The Power of a Whisper
There is a whisper war going on... lean in close to hear all about it.
Let me whisper a welcome to you today. I am so glad you’re here!
Last week a war was waged against me. (Dramatic, indeed). But bronchitis tried to take me down. For the record, it did not win, but it did manage to rough me up and take my voice for a bit.
As a teacher, having a voice is kind of important. Not only is it needed to manage my classroom, but it’s also needed to deliver my math instruction. So, I was slightly concerned about how well I’d be able to teach operations with scientific notation without much of a voice. But what choice did I really have? So, I went for it… and my mind was totally blown with the result…
I stood in front of every one of my classes with my white board marker in hand, a smile on my face, and a whisper on my lips… and you know what I got in return?
All eyes on me. Not the backs of heads or kids searching for something to write with. They were not doodling in the boxes of their graph paper or staring off into space thinking about lunch. They were all leaning closer to hear me and with small smiles on their faces. They were completely silent. They were locked in and laser focused. They were attentive to every whispered word that came out of my mouth. I was quite impressed, and I believe that there is a lesson here.
Have you ever stopped to ponder the power of a whisper? Yeah, me neither, really. So… Let’s do it…
* Have you ever entered a room and silently felt the energy shift? Like when the talking stops and all eyes settle on you. Then, hands begin to slowly cover mouths and the people lean close together as they whisper about you. Usually these whispered words are accompanied with mischievous twinkling eyes and sly smiles on their faces. As if the whispered words aren’t enough to cut straight to your heart, they like to cut a little deeper by giving you a full body check with their spiteful eyes and end with a dismissive scrunch of their nose… There is power in those whispers and… boy, do they hurt.
*When my daughter was little I would play this little game with her… I would pretend that I had an incredibly important secret to tell her, motion her over with my finger, and watch as she would slowly head my way. I would continue to smile and whisper that I had a secret so that she would have to come closer to hear it. She would slowly inch closer and closer. Once she was right next to me, she would get up on her little tippy toes in order to lean in tight, and I would lean down to whisper “Gotcha!!" right into her ear. Immediately, I would scoop her up into my arms. Her eyes would light up and she would laugh that soul soothing belly laugh as I would tickle her. This little game always ended the same… with giant smiles, lots of laughter, a big hug, and a whispered “I love you” … then we would go back to whatever we were doing before as though our silly game never even happened.
So, here is the thing… These two whisper experiences could not be more opposite. Both fill my eyes with tears. Droplets of hurt with one experience and laughter induced droplets with the other. One makes my belly feel like I am about to be sick, and the other makes me smile so big my cheeks get tingly. But this is also an awesome illustration of the whispered battles that we all face every day, but rarely talk about. You know why…?
Because sometimes it is hard to admit that we hear whispers that are not coming from the voice of God, our Creator and Redeemer. We don’t usually like to talk about the sneaky way the slimy, sleazy, lying lizard will trick us into coming close, so that he can show his gnarly teeth through his repulsive smile, and say “Gotcha!” right into our ear. We all know that he doesn’t wrap us up in a warm hug and tickle us until we are crying tears of joy. No way! The evil whispers that come from him will wrap us up in knots and torture us until we are crying tears of desperation.
That sickening snake will whisper words of doubt, shame, and regret into our minds and hearts that sound so familiar we sometimes we lean closer and begin to accept them. The tactics the enemy uses are unfair and excruciatingly hurtful. Because he uses the things we have experienced in real life to convince us of his lies and our own lack of worth, we sometimes fall for his tricks and start believing them. The daily war he wages on our minds is not a joke, but it also is not a secret. The reason we try to keep it a secret is because of the shame we feel when we admit that we are under attack.
But the enemy is not the only one that communicates to us through a whisper. Our Heavenly Father shows up in a whisper as well. I have proof of this… open your Bible with me to 1 Kings 19. This drops us right into the middle of the story of Elijah, the prophet.
As a little recap, Elijah had just come away as the victor in the epic showdown against King Ahab at Mount Carmel. The Almighty God of the Universe against the god of Baal. God had just showed His mighty power to the people by setting fire to the water covered wooden offering. Then, He solidified His victory by having Elijah kill all the prophets of Baal and ended the three year drought in the land. Although this is an incredible victory for Elijah and the Lord, it embarrassed King Ahab. When Ahab told his evil wife, Jezebel, about the defeat and killing of his prophets, she was irate. She sent a threatening message to Elijah saying that she was going to kill him (1 Kings 19:2).
