[The word of the LORD] said, "Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by." Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind and 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 sound of sheer silence."
- 1 Kings 19:11-12
I couldn't help but think of Elijah's encounter with God, described above, while I was reading Miller's story of his moment of change at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Nature made the sounds nature always makes, and yet God was found and experienced beyond these occurrences at a level that the senses could not comprehend.
More than that, Elijah was on that mountain because he had a whole lot of questions and doubts about himself even though he seemed to have it all together. What we forget about this story is that Elijah has fled to the mountain after his greatest success, the defeat of the prophets of Baal and the end of the drought in Israel. He seems to be at the top of the mountain in his life, and yet here he is hiding in a cave afraid saying, "O LORD, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors" (1 Kings 19:4).
Miller states, "The days and weeks before a true commitment to Jesus can be terrible and lonely." Do you agree? Do you think that these "terrible" times are a product of spiritual change or are they the reason why we allow spiritual change to finally happen in our lives?
In talking to his pastor about why he felt he needed to get away, Miller said, "Something got crossed in the wires, and I became the person I should be and not the person I am. I feel like I should go back and get the person I am and bring him here to the person I should be. Are you following me at all?" Are you? How do you understand what Miller is saying? Have you ever felt like this? What causes this feeling in our lives? .
Miller felt that he had to go to the "green lumpy places" to be able to find the change he needed. Where are the "green lumpy places" in your life? Where are the places you go to reclaim who God is calling you to be?
Under the stars, Miller concluded that it was a great responsibility to be human. What do you understand our human responsibility to be?
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