The LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by” (1 Kings 19:11)

What if God would like to have a different kind of conversation with us, with you?

And what if God is present, is with us, in our current circumstances—in our current tight spaces—to that end?

There are all kinds of tight spaces.  Some are shelters, providing needed safety, protection and replenishment.  Some are pretty confining, more like a jail cell than a shelter. Many are combinations.

Of all the tight and confining of spaces, the hamster wheel is one of the worst.  (Our apologies to any hamsters reading along). You know: you keep running and running without going anywhere; you keep burning energy, only to end up exactly where you started.

Anyone else finding your mind running in the same hamster wheel during these days of sheltering in place?  As we pray, are we finding ourselves merely repeating the same prayers in the same way, until the whole thing becomes rather mindless?  Or maybe in the middle of the night we find ourselves unable to resist rehearsing the same worries and fears, the same complaints, over and over, because we don’t know what else to say or think about?

We can really get our hamster wheels whirring, can’t we?  And these days there certainly are winds (“Breaking News!”) and earthquakes (dire, sad statistics) and fires (searing images and stories) whose energy can keep those wheels flying!

Once in the cave, Elijah speaks just twice—and each time, he says exactly the same thing (compare verses 10 and 14).  It seems that even great champions of the faith can get stuck in a hamster wheel.

There’s only one way to stop the spinning wheel: stop running.  There’s just one way out of this particularly confining space: get out of the wheel.

How does God help his prophet out of the spinning wheel?  By asking a question. A really good question is an arresting experience, even if, as with Elijah, you and God have to have the same conversation more than once!

God is recalibrating Elijah’s ears and eyes.  What Elijah’s ears most need to hear is the word of the Lord addressing him, not the threat of his enemies or the noise of a noisy world.  What his eyes most need to see is what God is doing—and wanting Elijah to join God in doing.

Weary of the wheel?  Stop running, get off, and get out into a God-perspective: “Go out, stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by” (verse 15).

Which particular hamster wheels are you in?  What question(s) might God put to you that would help you stop, get off, and get into a wider perspective?