In the wilderness God taught Elijah a lesson which was quite new to him, and which is a lesson for all time. He taught him that if it were His good pleasure to restore His worship among the apostate Israelites, it would not be by earthquake or fire, but by the gentle influence of His Spirit, and by that voice of His which gently, but so that all can hear who will, speaks to every man born into the world.
I. It is almost necessarily incident to the human mind to take views of things and to plan schemes different from those which God's wisdom approves. At the first blush of the thing the dealings of God with mankind, as we read them in the Old Testament, are very different from what we should have expected them to be. God is not in the wind, nor in the earthquake, nor in the fire, but in the still small voice, and that voice which spoke so gently in the time of our Saviour has been far more powerful than any wind, or earthquake, or fire could have been; the birth, and life, and death of our Saviour speak now as distinctly as ever. His Church which He founded has flourished, and now we thankfully acknowledge that God's ways are best, although His ways are not as ours, nor His thoughts like ours.
II. In the lesser dealings of God with His Church and with ourselves the same rule is found true. Man's ways are noisy, blustering, rude; those of God are quiet, gentle, still. In the Sacraments, in slight afflictions, in conscience, God speaks to man in His still small voice; our duty is to listen to its warnings, and see that we obey it. If we will not follow the guidance of His voice, the storm, the earthquake, and the fire may frighten us, but they can never make us holy.
Bishop Harvey Goodwin, Parish Sermons,1st series, p. 178.
References: 1 Kings 19:11; 1 Kings 19:12. J. H. Newman, Sermons on Subjects of the Day,p. 367; A. Mursell, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xx., p. 314; H. Thompson, Concionalia: Outlines of Sermons for Parochial Use,vol. i., p. 363; J. W. Burgon, Ninety-one Short Sermons,Nos. 69 and 70; W. Nicholson, Redeeming the Time,p. 198.