the road to emmaus

1 Kgs 19:9a, 11-16At the mountain of God, Horeb, Elijah came to a cave, where he took shelter. But the word of the LORD came to him,“Go outside and stand on the mountain before the LORD; the LORD will be passing by.”A strong and heavy wind was rending the mountains and crushing 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. After the earthquake there was fire—but the LORD was not in the fire. After the fire there was a tiny whispering sound. When he heard this, Elijah hid his face in his cloak and went and stood at the entrance of the cave. A voice said to him, “Elijah, why are you here?” He replied, “I have been most zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts. But the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant,torn down your altars, and put your prophets to the sword. I alone am left, and they seek to take my life.” The LORD said to him,“Go, take the road back to the desert near Damascus. When you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael as king of Aram. Then you shall anoint Jehu, son of Nimshi, as king of Israel,and Elisha, son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah,as prophet to succeed you.”
This reading hit me like a ton of bricks. The key point I get out of it is this. Elijah is told to go outside the cave and “listen for the Lord, who will be passing by.” Elijah expects the Lord when the hurricane comes, but He is not there. Then an earthquake occurs, and the Lord is not there. Then a fire! The Lord did not come in any of these spectacular events, as Elijah assumes He will. He finally “whispers” in the silence. Sometimes we look for God to come into our lives with the blaring of horns and flashing of lights. Or we look for “signs”. If we would just sit in silence and speak to Him, He will come and speak to us. As Jesus said, “Go into your inner rooms and pray to your God in private. And the Father who sees all that is private will answer.”

The other thing that strikes me about this reading is that Elijah is frustrated and feels like a failure. He has done everything the Lord has asked him to do, but has accomplished (in his own eyes) nothing. Does the Lord sympathize and say, "That's ok, Elijah, you've done your best, go ahead and rest"? NO. He gives him even MORE to do! We are never finished doing our part of God's plan until He calls us HOME. This is another way of saying that it is not easy to follow God's plan, but if we persist in our zeal for Him, we will be rewarded. Maybe not by being taken to Heaven in a flaming chariot, but seeing the face of God nonetheless.