Category: Devotion of the Day

The Lesson of the Cave: God’s Presence

And after the fire a still small voice.
I Kings 19:12

It was the day after Carmel. The day after the big day can be a very bad day. From His baptism our Lord went to meet the devil. After the third heaven, Paul came to his thorn in the flesh.

But Elijah learned at the cave what he never learned on Carmel. We make so much these days of wind, fire, and earthquake, of the sensational and spectacular, of the dramatic demonstration on Carmel. We measure everything by “How big?” and “How loud?” God’s voice in the cave was still and small. He does indeed speak in wind, fire, and quake, but those are occasional. Woe unto us if we are so deafened by the whirlwind that we cannot hear the whisper!

We are in great danger of going from one Carmel to another, living on excitement, mass meetings, and amazing demonstrations, that we need a session in the cave. Let us not deafen our ears to the quiet moving of God’s Spirit in hundreds of humble hearts whose work of faith and labor of love will outlast anything on Carmel.

They Need Not Depart

They need not depart; give ye them to eat.
Matthew 14:16

The disciples thought it was time to send the multitude away to buy food. But is is never necessary to go away from Jesus for anything. All we need is in Him. Men are going in all directions foraging for food, but He is the Bread of Life. It is not necessary to supplement your diet with anything from the fleshpots of Egypt. All the vitamins and calories your soul requires are in Christ. He is Alpha and Omega – and all the letters between!

But He also said, “Give ye them to eat.” We are His agents, His representatives today, and we need never send men away elsewhere from our sufficient Saviour.

But how can we give them to eat? The disciples saw only five loaves and two fishes. The Lord said, “Bring them hither to me.” Bring what you have, all you have, and He will multiply it to meet the demand.

What a joy to represent a Lord who never meets an emergency that makes it necessary to dismiss the crowd! They need never depart – for to whom shall they go?