In First Kings, chapter nineteen, verses eleven through twelve, to encourage and strengthen Elijah’s faith, God visited him on Mount Horeb near the area of Mount Sinai where the mountain of revelation occurred. The visitation received a great wind, earthquake, and fire, but the Lord was in none of those events. Instead, the telling of God came in the form of “a still small voice.” Elijah learned that God’s work proceeds and advances in Zechariah four, verse six, “Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.” God had, in fact, not deserted His prophet, nor did He ever abandon His faithful people.
Elijah came to meet with God and graciously condescended to give him the meeting. And the manner of His manifesting Himself seems to refer to the discoveries God formerly made of Himself at this place to Moses. Elijah heard a strong wind and saw this mighty force, for it split the mountains and tore the rocks. He felt the shock of an earthquake and saw an eruption of fire. By these, Elijah was in preparation to receive this discovery of God with humility, reverence, and godly fear.
After the fire, a still small voice: not rough, but gentle, more like whispering than roaring; something soft, simple. There is nothing to indicate whether the sound was articulate, nor said that the Lord was now present, but showed that Elijah knew the time had come for him to present himself before Jehovah.
What was the object and meaning of this succession of signs? First, remember that Elijah was the prophet of deeds. He taught his contemporaries not by word but by act. He is instructed in turn by signs. There passes before him in the mountain hollow, in the black and dark night, a procession of natural terrors-of storm, earthquake, and fire. But none of these things move Elijah: none speak to his soul and tell of a present God. The silent voice, the awful stillness, overpowers and entangles him.