Soft Whispers
Sunday, April 6th 2025 (week 102)
1 Kings 19: 1-12
These are tough times for a lot of people right now. Alongside the financial hardship many are feeling, we’ve seen earthquakes, storms and fires around the world, not to mention the wars that continue to rage. Political and financial uncertainties abound, businesses are closing, and even our Councils can’t afford to pay for all the necessary services they are obliged to provide. It would be easy to think the world is out of control.
It feels like all those elements have battered my own life recently, too, as one difficulty seems to pile on top of another to the point where I sometimes can’t see an end or an escape route. Progress isn’t happening as quickly as I need it to. Some things have gone backwards and some seem insurmountable. Contracts are broken and people fail to keep their word. Despair can easily set in, even for someone like me for whom the glass is always half full.
There is a time when it is necessary and right to cry out to God, even to argue and fight with him as Jacob did at Peniel. But what happens when it seems God is unresponsive, doesn’t show up, and we don’t hear a word from him. As Christians, we have probably all been in that position at some point. Not for the first time, that is where I found myself recently.
It was early one morning, just as the light was dawning, that I felt my life was falling apart. Nothing was going right, and there were big problems up ahead. It was as though I was going through the earthquake, storms and fires all at the same time. The noise of the failures and stress was overwhelming, and God wasn’t anywhere to be seen or heard.
I wasn’t sure I wanted to open my Bible, perhaps being more content to wallow in self-pity.
Then, faintly, almost imperceptible in the background, a whisper, “My voice is in my word” and I knew I must. Using the coloured tabs that mark favourite pages and passages, I opened my Bible, firstly in Exodus, 14:13, “Don’t be afraid. Just stand still and watch the Lord rescue you today”. And then to Joshua, “I will always be with you, I will never leave you or abandon you……….Remember that I have commanded you to be determined and confident! Don’t be afraid or discouraged”. And then Proverbs, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Never rely on what you think you know”. And finally, to Jeremiah 29:11, “I alone know the plans I have for you, plans to bring you prosperity and not disaster”.
Just as He spoke to Elijah on Mount Sinai, God whispered to me and reminded me that He is always here with me. Even in those moments when I’m tempted to think he has left me because I’m simply not good enough, He is still with me. Whilst Satan is shouting condemnation, God is whispering, “I love you….don’t be afraid….I will never leave you….trust me”.
If we keep going and don`t give up, the positive love of God will always overcome the noise and negativity of life, the world and Satan.
Prayer: Lord, thank you for always being here with us and for us. Help us to listen more closely for your voice amongst the noise of everyday life.
Neil has been a Christian for nearly thirty years and prior to joining Gatehouse Church spent all his Christian life at Christ Church with All Saints Blackpool, where amongst other things he was a leader in their Campaigner Ministries children and youth work.
Neil is an award-winning and widely published writer. Over twenty-five years he has written for a range of mainstream media including The Times, Sunday Times, Telegraph, Daily Mail, and Financial Mail on Sunday as well as Reuters and numerous magazines. How To Books published his first non-fiction title 100 Ways to Make Your Business a Success and he has recently added The Great British Property Scam.
He has also taught Creative Writing extensively for Blackpool and the Fylde College, The WEA, and Lancaster University and launched www.seasiderswrite.com a community-based creative writing project funded by Arts Council England. Writing as C.J.Neill he is also a published novelist.
You can find out more at www.neilbromage.com or drop him an email at neil@neilbromage.com
Neil Bromage, 06/04/2025