1 Kings 19:13, commentary and pictures

After fleeing Jezebel's threat in weariness and discouragement without being sent, Elijah took refuge in a cave at Horeb, and when he heard the still small voice he wrapped his face in his mantle in reverence and went out and stood at the entrance where God asked him what he was doing there. God met him there to confront his self-chosen flight and remind him of the work He had commissioned him to do. God revealed Himself not in the rending wind, earthquake, or fire, but in a quiet voice that subdued and softened him into reverent trust. The encounter teaches that God's purpose is best accomplished not by loud display but by the quiet influence of His Spirit, which meets with present help all who trust Him with childlike simplicity even when their work seems defeated. The question still calls every discouraged or idle believer to leave hiding, examine why they are where they are, return to duty, and stand with God to listen and shine.

Elijah's Flight to Horeb

The verse belongs to Elijah's flight after Jezebel threatened his life, when after forty days of journeying he found refuge in a cave at Horeb. He had borne a heavy burden for Israel, warning faithfully against national idolatry, watching through three years and a half of famine for some token of repentance, and standing alone for God upon Mount Carmel where through the power of faith idolatry was cast down and the blessed rain testified to showers of blessing waiting for Israel. Yet in weariness and weakness he focused on the queen's threat, lost courage and confidence, and his faith failed. Without being sent he fled into the wilderness praying for death, and came to Horeb in despair and deep depression. The account warns that God's people can lose courage after a great work unless they keep looking to God and trusting Him.

At the cave God met him at the entrance through a mighty angel, who came to ask about his needs and to make His purpose for Israel clear. The question what he was doing there confronted his hasty flight and made him face that he had fled from the work God had commissioned him to do. It reproved his self-chosen wilderness journey, where God had not sent him, by recalling where He had sent him — to the brook Cherith, to the widow of Sarepta, and to Samaria with a message to Ahab — and the work He had commissioned him to do. Elijah needed to learn to trust wholly in God and to recognize the weakness of his present position compared with the stronger position God intended for him.

When Elijah heard the still small voice he wrapped his face and head in his mantle, went out of the cave, and stood in its entrance. His covering expresses reverence in the presence of God. There the voice repeated the question what he was doing there, and he repeated his complaint of jealousy for God, Israel's broken covenant, and his lonely peril. His discouraged withdrawal into the cave is not a model for hiding one's light, but a call to come forth and stand with God.

Through one failure of faith his life-work was cut short, for the work he had begun he was not to complete, since God bade him anoint another to be prophet in his stead. Yet God had marked the heart-service of His servant, watched over him, and would not forsake him while he remained faithful. He did not leave him to die alone discouraged in the wilderness and to perish in discouragement and solitude. For him there was not the descent to the tomb but the ascent with God's angels to the presence of His glory.

God's Quiet Guiding Voice

God made Himself known to Elijah not in the great wind that rent the mountains, nor in tempest, earthquake, devouring fire, thunder or lightning, but in a still small quiet voice. When Elijah heard that voice he wrapped his face and head in his mantle and went out and stood in the entering in of the cave.

That voice had power to subdue and soften, to silence petulance and subdue the spirit, bringing reverence and quiet trust and firm reliance. The meeting teaches that quiet trust and firm reliance upon God will ever find Him a present help in time of need. It was in his greatest weakness, when his life's work seemed defeated and under the most forbidding circumstances, that Elijah learned so to trust, for God watched over him and would not forsake him while he remained faithful. So God meets one who trusts Him and receives His word with childlike simplicity.

The encounter shows that the work making the greatest display is not always the work that best accomplishes God's purpose. His work is not always best achieved through loud forceful displays or the most powerful words. The still small voice illustrates that the Holy Spirit's quiet influence has power to convict and convert the soul and to accomplish great things.

The verse belongs to Elijah's making intercession against Israel, saying they have killed God's prophets and digged down His altars, and he is left alone and they seek his life, and to God's answer to him. His complaint shows Israel's rejection, yet God's answer shows He did not reject them, for He had reserved to Himself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal. Even so at this present time, after Israel rejected His Son, there is a remnant according to the election of grace.

Call to Come Forth

The question puts Elijah face to face with the fact that he had fled from the work he had been commissioned to do, and he needed to learn to trust wholly in God and to see how weak his present position was beside the stronger position God intended for him. That history belongs to his discouragement after fleeing Jezebel's threat, and it helps God's people when difficulties come to trust in the Lord, to remain in the way of duty, and to wait patiently and prayerfully for Him rather than yielding to discouragement from fear or leaning on human wisdom. Patient, prayerful trust in trial gives God room to display His power instead of closing the way by fear.

The same question challenges those who are using their talents for themselves to consider whether they are standing idle instead of laboring in God's vineyard. It confronts a professing Christian with whether actions agree with professed faith and obedience, calling such a one to account for dishonest business dealings and to receive reproof and change. It was the challenge to Brother Michaels to leave work that sows error for work that teaches truth.

With tender pity the question is addressed to a child of God whose voice has been silenced and who has left the work through ease, worldly advantage, discouragement, opposition, or persecution. It calls that person to remember the mission to preach the gospel throughout the world and to prepare a people for the day of God, and to consider why he is where he is and who sent him there. It calls Christian families and individuals who could serve others to leave places where their gifts are not as needed and to go in self-sacrifice to spiritually dark places, to work wisely and perseveringly for people without hope. Answering that call means willingness to endure hardship in order to tell others of the Saviour, as surely as worldly advantage or knowledge can lead men to endure hardship for lesser ends.

God's voice calling Elijah to come out of the cave and stand with God to hear what He will say comes as a call to come under divine guidance, to submit to it, and to receive the Holy Spirit's leading. Coming out to hear God means being led by the Comforter into all truth, the Holy Spirit taking the things of Christ and infusing them as living principles into hearts opened to receive them, so that listeners come to know both the Father and the Son. Elijah's discouraged withdrawal into the cave is not a model for hiding the light, and Christians are warned not to withdraw from duty but to come forth, leave their hiding place, stand with God ready to listen, and shine. The call is to leave concealment and stand with God in readiness to hear.

The call to come out, talk with God, and hear Him teaches that when cherished plans are shattered by affliction, God gives grace to meet the trial and calls the grieving person to turn to Him rather than remain absorbed in sorrow. Remaining in thoughts that deepen sorrow hinders witness for Christ, and coming out to commune with God breaks that bondage. Elijah's reverent covering of his face is also a lesson to approach Scripture humbly, not presuming by limited understanding to judge what is or is not inspired.