked with God looks like.  It needs to see that God is our hope and joy.  People need to hear that He has a quiet path for them, too.   Because they need Jesus, not Baal.

And so do we.

 “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.”  Jeremiah 33:3