Section 3
here?" he answered, "I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away." God knew Elijah's difficulty; He knew Elijah wanted Him to be a God who would manifest Himself; he had not realized that God is a God who hides Himself. So God gave him a demonstration. There arose "a great and strong wind." Elijah thought: The Lord is in this! "But the Lord was not in the wind." The wind was fol lowed by an earthquake. Elijah thought: Surely the Lord is in this! "But the Lord was not in the earthquake." Then came a fire, and Elijah thought: The Lord is a consuming fire, He'll be in this! "But the Lord was not in the fire." After the fire came a still small voice—and the Lord was in that! Elijah said to Him, "I, even I only, am left"; but the Lord very gently answered, "There are seven thousand persons who have not bowed down to Baal. Elijah, I hide Myself; you did not know I had preserved those seven thousand souls." Elijah had reckoned only with what he could see; but God is a God who hides Himself. He was not in the wind, nor in the earthquake, nor in the fire; He was in the still small voice. He