So, Elijah ran. He fled for his life. He left his servants and went alone into the wilderness. His time in the wilderness may need to be a post of its own, but basically after traveling alone for forty days and nights he ended up spending the night in a cave. This is where the Lord spoke to him saying...
1 Kings 19:11-13
““Go out and stand before me on the mountain,” the Lord told him. And as Elijah stood there, the Lord passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that rocks were torn loose, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the sound of a GENTLE WHISPER. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And a voice said, “What are you doing here Elijah?”” (emphasis mine)
How is that for some proof? In this life we are going to be met with so many earth shaking, fire inducing, wind warping thoughts and experiences. The outside noise around us is so overwhelmingly loud sometimes. It is so easy to get distracted by the things happening outside of our caves. It is easy to allow the wind to blow us off course, or the fire under our feet to make us want to flee. It is easy to listen to the enemy in times of distress, because even though he whispers, it can feel like such a terrible blast that it shakes the stuff inside of us loose.
BUT GOD… is right there with us. In the cave. In the storm. In the shaking. In the heat of the fire. God is there at the entrance of our caves. He is right here. Right beside you. And He is so close that He can calm all of the noise around us with His gentle whisper. All He needs is for us to tip toe to the entrance, close our eyes, lean into His presence, and search for His gentle whispering voice among the chaos that is outside.
Is this easy? Not always. Is it necessary? Absolutely. As I was pondering how powerful whispers can be, I decided to look up the definition of “whisper”. I felt God grin as He spoke to me through this, and I can’t help but smile as I share. This is what my dictionary said…
Whisper: verb - “to speak very quietly, using the breath but not the voice, so that only the person close to you can hear.”
It was the “using the breath but not the voice” part that did it for me. You know why?
Genesis 2:7 states that,
“The the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the BREATH OF LIFE into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.” (emphasis mine)
Friends, when we start hearing the whispers of doubt, insecurity, fear, shame, guilt, etc… those whispers are not the whispers that come from the breath of life. So, from now on when the devil starts trying to whisper in my ear and tell me that I am not enough… I think I will smile knowing that true whispers can only come from the God that created breath in the first place. The one that breathed His life into my lungs as He handcrafted me from the dust. If the whisper is not a life speaking, Jesus loving, hug from Heaven then it is just pretend. Like the game I used to play with my girl. It is just a trick to try to draw us near so that the enemy can say “gotcha,” as he grabs a hold of our minds and puts us in a torture trap.
It is up to us to decipher the difference in who is doing the whispering. It is also up to us to decide who we are going to lean into in order to get the secret message. Are we going to choose the breath breather or the deceiver? Are we going to stand at the entrance of our caves, and be so overcome by the noise outside, that we miss the gentle whisper of our loving Father? Are we going to feed into the whispers of doubt and disappointment, or are we going to intentionally seek the wisdom in the whispers that come in the midst of the distractions?
The choice is ours. But I am praying that we will all choose to be like my students were last week. All eyes on the Teacher. Locked in and laser focused so that we don’t miss one whispered word from Jesus. Not distracted but leaning closer and with smiles on our faces. Because that is the posture of learning, growing, healing, and loving. So, as you are faced with the whisper battle in your mind this week, I pray you lean heavy into the ones that come from the One who blew the breath into your lungs and calls you His beloved child. Xoxo Megan 🩷
Reflection Questions:
1. Have you been running from a perceived threat that has left you stuck in a cave, and listening to the whispered lies of the enemy for too long?
2. In the midst of the noise of life, what is something you can do daily to lean closer to the whispers of God? Prayer:
Lord, we come to you today asking you let us hear your whispers often and clearly. As we all try to intentionally lean into your embrace in the middle of the storms of life, we ask that we feel your presence and hear your gentle voice. We pray that you help us keep our eyes focused on you so that we will not be distracted by the noise of the enemy. God, you know the struggles we face, and you know how the devil likes to use them against us. So, we come to you today asking you to give us grace and forgiveness when we allow him to distract us. We also ask you for your whispers of wisdom as we fight this daily battle, because we trust that You will give us the victory. Lord, just as you blew breath into our lungs and gave us life, we pray that you will use our breath to glorify and honor you, as well as speak life into those around us. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Thank you for another wonderful message. Love it!!!!
Good lesson and reminder to keep our eyes and ears focused on the Teacher!! It's so easy to get distracted and listen to the lies of the enemy!! Especially in hard weeks like this week was! I needed this reminder! Thank you!