How God reveals Himself to you

How God reveals himself to you

Last time we talked about prayer, what it means, how to do it… Today I thought we'd talk about the ways we hear from God.

Read 1Kings 19:1-9

Elijah Flees to Horeb
19 Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. ² So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.”
³ Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, ⁴ while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” ⁵ Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep.
All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” ⁶ He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again.
⁷ The angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.” ⁸ So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. ⁹ There he went into a cave and spent the night.  And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

God's ways are not our own.  Our expectations of who we are and who we think God is can be different from what is true.  Our exhaustion at times is self-inflicted.  Loneliness can really mess us up -- we were not meant to be isolated.  Elijah had accomplished a lot for God but was frustrated and afraid. 

Vs. 3 -  He was afraid
Vs. 4 - He came to a desert/wilderness time in his life… He wanted to give up.
Vs. 6 - Sometimes God tells us simple things to get us out of our ruts.  It's amazing how much our moods affect how we feel about ourselves and what God is doing in our lives.  Sometimes, it's as simple as taking care of our physical needs(food, sleep, being able to relax) that have a more profound impact on us then if our circumstances were changed.  Also our moods color how we feel about our circumstances.  As life gets stressful, make sure you take the proper time to take care of yourself.
Vs. 9 - He chose to go where He thought God might be.  Where God had spoken before to Moses, expecting to hear from God like Moses did.

Mount Horeb and Mount Sinai are the same mountain.  It's the place where God gave Moses His Word in the form of the Ten Commandments.  It's where Moses saw the Burning Bush and first talked to God.  It's also the place where God had done miracles for Moses and killed all of his enemies.

Mount Sinai means - desert, also means bush… like the bush that God talked to Moses through.
Mount Horeb means - arid place or Sword or Word.  

Here are some of the things that God did for Moses at Mt. Sinai

Read Exodus 33:12-23
Moses and the Glory of the Lord

¹² Moses said to the Lord, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with me.’ 
 
Vs. 12 - Moses was lonely.  Elijah was lonely.  

¹³ If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.”
¹⁴ The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
¹⁵ Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. ¹⁶ How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”
¹⁷ And the Lord said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.”
¹⁸ Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”
¹⁹ And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. ²⁰ But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”
²¹ Then the Lord said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. ²² When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. ²³ Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.”

You'll see why this important in a second.  Here's a story from Numbers about Moses dealing with a group of people who were opposing him and coming against he and his brother.  

Numbers 16:
³¹ As soon as he finished saying all this, the ground under them split apart ³² and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households, and all those associated with Korah, together with their possessions. ³³ They went down alive into the realm of the dead, with everything they owned; the earth closed over them, and they perished and were gone from the community. ³⁴ At their cries, all the Israelites around them fled, shouting, “The earth is going to swallow us too!”
³⁵ And fire came out from the Lord and consumed the 250 men who were offering the incense.

42 But when the assembly gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron and turned toward the tent of meeting, suddenly the cloud covered it and the glory of the Lord appeared. 

 49 But 14,700 people died from the plague, in addition to those who had died because of Korah.

Numbers 16:32 - God showed up for Moses in an earthquake, fire and a cloud and killed all the people who were after him.  Maybe Elijah thought that if he were at the same mountain as Moses that maybe the Lord would swallow up all his enemies.  

How would you like God to talk to you?  When you have a difficult situation or relationship, do you face it head on or do you run from it?

1Kings 19:10-18
¹⁰ He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”
¹¹ The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart 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 came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. ¹³ When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.
Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
¹⁴ He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”
¹⁵ The Lord said to him, “Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. ¹⁶ Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet. ¹⁷ Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu. ¹⁸ Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.”

Vs. 10 - Everything in Elijah's world was broken
a)Broken covenant - Rejected God's Promises
b)Broken alters - destroyed the memory of what God had done.
c)Killed the prophets - destroyed the capacity to hear God. 

This is what the enemy tries to do to us.

Elijah was lonely and sought to be comforted like God comforted Moses. 

wind
earthquake  ---------- }   God was not in these things.  He wanted to do something new… something more intimate.

Vs. 12 - Still, small voice- gentle whisper
Vs. 13 - reacted like Moses because He expected the same results. 
Vs. 15 - 18 God says go back and face whatever seeks your demise.  God is not unsympathetic to your plight.  He gave Elijah a helper.  He gave him people who would keep the evil from befalling him.  Though Elijah thought he was fruitless, God showed him the 7,000.  God can talk to you anywhere, in anyway.  Don't restrict God from speaking to you the way He wants.  Talking with God is not a formula and God will meet you where you are.  Even if you think God can only talk to you a certain way, He'll show up and say, actually I can talk to you through anything I want.   

Exodus 33:14
¹⁴ The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

He promised Moses His presence and His rest. 
 
God promises that He'll always be with you and that He'll do the work of removing the obstacles and enemies you have.

Matthew 12:38-40
³⁸ Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.”
³⁹ He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. ⁴⁰ For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

God desires to speak to you through His word, not signs.  Processing His word develops Faith... signs require no Faith.   

Isaiah 55:6-13
His word is an eternal sign. 

⁶ Seek the Lord while he may be found;    
call on him while he is near.
⁷ Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
⁸ “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,  neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. ⁹ “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. ¹⁰ As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, ¹¹ so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. ¹² You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. ¹³ Instead of the thornbush will grow the juniper, and instead of briers the myrtle will grow. This will be for the Lord’s renown, for an everlasting sign, that will endure forever.”

Isaiah 43:19-24
¹⁸ “Forget the former things;
    do not dwell on the past.
¹⁹ See, I am doing a new thing!
    Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
    and streams in the wasteland.
²⁰ The wild animals honor me,
    the jackals and the owls,
because I provide water in the wilderness
    and streams in the wasteland,
to give drink to my people, my chosen,
²¹     the people I formed for myself
    that they may proclaim my praise.

God does new things... He only requires you to call on Him and to honor Him. 

Do you feel like sometimes, you're the only one in your life that cares about doing what God wants?  Do you feel broken?  Has your loneliness or circumstances kept you from remembering the great things that God has done in your life?  Do you feel like all the old ways you used to hear God and be close to Him just don't work anymore?  Are you disappointed that God hasn't shown up in a dramatic way in your circumstances and relationships?

God isn't in the wind… He isn't in the earthquake… He isn't in the fire.  He wants to speak to you in a still, small voice.  A voice that can only be heard in intimacy with Him.  To hear someone whisper, their face has to be next to yours.  God is more interested in interacting with you on a close, personal level where He can build your faith with His Word.  Signs take no faith.  Reading His Word and talking to Him builds life-changing faith.   So not only are your circumstances changed, but you also are changed.  God wants you to trust Him and face your fears.  He's bigger than the problems that seek to destroy you.