08/09/2026
For those who missed it: Today’s Message
Listening for the Still Small Voice
Have you ever experienced an earthquake? I’ve only felt a small one.
Years ago, when our kids were little, we took a family vacation to Ocean City, Maryland. One afternoon on the beach, I suddenly felt the sand shift beneath us.
“What was that?” “Did you feel that?”
Phones began lighting up. There had been an earthquake, felt from Baltimore to Washington, D.C. The chatter on the beach about it was as unsettling as the quake itself!
Oddly enough, I had left my phone in the room and did not know the whole story. My mind filled in the gaps and I began wondering: “Does the East Coast have tsunamis?” No? “It doesn’t usually have earthquakes, either!”
I decided the safest place to investigate was from our fourth-floor condo! As I gathered the kids and headed up the beach, fighter jets roared down the coast.
“Good decision,” I thought. Thankfully, there was no tsunami!
Later that vacation, a strong hurricane began swirling toward the Northeast. Evacuation orders were issued. Notice was given that water and electricity would be shut off. By the time we left early on a weekend morning, streets were empty and even the McDonald’s was closed an boarded up.
Our family still calls it “the earthquake and hurricane vacation.”
But it didn't feel much like a vacation!
Our first reading finds Elijah surrounded by a similar swirl of chaos. He has fled into the wilderness, exhausted by injustice, opposition, and fear.
But he isn't looking for rest and relaxation. He is looking for God.
On the mountain, a mighty wind comes. Then an earthquake. Then fire.
Surely God will be in one of these overwhelming displays of power!
But Scripture says: “The Lord was not in the wind.”
“The Lord was not in the earthquake.” “The Lord was not in the fire.”
Then comes what we learned as children: a still, small voice—or, in another translation, “the sound of sheer silence.”
There, in the quiet, Elijah finally hears God and finds direction.
That is an important reminder for us.
We live in a world where the loudest voices often receive the most attention: news alerts, social media, political arguments, financial worries, health concerns. Chaos and fear seem to have a microphone!
But the voice of God often comes differently—not by adding to the noise, but by speaking peace into it. Today’s Psalm declares: “The Lord will speak peace to his people”
Our Gospel lesson tells another story of chaos.
Jesus sends the disciples ahead by boat while he goes off alone to pray. During the night, the wind rises and waves crash against the boat. Then Jesus comes toward them, walking on the water.
One disciple sees and gives a fearful cry: “It’s a ghost!”
But immediately Jesus speaks “It is I! Do not be afraid.” (Another of the 365 times God gives that message in scripture!)
Peter speaks up with bravado: “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”
You almost want to interrupt: Peter, what are you thinking?!! Don’t get out of that boat!!!
But Jesus simply says, “Come.”
For a few remarkable moments, Peter walks on water.
But Peter's success isn't because he is extraordinary. It is because Jesus is there and Peter's attention is fully on him. Like a child learning to walk, everything is fine as long as he keeps his eyes on the one who is calling him forward.
But when Peter's attention turns inward—to himself—or outward—to the wind and waves—he begins to sink.
He cries out with one of Scripture's shortest but most repeated prayers: “Lord, save me.”
And immediately, again, Jesus reaches out and catches him.
The One who called Peter onto the water is also the One who refuses to let him drown.
God is faithful even when our faith wavers.
That is good news for Peter—and for us.
When our confidence rests in ourselves, we will eventually discover our limits.
When our confidence rests in Christ, we discover that Christ is greater than our weakness and the pain of the world around us.
Paul says something similar in Romans. We have already heard that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.
Today he reminds us that when we confess Jesus as Lord and believe in our hearts, we are saved—secure- in God.
As we’ve studied Romans this summer we’ve been reminded that the biblical understanding of faith is richer than simply believing something in our heads or reciting with our mouths.
Faith means trust, steadfastness, a solid foundation. It is not merely agreeing that something is true; it is entrusting ourselves to it, standing on it, building our lives upon it.
Martin Luther recognized that distinction. He wrote: “Faith is quite different from [relying on yourself]. Just try to save yourself by free will when confronted with plague or war or huge price increases. During a plague you would be too paralyzed by fear to do anything. At the time of price increases you would only be able to think about where to find your next meal.”
(Amazing those words at 500 years old, isn’t it?!)
He continues:
“Even if faith is weak and small it can stand up straight rather than let itself be scared to death. However weak faith may be it holds together as solid as a wall and sets itself as David against Goliath!”
Faith, even small faith, stands like David before Goliath—not because faith is powerful by itself, but because faith holds onto Christ.
That sounds very much like Peter on the water.
Peter's faith was not perfect. But Jesus was faithful to Peter.
Elijah's courage was not unshaken. But God met him where he was.
Our faith may sometimes feel no bigger than a quiet whisper.
But the One who speaks in the whisper is Lord also over the wind, the waves, the earthquake, the storm, and all the amplified fears of the world!
There are seasons when life feels like our family's earthquake-and-hurricane vacation: one crisis followed by another! Some shake our homes, some blow our minds, and some break our hearts.
We wonder where God is. We look for dramatic signs.
Indeed, the world expects God to shout through the earthquake. The world tells us to trust ourselves—to trust our numbers, our knowledge, our technology, our science, even AI!
Instead, God speaks through his promises and saves through the cross.
Christ says, “Trust me.” “Come.”
And when we begin to sink, and we inevitably do!, Jesus still reaches out his hand.
The still, small voice is also the strong, saving hand!
Thanks be to God! Amen.
