“Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side.
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change, He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul: thy best, thy heav’nly Friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.”¹

Recently, I attended a funeral where only two songs were sung, one of which, Be Still, My Soul¹, is an old hymn that I hadn’t heard in many years. It is a beautiful song with a haunting melody that has stayed with me over the past few weeks. I find myself continually being brought back to this hymn and its reminder to quiet oneself and seek God in stillness and solitude.

The hymn reminded me of Elijah and his encounter with Jezebel, the wife of King Ahab of Israel. Neither Ahab nor his wife were on good standing with the Lord…both had spurned God and brought the worship of false gods into Israel. In fact, Jezebel had gone so far as to begin systematically killing God’s priests in her efforts to bring in the worship of Baal.

First Kings, Chapter 18, tells us of Elijah’s encounter with the pagan priests on Mount Carmel which resulted in the death of 300 of Jezebel’s priests. God had triumphed on Mount Carmel and Elijah had killed the false prophets. As you can imagine, Jezebel was angry. Well, she was way beyond just being angry. These were her priests, the priests she had brought into Israel to instill reverence for the gods she worshipped… to corrupt the people of Israel…God’s chosen people. At Mount Carmel, she’d pretty much had been made to look foolish, her pagan gods had been shown to be powerless by Elijah and Israel’s God. She was enraged….so, she put out word that Elijah was pretty much a dead man walking.

Jezebel said, “May the gods deal with me, and ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like the lives of those you killed!” (1 Kings 19:2)

When Elijah heard this, he ran. He was afraid.

After all that had transpired on Mount Carmel;

— after God had shown all of Israel that He was the true God

— after Jezebel’s priests had been proven to worship false gods;

— after all that God had done through him,

Elijah got scared….so scared he ran for his life.

Elijah took himself out into the wilderness about a day’s journey from Beersheba in Judah.

There, he sat under a broom tree and prayed for death.

“I have had enough, LORD,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.” (1 Kings 19:4)

Elijah – the prophet – who had done so much in God’s name – now lost trust that God would protect and save him. He lost focus and became afraid. Elijah doubted.

But God did not lose faith in Elijah. He sent an angel who brought food to Elijah…not once but twice. Strengthened by the food, Elijah left that place and walked 40 days & nights until he reached the Mount of Horeb. There he found a cave where he could stay the night.

While he was in the cave, God spoke to him asking, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”  Elijah spoke to God of his fears that he was “the only one left” and of the enemies that were threatening to kill him. God told him to go out and stand on the mountain for the Lord was about to pass by.

11 …..“And a great and mighty wind tore into the mountains 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 there was a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire.

And after the fire came a still, small voice. 

13 When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

Suddenly a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”” (1 Kings 19:11-13)

At Elijah’s lowest point, God came to him – not in the mighty wind that shatters rocks, not in an earthquake, not in a tumultuous fire. God came as a still, small voice. 

When Elijah heard God speaking to him in this still small voice, he covered his face and went out of the cave. I’ve often thought about Elijah wrapping his face in his cloak. I think maybe he was a bit contrite that he’d lost focus and gotten so wrapped up in everything going on around him that he forgot to listen – he forgot to quiet his own inner fears and self-talk enough to hear that still small voice speaking to him.

Twice God asked Elijah what he was doing there hiding out in a cave in the middle of nowhere. God spoke to him in a still small voice…. a gentle reminder that there was more to do. God also reminded Elijah that there was a remnant …. 7000 left in Israel who had not bowed the knee to Baal. There is always a remnant. Elijah was not alone; he had never been alone.

A still small voice. God spoke not in the mighty wind or the earthquake or the fire.

When we quiet ourselves, when we focus on God, we can hear His voice…that still small voice that tells us that we are never alone.

God is always there.

“Be still, my soul: begin the song of praise
On earth, believing, to Thy Lord on high;
Acknowledge Him in all thy words and ways,
So shall He view thee with a well-pleased eye.
Be still, my soul: the Sun of life divine
Through passing clouds shall but more brightly shine.¹

If you’d like to hear Be Still, My Soul. (I highly recommend it – this is a beautiful hymn.)

Read more about Elijah and the contest on Mount Carmel in my blog here and in scripture I Kings 18.

For more about Elijah’s fears and flight,1 Kings 19.

And, if you want to know what happened to Jezebel, 1 Kings 21 and 2 Kings 9. (It was not a very good ending for Jezebel.)

1. Be Still, My Soul, Katherine A. von Schlegel, 1752; translation by Jane L. Borthwick, 1855; Public Domain.