The Still Small Voice
Reflections on adventure, desire, and mission based on today's readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/080926.cfm
So often we look for God—or even wait for Him—but run into a very common problem: we do not quite know where to find Him. Our first reading speaks directly to this dilemma.
After Elijah’s legendary defeat of the prophets of Baal, he retreats to Mount Horeb in hopes of encountering the Lord. While he waits, he witnesses wind, earthquakes, and fire, yet in none of these does he encounter the Lord. Instead, the Lord comes to him in “a tiny whispering sound,” or, as we conventionally say, “a still small voice.”
Though the details of our own encounters may differ, the essence remains the same. There is certainly a place in our lives for excitement and adventure, such as Elijah experiences in his confrontation with the prophets of Baal. But these are not usually the moments in which our relationship with the Lord grows most deeply. They may be moments in which we serve Him in remarkable ways, but the quiet moments of communion with Him are often the ones that transform us most profoundly.
Sometimes excitement and adventure serve their purpose by revealing that no amount of accomplishment can satisfy our deepest desires. After all, who could have accomplished a greater feat than Elijah?
When we return to that still small voice, it does not diminish the good found in our past or future adventures. Rather, it gives them a definitive direction and a divine meaning. To encounter the Lord in this way and in this place is, in every sense of the word, transformative.
Yet this transformation is accompanied by a certain sorrow—the sorrow of recognizing that nothing in this world can fully satisfy the human heart while also seeing that many have not yet discovered this truth. Put another way, once we have encountered the love of the Lord and come to recognize that He alone can satisfy our deepest desires, it is difficult to watch others seek fulfillment in things other than Him, even when those pursuits appear religious on the surface but are not rooted in a living relationship with Christ. This is the heart of St. Paul’s teaching today and the reason for his sorrow over his Jewish brothers and sisters.
Revisiting the scene of St. Peter being called out onto the water in this light also deepens our understanding of it. In many ways, the work of bringing others to the Lord is our own way of walking on water. It is the way in which we imitate Christ so closely that others are drawn to Him through us.
Yet so many of us, even if we begin well, eventually sink under the weight of the mission entrusted to us. Why is that?
At first, Peter walks on the water because his gaze is fixed on Christ. But when his attention turns to himself and the storm around him, he begins to sink.
The same is true in the spiritual life. We make great progress and become instruments of grace for others when our focus is so fixed on Christ that we forget ourselves—when we simply listen to Him and follow His will. But when our attention shifts back to ourselves, whether to admire what we have accomplished or to question whether we are capable of continuing, we begin to sink.
This is why spiritual discipline is so necessary. We must remain focused on Christ. We must continually return to the still small voice.
Christ alone can satisfy our desires and the desires of every human heart. Therefore, Christ alone deserves the center of our attention. And even the grace to keep our eyes fixed on Him is itself His gift.
May we all take a moment to step away from the excitement and adventures of our lives and simply sit with Him, listening for His still small voice.